Holidays and travel
Advice
Going on holiday and travelling in the target country is a great way to provide opportunities to practise your language skills. You can use the target language from the moment you arrive at the airport until the time you leave. When planning your trip make sure that you can do some of the following in the target language:
At the airport
- give your name, address and occupation to the police
- state how long you intend to stay and what you are going to do
- explain what you have in your case to the customs officials
In the taxi
- say where you want to go
- check the price
At the hotel
- give your name and say that you have a reservation
- ask where the restaurant is
- ask what time breakfast is served
At the restaurant
- ask for the menu
- order a meal
- order your drinks
- ask for the bill
There is nothing like a trip abroad to motivate somebody to learn a language. Quite often people book a holiday abroad and then feel the need to brush up their language skills before departure. If you want to motivate one of your children to learn a language or to try harder at school, a trip abroad could act as a strong stimulus or as a reward.
One word of warning, however. If you travel as a family, or group of friends, and stick together most of the time, you'll reduce your chances of interacting with native speakers.
Links (in alphabetical order)
Aish ha torah Holiday programmes in Israel – prayer, mysticism, philosophy.
Biblical Holidays BookA family guide to biblical holidays; historical, agricultural, spiritual and prophetic information.
Hay’did Learning Centre Biblical holidays
Holidays on the NetAll aspects of Jewish holidays
The Biblical HolidaysBiblical holidays