Visiting Seattle

Introduction

The overall shape of the City of Seattle is like an hourglass, stretching from north to south. The city is flanked by the water bodies of Lake Washington to the east and Puget Sound to the west, and divided more or less at its center by the Lake Washington Ship Canal (which runs east-west). The topography is very hilly; the city is built on seven adjacent hills. As a result, while the city street system is generally laid out in a grid pattern, it is full of streets that wind and curve and run at arbitrary angles to one another.

Seattle streets that run north-south are labeled "Avenues", and east-west running streets are labeled "Streets". Most of the streets that tend to wind and curve, or run diagonally to the gridded streets, are labeled "Boulevard", "Road", "Place" and so on. The city also has a number of bridges, many of which cross the Lake Washington Ship Canal, joining the north and south sections of the city together.

The founders and early leaders of Seattle, the Misters Denny, Maynard and Boren, didn't see eye to eye on how to lay out the street plats in the downtown area, and as a result, the streets along the edges of the central business district sometimes join up at odd angles as you head in or out of the downtown core. These discrepancies can be fun to discover when you are walking, but confusing when you are driving.

Your best bet is to buy and carry a street map when you're trying to find an address or navigate around Seattle.

Task

Your mom is visiting you next week. As this is the first time your mom is visiting Seattle, she needs some directions for her to get to your house.

Resources

Below are some sites that will help you accomplish the task.

Websites

• Seattle Center

http://seattlecenter.com/transportation/

• Visiting Seattle
  https://www.seattle.gov/html/visitor/directions.htm
• Giving directions in English

http://sela-beginningenglish.blogspot.mx/2010/06/giving-direction-1.htmlhttp://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/vocabulary/directions

• Definitions and Pronunciation                                                                                          http://www.merriam-webster.com/

Process
  

1. Visit and study all the notes in the websites.
2. Review the exercises done in class (Map, giving directions…)
3. Go to this website http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=2752 and answer all the exercises.
4. Write an e-mail to your mom, telling her how to get from the airport to your house based on this map

 
        5. Upload the e-mail to Dropbox.

Evaluation

WRITING

Task completion

3	addresses the writing task effectively
2	some parts of the writing task are not addressed
1	addresses only slight parts of the task

Use of the language

4	displays consistent facility in the use of appropriate language for the task
3	displays facility in the use of language with slight inconsistencies in appropriacy but communication not impaired
2	inconsistent facility with syntax, usage and appropriacy, impairing communication or comprehension
1	serious problems and frequent errors in sentence structure  or usage, obscuring meaning

Form (Organisation)

3	Material well organized
2	Some lack of organization
1	Lack of organisation so severe

Conclusion

Upon completion of this project you will have learned how to give directions in English.