1. travel
2. tourist facilities
3. hotel

De
vacaciones
1
2 ¿Qué tal el hotel? Main topics and objectives
Describing accommodation
Using the imperfect tense for
description
S Identifying positive and
negative opinions
C
G
Grammar
●● The
imperfect tense
Key language
¿Qué tal tus vacaciones?
Me quedé en…
Me alojé en…
un hotel de cinco estrellas
un albergue juvenil
(Student’s Book pages 12–13)
un camping
un parador
una pensión
Estaba…
en la costa/en la montaña/en el
campo
al lado de la playa
en el centro de la ciudad
Era/No era (nada)…
acogedor(a)
antiguo/a
nuevo/a
(poco) cómodo/a
bonito/a
feo/a
caro/a
barato/a
animado/a
tranquilo/a
lujoso/a
Tenía/No tenía… ni…
Había/No había…
Tampoco había…
un bar/gimnasio/restaurante
una discoteca/piscina
climatizada/sauna/cafetería/
cocina comunitaria
Lo mejor/peor era que…
Resources
CD1, tracks 00–00
Cuaderno, page 00
Gramática 00
–Bien, gracias. Muy bien. Me alojé en una pensión en
Portugal. La pensión estaba en la costa. Era antigua
pero muy cómoda con vistas a las montañas. Tenía un
bar pero no tenía restaurante.
2 – ¿Qué tal tus vacaciones, Adrián?
–Pues, me quedé en un albergue juvenil en Gales con
unos amigos. El albergue estaba bien equipado, pero
era un poco feo. Estaba en la montaña. No tenía ni
piscina ni gimnasio. Por eso era tan barato.
3 – ¿Qué tal tus vacaciones, Laura?
–Me quedé en un camping muy bonito en Escocia con
vistas a las montañas. Era muy tranquilo. Tenía una
piscina pero no era climatizada. No hay mejor lugar
para pasar las vacaciones.
4 – ¿Qué tal tus vacaciones, Ibrahim?
–Me alojé en un parador muy lujoso en España. ¡Qué
cómodo era! Estaba en la costa. Había de todo: tenía
un restaurante, una sauna y una piscina climatizada.
También había un gimnasio muy bien equipado.
5 – ¿Qué tal tus vacaciones, Jorge?
–¡Fatal! Me quedé en un hotel de cinco estrellas en
Francia. El hotel estaba en la montaña. Era moderno
pero no era nada acogedor. No había nada que hacer.
Ni piscina, ni bar, ni discoteca. ¡Era un rollo!
Starter 1
To use reading strategies to work out meaning.
To introduce the imperfect tense.
Display page 13 on the whiteboard and use the
zoom functionality to show text A in exercise 3.
(Alternatively, ask students to look at the text in
their books.)
Working in pairs, give students two minutes to
translate the following words/expressions from
the text into English:
horrorosas, albergue juvenil, mal equipado, estaba,
era, había, tenía, sala de desayunos
Check the answers, asking students how they
worked out the meanings. Remind them as
necessary of the reading strategies they can use:
context, cognates, grammar structures, informed
guessing, etc. Translate the text as a class.
Now focus on the verb forms (estaba, era, había,
tenía). Point out that, from the context, these
clearly refer to the past, and ask if they are
preterite forms. Introduce the imperfect tense. Ask
students to try to work out what function these
verbs have in this text. Confirm that the imperfect
tense is used for descriptions in the past.
Answers
1guest house; Portugal; old but comfortable, at the
coast; bar, no restaurant
2youth hostel; Wales; well equipped but a bit ugly, in the
mountains, cheap; no swimming pool or gym
3campsite; Scotland; very quiet, pretty, best place to
have a holiday; swimming pool (not heated)
4parador; Spain; (very) luxurious, comfortable, at the
coast; restaurant, sauna, heated pool, very wellequipped gym
5hotel; France; in the mountains, modern, unwelcoming;
nothing (no swimming pool, no bar, no disco)
1 Escucha y apunta los datos en
inglés. (1–5)
Listening. Students listen to five people talking
about their holidays and note the following
details in English: the type of accommodation,
the country visited, the description of the
accommodation and the facilities there.
Audioscript
1 – ¿Qué tal tus vacaciones, Mónica?
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¿Qué tal el hotel?
1
De vacaciones
3 Lee los blogs. ¿P (positivo), N
(negativo) o P/N (positivo y negativo)?
Give students working in pairs one minute
to memorise the list of adjectives on page 12.
They then close their books. Write up El hotel era…
and La pensión era… on the board. The students see
how many different ways they can complete the
sentences using the adjectives they studied.
Reading. Students read the four blogs and decide
whether the opinions voiced in them are positive
(P), negative (N) or a mixture of both (P/N).
Answers
GradeStudio
A N B P/N C P D P/N
If aiming for a higher grade: understand and use a
range of negatives, such as Tampoco… and No…
ni… ni…
4 Read the texts again. What was
the best or worst thing about each
person’s holiday?
Use the Grammar box to introduce the imperfect
tense. It gives the endings for –ar verbs (using
estar) and –er/–ir verbs (using tener and vivir).
Ask students to identify patterns that will help
them remember the endings.
Reading. Students read the blogs in exercise 3 again
and note in English the best/worst thing each
person mentions about his/her holiday.
Answers
Explain that one of the uses of the imperfect tense
is for descriptions in the past. Contrast its use with
the forms me quedé and me alojé, which also come
up in this unit. Ask the class to give you some
sentences with the imperfect, using the vocabulary
box on page 12 for reference as necessary.
A
B
C
D
It was very noisy at night.
The hotel had a heated swimming pool.
The hotel had lots of people.
The parador had a very good restaurant.
GradeStudio
The Grammar box also shows the third person
forms of the three verbs which are irregular in the
imperfect: ser (era), ir (iba) and ver (veía). The
imperfect of hay (había) is also given.
If aiming for C: include opinions.
If aiming higher: justify your opinions.
Students write a sentence for each person in
exercise 3 justifying his/her opinion of the
holiday.
Read through the verb forms again together,
focusing on the endings. Then give students
verbs from the Grammar box at random. Students
translate these into English. This can be done
orally or you can write up the prompts and have
the students write their answers.
5 Describe tus vacaciones del año
pasado.
Writing. Using the picture prompts supplied or
making up their own details, students write a
description of a recent holiday, along the lines
of the ones in the blogs in exercise 3. Sentence
openings are supplied.
Starter 2
To review the imperfect tense and holiday
vocabulary.
Encourage students to justify the opinions they
express.
Write up:
había, era, tenía, estaba
Plenary
Give students three minutes to write a short
description of a recent holiday, using the verbs
supplied.
Ask the class to summarise how the imperfect
tense is used (for descriptions in the past). Review
key imperfect forms, first giving the Spanish for
students to translate into English, then prompting
in English for students to give the Spanish. (The
range of forms covered will depend on the level
of the class.) You could also throw in a few first
person preterite prompts to clarify the difference
between imperfect/preterite usage.
Listen to some answers. Ask students to translate
the verbs supplied and identify the tense. Why is
the imperfect tense used in this context?
2 Con tu compañero/a, haz estos
diálogos.
Play a chain game to practise using the imperfect.
Students take it in turns to add a sentence to a
description of a recent holiday. Do a good holiday
first, then a bad one. Start it off with a sentence
such as Mis vacaciones en Escocia fueron fantásticas.
Speaking. In pairs: using the three sets of picture
prompts supplied, students make up a dialogue
about a recent holiday. They take it in turns to ask
¿Qué tal tus vacaciones? and to answer, using the
sentence openings given.
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