Understanding Travel Texts

Overview

In this first lesson of the 20-lesson unit, students are introduced to travel texts (advertisements, travel blogs, and reviews). They learn that texts are shaped by purpose and audience, and they practise identifying key features and how context influences what people say.

Learning intentions

• Students will identify the purpose and audience of different travel texts.
• Students will recognise common language features in travel texts and explain their effect on readers.

Success criteria

• I can state what a travel text is trying to do (inform, persuade, or entertain).
• I can point to at least two features in the text (e.g. persuasive language, personal voice, rating/criteria) and describe how they help.
• I can give a short example of how the context (who wrote it, why, and for whom) changes what the writer includes.

Curriculum links

• English Studies Life Skills: Students respond to a range of ideas and experiences in texts by engaging with travel experiences and viewpoints.
• English Studies Life Skills: Students use strategies to engage with texts through reading, discussing, and responding.
• English Studies Life Skills: Students identify ways context influences responses by noticing how purpose and audience shape language and structure.
• English Studies Life Skills: Students read, view, represent or respond to texts in familiar contexts by working with everyday travel scenarios.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Hook (Activate experience). Teacher shows three quick images on the board (holiday ad, travel blog-style post screenshot, review star ratings) and asks: “Which one is meant to sell, share a story, or help you decide?” Students respond using thumbs (agree/sort) or verbal choice, then turn-and-talk.

2. 5–15 min · Direct teach (Travel text types). Teacher gives short explanations:

• Advertisements: persuade to book or buy.
• Travel blogs: share experiences in a personal voice.
• Reviews: help readers decide using criteria (stars, likes/dislikes). Teacher models with one sentence for each type and highlights features on a mini anchor chart. Students copy the headings into a response booklet.

3. 15–30 min · Guided analysis (Features hunt). Teacher distributes a short set of three mini-texts (one per type, printed, 1 paragraph each). Students work in pairs at a small table of 2–3 if needed, using a simple hunt sheet:

• Circle persuasive words (e.g. “limited”, “best”, “must try”).
• Underline “personal voice” cues (e.g. “I”, “we”, feelings, “my favourite”).
• Box decision clues in reviews (e.g. rating, “pros/cons”, specific criteria). Teacher pauses after 8–10 minutes to check understanding with targeted questions: “What is this text trying to do?” and “How do you know?”

4. 30–45 min · Context connection (Who/why/for whom). Teacher draws a simple “Context Triangle” on the board: Writer, Purpose, Audience. Students match each mini-text to the correct purpose and audience (e.g. tourists choosing a destination; readers planning a trip; buyers/holiday customers). Students then complete 2 sentence frames:

• “This text is written for people who… because…”
• “The writer includes ___ to make the reader…” Teacher supports by providing answer banks (inform, persuade, entertain; helpful, excited, confident).

5. 45–55 min · Response task (Short paragraph). Students write a short response (5–7 sentences) selecting one travel text type:

• Include purpose (inform/persuade/entertain).
• Name two features they noticed.
• Add one effect on the reader. Example stem: “A(n) advertisement / blog / review is meant to ___. In the text, I noticed ___ and ___. These features help the reader ___.”

6. 55–60 min · Exit ticket (Quick check). Teacher asks each student to complete one sentence on an exit card:

• “The biggest difference between a blog and a review is…” Cards are collected for the next lesson grouping.

Resources

• Printed mini-text set: 3 short travel examples (ad, blog-style, review)
• Features hunt sheet (circle/underline/box prompts)
• Context Triangle diagram (teacher and student)
• Response booklet with sentence frames and word bank
• Sentence stems for writing support
• Timer for guided steps
• Whiteboard/markers or interactive display for examples
• Optional: star ratings card examples for review cueing

Assessment

• Formative checks during guided analysis: teacher observation of whether students identify purpose and correctly locate features.
• Collection of the guided worksheet hunt results to determine feature recognition and misconceptions.
• Exit ticket sentence: use to gauge understanding of differences between text types and context/purpose links.

Differentiation

• Support:
• Provide sentence starters and a word bank (inform, persuade, entertain; personal, facts, rating, must, best, pros/cons).
• Use high-contrast printed text and limit each mini-text to 1 paragraph.
• Offer “feature labels” as cut-and-stick options for students who benefit from sorting.
• Extension:
• Challenge students to add one “because” explanation (e.g. “because it uses stars to compare options”).
• Ask an additional question: “What might be missing for a reader?” (e.g. price, accessibility, location).
• Autism/SEN considerations:
• Predictable lesson flow with the same response template every lesson.
• Check-ins after each step; allow verbal responses if writing is slower, then transfer to writing with a teacher scribe if needed.
• Grouping:
• Pair students strategically so one can model reading/pointing while the other completes the feature hunt.

Learning intentions & success criteria (for today only, recap)

• WALT identify purpose/audience and recognise key features in travel texts.
• I can state the purpose, point to features and explain their effect, and explain how context changes what a writer includes.