Creating a travel brochure allows a student to research, explore, and think creatively.
Teaching world culture and geography to students through the lens of travel is one of the most engaging lessons a teacher can create and implement. Incorporating the hands-on element of creating an art project further heightens the student engagement level. A travel brochure is a simple and artistic activity to teach students about different cultures, different geographical areas of the world and different people. It also encourages research skills, critical thinking as students select and analyze information to include, and creative expression as they design their projects.
Instructions
1. Select a country or city to create a travel brochure about. This is the place that the student will need to research and find appropriate images to represent. The place may be selected based on a particular unit of study, a setting for a story or book that has been read in class, or can be left to the child's choosing.
2. Use a computer and word processor to create a rubric for the project. The rubric must specify what information the students must research and include in their project. It may include information about demographics, geography, topography, attractions, history, cultural traditions or anything relevant to the unit of study. The rubric must also include age-appropriate specifications such as using proper grammar and spelling, or a certain number of images or amount of text. Print the rubric when completed so copies can be made and distributed to the students.
3. Type the instructions for the project. These instructions may be broken up into three parts: researching the country or city, creating the travel brochure, and presenting the final presentation. Each section should specify the required steps for making the brochure. For example, researching the country may require the student to use two internet sources and two print sources to gather information. It may also repeat the required components designated by the rubric, such as a section about cultural history or popular attractions.
The instructions for creating the lesson plan should specify how the students make the actual product. A common method is to take a piece of printer paper and tri-fold it to look like a brochure found in a travel agency. The instructions should also state whether images may be all computer-printed, or if some or all should be cut and pasted from photographs and magazines. The final section, the presentation, should state whether students are to simply hand in their brochures by a deadline, or if they will be presenting their brochure and information to the class.
4. Create an example brochure. This can be done using computer paper, magazine images that are cut and glued, or images printed from the internet. Be sure to follow all guidelines from the rubric so the students are not confused by a discrepancy between the example and the instructions. This example can be paired with examples of actual travel brochures from a travel agency to give students inspiration for creativity in their projects.
5. Put all relevant materials--rubric, instructions, example brochures--in a folder to be kept together with any related materials, such as a unit about a region of the world or a novel set in another country. Use this folder to make photocopies of the rubric and instructions for the student and to keep examples of excellent student work to show future classes.
Tags: travel brochure, country city, researching country, rubric must, should specify, state whether