Listening

Warm Up

Helpful Words and Phrases

Listen and repeat.

  1. high tide
    • ex. High tide is at 4:57 today.
  2. sand
    • ex. I took off my shoes so I could walk in the sand.
  3. repairs
    • ex. My car needs repairs, so I can’t drive it this week.
  4. overtourism
    • ex. Overtourism is a problem for many popular cities in Europe.
  5. a coral reef
    • ex. Coral reefs are home to fish and many other animals.

Article

Read the article below and answer your tutor's questions.

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The government of Hawaii announced a $13 million plan to improve Waikiki Beach, one of the island’s most popular attractions. In 2018, around 60% of Oahu’s 10 million tourists visited the beach. The large number of tourists put over $8 billion into the local economy.

The $13 million will be used for a number of different projects. Currently, the beach is very small at high tide, so they plan to expand the beach by adding fresh sand. Additionally, they will do repairs on multiple seawalls. Waikiki Beach is actually a man-made beach, so these repairs are very important to keep its top ranking.

Waikiki Beach is not the only popular beach in need of repairs. In 2018, the Philippines’ popular Boracay Beach was closed for six months for repairs. Overtourism had caused a number of environmental problems for the beach. In the same year, the government of Thailand ordered a yearly shutdown of Maya Beach to try to save its coral reefs.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

Overtourism

  • Is overtourism becoming a problem in your country? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Should countries limit the number of tourists in areas affected by overtourism? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • What do you think is the cause of overtourism? Why? Discuss.

Popular Attractions

  • What do you think is the most popular attraction in your country (ex. Tokyo Tower, Mt. Fuji)? Why? Discuss.
  • Do you think popular attractions in your country are taken care of well? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Do you think it’s better to visit popular attractions or less popular ones? Why? Discuss.