Tourism and Timaru

Overview

This first lesson introduces tourism as a social and economic activity. Students use local examples, images and simple data to distinguish visitors, residents, tourism providers and host communities, then build a shared concept map and develop inquiry questions for the six-lesson unit.

Learning intentions

Students will:

• define tourism in their own words
• distinguish between visitors, residents, tourism providers and host communities
• explain why people travel and how tourism connects people, places, culture, environments and economies
• formulate useful inquiry questions about tourism in Timaru

Success criteria

• I can explain what tourism is and identify its main participants.
• I can use evidence from an image or data set to describe tourism.
• I can show connections between people, place, culture, environment and economy.
• I can ask an open-ended question that could guide an investigation into Timaru tourism.

Curriculum links

• Economics and Enterprise — understanding the global economy: identifying major areas of New Zealand’s tourism export activity.
• Social Sciences Years 9–10: exploring how places and societies function and change, with a focus on New Zealand’s place in a globalised world.
• Social sciences practices: analysing images and data, asking questions, making connections and considering different perspectives.
• Key competencies: thinking; using language, symbols and texts; participating and contributing; relating to others.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–7 min · Hook: Who is a tourist? Teacher opens with the tourism hook image and question showing a busy Timaru waterfront or a visitor photographing a local landmark, and asks, “Who is involved in this scene?” Students silently identify people, places and activities, then share one observation and one question with a partner. Clarify that tourism is more than travelling for fun: it involves people travelling away from their usual environment and the activities and services connected with that travel.

2. 7–17 min · Build key definitions. Teacher uses the four tourism roles to introduce visitor, resident, tourism provider and host community, using examples such as a family staying in Timaru, a local resident, a café or motel worker, and people who live in and care for a destination. Students complete the matching section of the tourism roles and connections worksheet and explain one distinction to a partner. Emphasise that one person may have different roles at different times.

3. 17–29 min · Why do people travel? Teacher displays travel motivations and local examples and prompts students to consider recreation, visiting friends and whānau, business, education, events, culture and nature. Students work in groups of three to classify short examples on the worksheet, then justify one choice. Include Timaru examples such as visiting Caroline Bay, attending an event, exploring local history, stopping while travelling through, or visiting family. Discuss how motivations may overlap and why respectful behaviour matters when visiting places and communities.

4. 29–41 min · Read images and data. Teacher presents the image-and-data investigation with two local tourism images and a small, clearly labelled illustrative data set, such as visitor purposes, seasonal visitor numbers or types of local tourism businesses. Students use the evidence table to record what they notice, one reasonable inference and one question. Groups compare findings. Teacher checks that students distinguish observation (“the graph is higher in summer”) from inference (“more people may visit during warmer weather”) and avoid treating an illustrative data set as a complete picture of tourism.

5. 41–53 min · Create a shared concept map. Teacher models a central term, “Timaru tourism”, on the board and uses the concept-map instructions to elicit connected ideas: people, places, culture, environments and economies. Groups add at least one example and two labelled links to their worksheet concept map, using linking phrases such as “provides jobs for”, “affects”, “depends on” and “helps people learn about”. Invite groups to contribute ideas to a whole-class map. Prompt consideration of both benefits and possible challenges, including pressure on environments, congestion, cultural respect and unequal benefits.

6. 53–60 min · Inquiry questions and exit check. Teacher shows the question-quality checklist and asks students to turn one wonder into an open question beginning “How”, “Why” or “To what extent”. Students write one individual question on the worksheet and complete the exit prompt: “Tourism connects ___ and ___ because…”. Select several questions to read aloud and explain that the strongest questions will help shape later investigations into Timaru’s people, place and futures.

Resources

• one tourism introduction slide deck
• one-page tourism roles, evidence and concept-map worksheet
• Projector or interactive board
• Board and markers
• Two photographs of Timaru tourism places or activities
• Short, labelled tourism data set
• Student devices, if available, for displaying local images

Assessment

• Listen for accurate distinctions between visitor, resident, provider and host community during partner and group explanations.
• Check worksheet evidence tables and concept maps for observations supported by data, meaningful connections and consideration of different perspectives.
• Collect the final question and exit response to identify misconceptions and plan the next lesson.

Differentiation

• Provide a word bank, icons and sentence starters: “A visitor is…”, “The evidence suggests…”, and “Tourism connects ___ with ___ because…”.
• Allow students to discuss ideas orally before writing; pair students strategically and provide a partially completed concept-map frame where needed.
• Support EAL learners with photographs, plain-language definitions and opportunities to use familiar travel experiences; accept labelled diagrams or recorded responses.
• Extend students by asking them to identify who benefits from a tourism activity, who may experience costs, and what further evidence would be needed to investigate their claim.