B1 level. Main focus: You’re going to discover some phrases for giving instructions and advice, and you will then use these phrases to help visitors to an imaginary island.

Start here, and open the links in a new window or tab. Talk with a teacher or a partner about your answers. This is important if you want to practise your speaking! You can also write your answers here in the comments.

---

 

1.  Talk with your partner about your answers to these questions:

• What is an island? Can you describe it in English?
• How many islands have you visited? Which ones?
• What are the differences between island life and mainland life?
• Some people have bought islands and built a house there. Do you know of any famous examples?
• If you became very rich and famous, would you buy your own island? Why/ why not?

I’ve written some of my answers here, so after you finish talking you can compare yours with mine!

 

2.  Now you’re rich and famous! You need to get an island so that you can get away from all of your crazy fans, journalists and paparazzi photographers!

I’ll give you a link below to a list of islands for sale. If money was no object*, which would you buy?

*This is an English idiom. It means, ‘if you had so much money that you didn’t have to worry about anything being too expensive’.

https://www.privateislandsonline.com

Here’s another website you could check out:

https://www.vladi-private-islands.de/en/

 

3.  This lesson is called ‘Island Rules’. What are rules?

 

4. What rules do you have to follow at work/ university / school?

For example, in my workplace you must not smoke inside the building. What others can you think of?

(If you can’t remember any rules, try thinking about…

• the clothes you wear
• your location/ the places you go
• timekeeping
• the things you use e.g. computers, books
• forms you have to fill in)

 

5.  How did you say the rules in part 2? Did you use any modal verbs?

For revision of modal verbs, please look here.

 

6.  Do you know the meanings of these words and phrases? They’re all related to rules.

• breaking the rules
• against the law
• rebel
• obligation
• tighten the rules
• procedure
• inappropriate behaviour
• instructions

Can you fit the words and phrases into these sentences?

• The teacher went out of the room for ten minutes, but before she went she left strict __________ to the class that they must continue reading their books quietly.
• The __________ to join the school library is this: you fill in a form, get your tutor to sign it, give the form to the librarian, and then come back in a week to collect your library card.
• In my school, the rules were that kids had to wear black shoes, but some of us wore grey shoes as a way to _________ against the rules.
• Telling racist jokes in the office is _________ and we cannot let you do it!
• From next year, the government will _________ on immigration. Anyone who wants to work in this country will need to have a full time job and be getting more than £23,000 per year. They must also pay their salary into a UK bank account.
• If I ask ‘How’s you?’ then I’m _________ of English grammar!
• My uncle sent me some money for my birthday, so I feel an _________ to visit him for his birthday!
• It’s _________ to steal cars.

The answers are here.

 

7.  You’re now going to learn about some islands in Scotland.

Please look at the photos, read the text, and discuss this with your partner:

• Would you like to visit these islands?

 

 

 

 

8.  Now you’re going to look at the webpage of the Shiant Islands. What phrases can you find for giving rules and advice?

• Don’t just look for phrases containing ‘must’ and ‘should’.
• If there’s a word you don’t know, you can search for it online or in a dictionary. Even if you don’t understand every word on the webpage, I think you can still find lots of examples of rules and advice!

http://www.shiantisles.net/visit

You’ll find a list here of some of the phrases I found.

 

9.  So now it’s your turn! You’ve bought your island from one of the websites linked in Part 2. You’ve got your house there (or treehouse, beach hut, resort…) and now you would like to invite some visitors to stay.

What rules and advice would you give them? Take 10 minutes to think about it and write these rules down. After 10 minutes, talk with your partner or teacher and show them your list of rules.

Be as creative as you can!

---

 

If you’ve enjoyed this lesson, please leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you – and I’d love to read some of your island rules too!