Beyond the Postcard: Europe's New Capitals
Grammar: Cleft sentences — full range
A Level 5 English lesson exploring travel.
What's in this lesson
A Level 5 (advanced) ESL lesson on travel, practising cleft sentences — full range. The worksheet has a reading, target vocabulary, a grammar reference with practice and discussion questions.
From the reading: Beyond the Postcard: Europe's New Capitals
It is not Rome or Paris that dominates the conversation among experienced travellers anymore — it is cities like Porto, Tbilisi, and Ljubljana that generate the real excitement. What has shifted is not the quality of Europe's traditional capitals but the expectations of the people visiting them. A new generation of travellers, armed with long-haul low-cost flights and an appetite for the unscripted, has quietly redrawn the map. What they want is not a queue for the Eiffel Tower but a neighbourhood they can genuinely get lost in.
Vocabulary
- absorb a wave
- at the intersection
- generate excitement
- heavily in
Grammar: Cleft Sentences
- It-cleft (emphasis)
- It was the waterfront that surprised me most. — stresses the subject or object
- Wh-cleft (what-cleft)
- What the city needs is better cycling infrastructure. — focuses on the predicate
Discussion questions
- Have you ever visited a European city that completely surprised you?
- Is 'overtourism' ruining famous destinations?
- What makes a city worth revisiting rather than just ticking off?
Beyond the Postcard: Europe's New Capitals
Grammar: Cleft sentences — full range
What's in this lesson:
Full lesson plan with reading, grammar, vocabulary, and discussion.
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