Viewp ints
10 My Greek Vacation
1 Synopsis
Elena shows her friends, Josie and Tom, photos and
describes her vacation in Greece. She talks about the
two weeks she spent on the Greek island of Rhodes
where she swam, fished, and took boat trips to different
islands. She also tells them that her mom was born
on Rhodes. Then she describes her visit to Athens and
shows them pictures of the Parthenon (an ancient
temple on a hill called the Acropolis) and Greek soldiers
in traditional uniforms, called evzones. She talks about
her plans to go back next summer, and now, her friends
would like to go with her.
Length of video: 3:10min
2 Target Language
Grammar: Simple Past; so + adjective; want to + inf.
Vocabulary: leisure activities, months
Language Points: I bet. Cool! Are you serious? Those
are really neat pictures. Hmmmlet me think about it.
3 Procedural Notes
A Before you watch
As a class. Read aloud the list of base verbs. Make sure
students know their pronunciation and meaning.
In pairs. Have students work together to write the
simple past form of each verb. You could allow them to
use dictionaries for this task. Check answers as a class.
Answer key: go went, swim swam, catch caught,
see saw, ride rode, make made, stay stayed,
have had, take took, want wanted C After you watch
Ask students to tell you which verbs are regular and why
(stayed, wanted they end in -ed).
B While you watch
1 Individuals. Give students time to read the list of
activities. Make sure they understand all the past verb
forms. Tell them to watch the video and check the things
that Elena did. Play the whole video. Check answers,
asking students to add more information about each
activity if they can (e.g. She swam every morning.).
Answer key: swam (every morning), visited islands
(by boat), stayed in Athens (it was really hot), visited
monuments (the Parthenon), took pictures, made
videos (of the evzones)
Viewpoints D.R. Macmillan Publishers S.A. de C.V. 2009
Teachers Notes
2 Individuals. Play the opening segment of the video
again (until Tom arrives). Have students underline the
stressed words. Check answers. Then have students
shadow read along with the video (see video tip #6 in
the DVD booklet).
Answer key:
Josie: Elena, that is so beautiful!
Elena: Isnt it nice?
Josie: You are so lucky! I really want to go there.
Elena: I know. I want to go back so much, you cant
imagine.
Josie: I bet. And I want to come with you next time.
3 In pairs. Have students work in pairs to complete the
simple past questions in Exercise 3. If necessary, play this
section of the video again to check the answers (from
when Tom arrives to the end).
Answer key: 1 Where did you go on vacation?
2 Why did you choose Rhodes?
3 Didnt you want to stay there forever?
4 Individuals. Have students work individually to write
as much as they can remember about each place. Then
gather information from the whole class to complete the
chart on the board.
Answer key: The Parthenon in Athens, on a hill (the
Acropolis), over 2,000 years old, a temple built for the
goddess Athena;
The evzones Greek soldiers, wear traditional costumes,
have a special way of marching, everyone took pictures
As a class. Read aloud the simple past questions and
check that students understand them. You could have
students repeat the questions in a choral drill to practice
question intonation.
Individuals. Tell students to think of their last vacation
(or a memorable vacation). Give them time to write
answers to the questions. Circulate to help out with
grammar and vocabulary as needed.
In pairs. Have students take turns asking and answering
the questions about their last vacation. If you have time,
you could ask volunteers to tell the rest of the class
about their partners vacation.

10 My Greek Vacation
D Language points
Individuals. Have students choose the correct meaning
of the words and phrases in italics. Check answers.
Answer key: 1a, 2b, 3a, 4b, 5b
4 Video Script
Josie: Elena, that is so beautiful!
Elena: Isnt it nice?
Josie: Youre so lucky! I really want to go there.
Elena: I know. I want to go back so much, you cant
imagine!
Josie: I bet. And I want to come with you next
time.
Tom: Hi, guys!
Josie: Hi, Tom.
Elena: Hi, Tom.
Tom: What are you doing?
Josie: Were looking at Elenas vacation pictures.
Tom: Nice. Where did you go on vacation?
Elena: Greece.
Tom: I want to go to Greece so badly!
Josie: Me too.
Tom: Where did you go?
Elena: Well, first I went to Rhodos.
Tom: Rhodos?
Josie: Its an island. Rhodos is the Greek name. Its
called Rhodes in English.
Tom: Wow, Josie, you suddenly know a lot about
Greece!
Josie: Not really. Elena just told me.
Tom: It looks beautiful.
Elena: It is. This is the beach near my hotel.
Tom: Wow!
Josie: Cool.
Elena Yeah, I swam every morning. The water is so
clear. And look at this boat. I made a video
with my camera. It was very beautiful. We
fished, but I didnt catch anything. The boat
took us to different islands.
Josie: There are a lot of islands in Greece, right?
Viewpoints D.R. Macmillan Publishers S.A. de C.V. 2009
Viewp ints
E Your viewpoint
As a class. Elicit activities that people do on vacation and
write them on the board.
Suggested answers: go skiing, go swimming, relax,
sunbathe, go sightseeing, eat in restaurants, go hiking,
take pictures, buy souvenirs
In pairs. Put students in pairs to discuss the kinds of
activities they like doing on vacation. Circulate to help
out with vocabulary.
Elena: Yeah, I think there are about fourteen
hundred.
Tom: Fourteen hundred?
Josie: Yeah.
Tom: So why did you choose Rhodes?
Elena: Well, its a really interesting place with a
lot of history. But I also wanted to go there
because my mom was born there.
Tom: Really? Your mom was born there?
Elena: Yes, but her family came to the U.S. when
she was 5.
Josie: How long were you there for?
Elena: Well, I left Little Rock in mid July, spent 2
weeks on Rhodes, and in the beginning of
August I flew to Athens.
Josie: What was Athens like?
Elena: Uh, it was really wonderful, but it was also
very hot. The architecture is amazing. Look at
this.
Tom: Whats that?
Elena: Thats the Parthenon. Its really old. Its over
2,000 years old!
Josie: Are you serious?
Tom: Thats amazing. What was it?
Elena: Well, it was a temple of the Greek goddess
Athena. Its on a hill called the Acropolis.
Josie: Its beautiful. Did you get a chance to walk
around it?
Elena: Yes, I did. Look at this one.
Josie: Wow! Who are those guys??
Elena: Theyre called evzones.
Tom: Say again?
Elena: Evzones. Theyre soldiers.
Josie: Are they wearing skirts?

10 My Greek Vacation
Elena: Yeah, theyre really pretty actually. Its their
uniform. And theyve a really interesting way
of marching. Look at this, I made a video.
Elena: You see? At first, they stood over there. And
then they marched up and down. There
were a lot of people there and everyone took
photos. It was spectacular.
Tom: Those are really neat pictures, Elena.
Elena: Thank you. It was a wonderful vacation.
Josie: Didnt you want to stay there forever?
Elena: Well, it was wonderful, but I also wanted to
come home.
Viewpoints D.R. Macmillan Publishers S.A. de C.V. 2009
Viewp ints
Tom: Are you planning to go back?
Elena: I sure am. Next summer.
Tom: Can I come with you?
Josie: No! I want to go with her.
Tom: You do?
Josie: You bet. Its gorgeous there!
Tom: OK. Well, in that case, Elena, can we both
come with you?
Elena: Hmm, let me think about it.
Written by Ingrid Wisniewska
Design: Wild Apple Design Ltd.