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This column is for self-study or classroom use and gives guided help with reading the wide variety of writing styles and topics that appear as feature articles in the Bangkok Post. The lessons include background information, skill-building practice and vocabulary explanations. June 28, 2005 Taking the scenic route INTRODUCTION

TEACHERS Here’s an example of a lesson you can teach using Horizons – a very useful source of reading material for your students. This is especially true for students in travel-related English courses. The story is suited for typical travel workers. But anyone – those working in standard tourism or upscale tourism – should be able to use a map effectively with their customers to explain a possible trip. This story can give them some valuable practice. I have made a couple of suggestions in the students’ notes to help them read the column more actively. First they should definitely use the map and the photos to follow the route as described in the text. They should also how they might take the trip, i.e., which parts of it they would most likely want to experience. The writing exercise is more grammar-oriented. I’ve had requests from teachers for suggestions on how to incorporate grammar into a reading course and this activity is a good, easy example of how this can be done. Simply change the timeframe from pre-trip to post-trip and the students are forced into making tense changes. However, it might be a good idea to practice some of the past tense verb forms with them before they start, e.g. was, drove, saw, ate, started, set off, etc. Lesson idea Cut away the text of the story and put the map and the photos on a single card. Have the students use the map and the photos to describe the trip. Obviously, they will need to prepare a lot to do this, but it is a great way to see how much language and information they retain once they can’t refer to the text. Keep the lesson for future use. Since this is a weekly column, you can do this each week. Or you might want to keep only the trips that are the most interesting for your students. Eventually, this could be a great group activity with each group learning to describe a different trip to share with other groups. STUDENTS This is a relatively new column in Horizons and I think it is a good idea. Each week, the writer takes you on a short drive, allowing you to follow the route in your mind with the help of a map and photos. Be sure to use them both as you read. Does this sound like a trip you would like to make? Suppose that you decide to take this trip. The writer gives you several options, i.e., you can stop and eat and you can take side roads to see some additional sights. Decide how you would take the trip. Activity Pretend you have just finished the trip. Write a short description of where you went, what you saw and what you thought about each place. Since you will be writing about the past, you will have to use tenses that refer to the past.

OUR STORY FROM THE BANGKOK POST Lom Sak Nam Nao PONGPET MEKLOY Not far from the Pho Khun Pha Muang Bridge is a viewpoint where you can see wooded hills and the prominent red cliff called Pha Daeng. Forests around the cliff are designated as Phu Pha Daeng Wildlife Sanctuary. One of the Kingdom’s most scenic highways, No. 12 stretches from Tak all the way to Khon Kaen. Today, we'll explore just a short section of this beautiful road. Our starting point today is the Statue of Pho Khun Pha Muang, the founder of Phetchabun and a good friend of Pho Khun Si Intarathit, first ruler of the Sukhothai Kingdom. His statue stands near the crossway where No.12 intersects with No. 21, just a few kilometres south of Lom Sak. From that intersection, we'll go westward towards Nam Nao National Park. Sixteen kilometres from where we set off, the road starts to go uphill and soon you'll reach the big bridge named after the revered Pho Khun Pha Muang. A couple of kilometres from the bridge, if you're hungry, there’s a viewpoint with somtam stalls. From here the road becomes curvy. Drive carefully and watch out for oncoming vehicles. Along the way, you'll see signs warning you to keep an eye on rocks that might fall from the cliff on the roadside. Take heed, they’re not kidding. Home to more than 200 species of birds, Nam Nao National Park is a popular birdwatching destination. The park has binoculars and telescopes for budding birders. The beautiful green peafowl you see here hangs out near the headquarters. A while after you pass the shrine of Chao Pho Pha Daeng, the spirit that protects that big red cliff which is today’s Point C, you’ll reach the checkpoint of Nam Nao National Park. Ten kilometres from the checkpoint, there’s a sign telling you to turn left and visit Tham Pha Hong viewpoint. Unless you’re interested in having mosquitoes coming all over you as soon as you step out of the car, just ignore it and drive seven kilometres further to the Phu Kho viewpoint. The scenery is much better there too. The minor road that leads to the park’s headquarters and lodgings is just four kilometres from Phu Kho. From the headquarters, if you drive back to the Highway 12 and go three and a half kilometres further west, you’ll see a dirt road on the right-hand side which can take you to the Phu Kum Khao pine forest. From that point, Haew Sai Waterfall, another of Nam Nao’s major points of interest, is 14 kilometres or so down the highway. scenic having many beautiful natural features intersect (of lines, roads, etc.) to cross one another revered much respected curvy turning or bending often and having few straight parts cliff a high area of rock with a very steep side take heed take the warning seriously; i.e., be careful they’re not kidding they’re serious; they’re not joking viewpoint a direction or place from which you look at something • This lesson is adapted from the Bangkok Post’s You Can Read website. For more inspiring lesson ideas, log on to www.bangkokpost.com/youcanread. Read our other learner centre columns here. Return to our home page. | © The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 2005 | Last modified: June 27, 2005