HOL-AHolidaying, Travel and the Arts

Reading Holidays: Package Tours and Freedom to Travel

Idée directrice

Module 1 contrasts package tours with freer forms of holidaying: organisation, fewer formalities and guided culture versus limited freedom and possible disappointment when the travel agency’s promises do not match the real trip. Reading trains quotation-based justification on tourism vocabulary.

Signature de reconnaissance — l'énoncé se trahit ainsi

package tour

travel agency

holidaying

sightseeing

free admission

Sujet principal

Reading: a package tour to Edinburgh

7 questionsCorrigé masqué

Reading comprehension. Read the passage carefully, then answer the questions.

Last summer, Leila chose a package tour to Edinburgh rather than planning every train alone. The travel agency organised the hotel, the walking tour of the old town, and free admission to two cultural events during the festival. She paid a deposit in Tunis, checked in without stress, and met other tourists from different countries. The guide explained monuments and the changing of the guard with stories she would have missed on a solo trip.

Still, package tourism is not perfect. The schedule left little free time for quiet sightseeing, and one evening meal was far from the quality promised in the brochure. Leila also felt that group decisions limited her freedom: she wanted a longer visit to a small museum, but the coach had to leave. Holidaying with an agency can be efficient and safe, yet travellers should read the contract carefully and keep one afternoon for personal discovery.

1. True or false? Write T or F and justify with a short quotation.

Leila booked every train and hotel herself.
The package included free access to some cultural events.
She was completely free to change the group schedule whenever she wanted.

2. Answer the questions.

Name two services the travel agency organised for Leila.
What two drawbacks of the package tour appear in paragraph 2?

3. Vocabulary. Find words in the text that mean:

money paid in advance to reserve a service → __________
looking at famous places for pleasure → __________

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1. True / false
1. F — “Leila chose a package tour… rather than planning every train alone.” / the agency organised the hotel.
2. T — “free admission to two cultural events during the festival.”
3. F — “group decisions limited her freedom” / the coach had to leave.

2. Comprehension
1. Any two: hotel; walking tour; free admission to cultural events; guide’s explanations; deposit/check-in support.
2. Little free time / tight schedule; disappointing meal vs brochure; limited freedom to visit longer (any two clear ideas).

3. Vocabulary
1. deposit
2. sightseeing

Method: For T/F, copy a short phrase, not a whole paragraph. Holiday vocabulary often sits in fixed collocations (package tour, travel agency, free admission).

Exercices d'entraînement — une nuance à la fois

Entraînement 01 / 02

Language: holiday and tourism collocations

1 questionCorrigé masqué

Language — gap-fill. One word from the box for each blank; one extra word.

`holiday · tourism · deposit · sightseeing · refund · check`

Before they go on (1) __________, many families visit a travel agency. They pay a (2) __________ to keep the booking, then (3) __________ in at the hotel on the first evening. City (4) __________ includes museums, monuments and short walking tours. If a service is missing, customers may ask for a (5) __________.

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Answers: (1) holiday · (2) deposit · (3) check · (4) sightseeing · (5) refund · (extra: tourism)

How to find them: go on holiday is a fixed phrase. Pay a deposit reserves the trip. Check in is the hotel arrival verb. City sightseeing names the activity. Ask for a refund is the money-back request. Tourism is the industry noun and fits no blank tightly here.

Trap: Check out is leaving the hotel; the blank is arrival → check in (here split as check + in).

Entraînement 02 / 02

Writing: choose active or lazy holidays

1 questionCorrigé masqué

Writing — one paragraph (10–12 lines).

Your English class magazine asks readers: Active holidays or lazy holidays? Write a short contribution. Define what you mean by each type of holiday or trip, give one advantage of active holidays (hiking, climbing, sports…) and one advantage of lazy holidays, then say which you prefer for your next vacation and why. Use tourism vocabulary and two linkers.

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Model paragraph

Holidaying can mean very different trips. Active holidays push you outside: hiking in the hills, swimming, or joining a local sports club while you travel. Lazy holidays keep you near the hotel pool with a book and no fixed schedule. On the one hand, an active trip helps you discover landscapes and meet other tourists on guided walks. On the other hand, a quiet vacation can recharge students after heavy exams. For my next holiday I prefer an active week by the sea with morning walks and one free afternoon for rest, because tourism should open the mind without exhausting the body.

Rewards: clear contrast; personal choice with a reason; words such as holiday, trip, vacation, tourists, travel.
Trap: Do not turn the answer into a pure hotel complaint letter unless asked.

Méthode / Automatismes

Underline who organises what. Package-tour texts usually balance benefits (order, guide, discounts) and drawbacks (freedom, quality gap). Your answers should mirror that balance when the question asks for drawbacks.

Pièges classiques

Do not invent space rockets or digital apps if the passage is about a city holiday. Stay on tourism words actually present: package tour, travel agency, sightseeing, tourists.