Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy your whirlwind tour of as many major attractions as you can possibly hit in one day. Bus tours are good way to see a new country or city if you want to visit a bunch of different sites in a short amount of time. They’re also great if you don’t want to worry about getting lost. Just make sure you don’t forget where the bus is parked!
On the other hand, if you spend all your time on a bus with a bunch of other tourists, you probably won’t have a very authentic, local experience. Plus, sometimes the best parts of visiting a foreign country are the experiences you didn’t plan or expect. Find out if Amy and Devan like to go on bus tours, or if they’d rather rough it.
Dialog
1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.
2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.
![]() Amy |
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Amy: Have you ever gone on a bus tour?
Devan: I haven’t. I thought about going on one of those Double-Decker buses when I went to New York but I didn’t end up doing it. What about you? Have you done that?
Amy: No, I haven’t, and I’m really…I’m not sure I can see the appeal, you know, of just getting on a bus and snapping some pictures at all the monuments and then getting back on the bus.
Devan: Yeah, it does kinda seem like a tourist trap thing. And it’s like…kinda like…I don’t know, I feel the same way about it that I feel about cruises.
Amy: Yeah.
Devan: You spend so much time on the cruise boat or the bus that you hardly get to spend any time at the sites that you’re supposed to be seeing, you know?
Amy: Yeah.
Devan: And I think that’s kinda weird.
Amy: And you have to follow somebody else’s schedule, too, like you have to get up at a certain time, and then it’s like, OK, you have an hour here, and then you have to be back on the boat, or back on the bus, and you just can’t have any of those spontaneous travel experiences where you just kinda wander around and then, you know, find something amazing and decide to spend as much time there as you want.
Devan: I can see how it could be good for like, maybe people like elderly people, you know, people that aren’t super mobile or can move a lot or really know what they’re doing and kinda need some guidance. But for any like young, adventurous person it seems like a strange thing to do when you could just run around on your own and do whatever you wanted instead of doing what someone else tells you to do.
Grammar Point
Go Super to learn "Verbs with "-ing"" from this lesson
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Discussion
Devan nearly took a tour bus when she visited New York. But in general, she agrees with Amy that bus tours might not be the best way to see a new place.
Devan thinks that when you take a cruise or a bus tour, you end up spending more time on the boat or bus than at the actual destination. Amy points out that when you are on a tour, you usually can’t set your own schedule. You might have to wake up early in the morning to get on the bus, which isn’t everybody’s favorite thing to do!
But Amy and Devan agree that bus tours can be convenient for people who have a hard time getting around on their own or for people who want to have a worry-free vacation.
Have you ever been on a bus tour? What is your favorite way to see a new place?
Comments
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