TRAVELLING ABROAD

A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.

George Moore

Lesson 1

Topic for Communication: Flight to London

Language Use: Making requests, saying you know, saying you don’t know

Grammar Focus:

Part A

A group of students is going to summer school to England. They want to master their English so as to overcome psychological barriers, to speak English fluently and with confidence. Hopefully communication with native speakers will help them achieve the aim.

You know, there is a great number of summer schools in Britain. They all provide good language training, so its rather difficult to choose the one that suits you perfectly. Some people ask their friends for advice, some read information bulletins or make use of the Internet pages where people share their opinions and experience. We have chosen the last option. In the end we made a unanimous decision to go to … summer school.

The reasons for our choice were as follows: …

We decided to travel by air as it is the fastest means of travelling. There are general instructions on air travel and we found it useful to get acquainted with them.

***

First of all, we learned that tickets should be reserved in advance and all reservations should be confirmed some days before departure. Next, passengers are requested to arrive at the airport two hours before departure time on international flights and an hour on domestic flights as there must be enough time to complete the necessary airport formalities.

Passengers must register their tickets, weigh in and register the luggage. Most airlines have at least two classes of travel, first class and economy class, which is cheaper. Each passenger of more than two years of age has a free luggage allowance. Generally this limit is 20 kg for economy class passengers and 30 kg for first class passengers. Excess luggage must be paid for except for some articles that can be carried free of charge.

Each passenger is given a boarding pass to be shown at the departure gate and again to the stewardess when boarding the plane.

Watch the electric sign flashes when you are on board. When the "Fasten Seat Belts" sign goes on, do it promptly, and also obey the "No Smoking" signal.

Landing formalities and customs regulations are more or less the same in all countries.

While still on board the plane the passenger is given an arrival card to fill in.

After the passenger has disembarked, officials will check his passport and visa. In some countries they will check the passenger’s certificate of vaccination. The traveller maybe requested to go through an AIDS check within ten or fourteen days of his/her arrival in the country. If the traveller fails to do so some strict measures could be taken by the authorities including imprisonment (in some countries) or payment of a considerable penalty.

When these formalities have been completed the passenger goes to the Customs for an examination of his luggage.

As a rule personal belongings may be brought in duty-free. If the traveller has nothing to declare he may just go through the "green" section of the Customs.

In some cases the Customs inspector may ask you to open your bags for inspection. It sometimes happens that a passenger's luggage is carefully gone through in order to prevent smuggling. After you are through with all customs formalities the inspector will put a stamp on each piece of luggage or chalk it off.

1. Why is it necessary to confirm reservations?

2. How long before the departure time is it advisable to arrive at the airport? Why?

3. What airport formalities is the passenger requested to complete before he boards the plane?

4. What do you do if you have excess luggage?

5. What can you carry to the cabin free of charge?

6. What electric signs must the passenger obey?

7. What are the usual landing formalities and customs regulations?

8. Is the passenger's vaccination certificate always checked? Why?

9. What do you do if you have nothing to declare?

10. Some passenger's luggage may be gone through carefully. Is it a regular occurrence? Why is it done?

With all the information in mind we started our preparations. The first step was to make tickets reservation, then came boarding the plane, customs control, the flight itself and landing. During the trip we were involved in some interaction with travel officials. The most typical samples of the interaction are given below for you to learn the useful language, act out the dialogues and make similar ones.

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 1223