14.  Surf the Internet: An unforgettable weekend in New York

a) Imagine that some Gin offers you the chance to spend a weekend in New York and you don't have to worry about the money!

- Would you like to fly over New York’s skyline?

- Or would you rather climb up the Empire State Building?

- It's up to you to decide...

b)  Plan a weekend in New York (Friday to Sunday). You don't have to worry about the money! Find the most exciting things to do that really suit you!

- Do you like to eat fast food?

- Do you prefer to shop at Macy?

- Would you like to spend a night at the Embassy Suites?

- Would you like to dance at the most renowned club?

- Would you rather prefer to see a musical?

- You can also see New York at night on a double-decker bus tour…

c)  To be able to accomplish the task you have to follow these instructions:

1. Form three groups of four people. This is a collective work, so everyone has to contribute: make sure that everyone knows his/her own responsibilities. Within your group you can also choose a coordinator.

2. Now you are ready to surf the Internet in order to plan your weekend. Remember that you have a week to do your research and prepare an oral presentation. In order to help you here's a list of links but feel free to surf other websites too:

1) http://www.nytix.com/ThingsToDo/index-teenagers.html

2) http://nymag.com/shopping/

3) http://travelwithkids.about.com/

4) http://www.citidex.com/2367.htm

5) http://newyork.citysearch.com/

6) http://nymag.com/visitorsguide/sightseeing/citytours.html

7) http://www.hostels.com/new-york/usa

3. Collect your material in order to present it in the most lively and original way. To do so you can choose suitable pictures, nice headings, pieces of information that you might want to put on a poster, on cards or present on your computer by Power Point presentation.

4. When you have collected enough material, work on it in order to present the activities day by day (Friday to Sunday) and remember that you should be ready to describe them in an oral presentation in front of the group.

5. To present your work keep in mind that you should include the following points: accommodation; food; day and night activities; extras.

Decide how you want to present your project (posters, cards, or Power Point presentation) and don't forget to write down where you got the information and pictures from. It is very important to include the websites because in this way you give credit to your sources.

6. Present your weekend plans to the whole group in an exciting and attractive way. For your presentation you have 15 minutes; make sure that everyone takes part in it!

7. Listen carefully to each presentation and decide which weekend is the most exciting and original.

d)  To evaluate your groupmates' presentation use the following grid:

	Poor	OK	Good	Excellent	Score
Approach to work	no motivation at all	a little motivation	good motivation	a lot of enthusiasm
How much information found	not enough information no pictures	sufficient information	good use of all the given websites	excellent info and use of additional websites
Oral presentation	rare eye contact, no pictures, no practice before presentation no enthusiasm	minimal eye contact, few pictures, little practice, moderate enthusiasm	good eye contact, matching pictures and lot of information, good enthusiasm	very good explanations of the activities, strong enthusiasm and eye contact, convincing
Project: posters, cards, Power point	bad quality, few information	does not include all information (food, shopping, activities)	few or no errors, all elements present	convincing, exciting plans, no evident errors , very amusing and unique!

- So, did you enjoy your weekend in New York? Did you discover new interesting things about this wonderful city that you didn't know before?

- Now you are ready to fly to New York with a suitcase full of information. Don’t forget to send us a postcard!

15. Let’s speak on: choose any topic below and tell about:

a) the usual weekend at home;

b) the best day of your life;

c) a holiday spent with your friends or relatives (New Year's day, Christmas, 8th of March)