English Refresher · CEFR C1 · Unit 1

Travel: Purpose, Impact & Change

Build an advanced travel vocabulary and learn to argue with nuance. Practice, check your answers instantly, and study the flashcards.

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Speaking

Travel & You

What to do: Work in pairs or small groups. Discuss the questions and try to use the hedging phrases below. There is no score — just speak, listen, and qualify your opinions.

Audio 1Listen to an example

Listen to someone describe a trip that changed them — notice how they hedge and concede — then describe a journey of your own.

Talk about it

What kind of traveler are you — adventurer, planner, cultural explorer, or relaxation-seeker? Has that changed over the last ten years?
Is travel a necessity or a luxury today? Make the case for both before deciding.
Has any trip genuinely changed how you see the world? Or is that idea overstated?

Hedge and concede with these:
It could be argued that…By and large…That's a fair point, but…To some extent…Granted, … even so…I'd be inclined to think…

Featured Reading

The Evolving Purpose of Travel

Read the full interactive essay and do the comprehension quiz before you debate.

Read it →

Reading

From Purpose to Performance

What to do: Read this short extract from the unit essay. Then answer the questions and tap Check Answers. (Read the full article using the link above!)

For centuries, travel had a clear purpose — trade, diplomacy, pilgrimage, discovery. People crossed continents because they had to, not because a feed told them to. In the modern world, travel has become at once a rite of passage and a consumer habit, often reduced to a backdrop for a photograph.

This shift hasn't been all loss. Budget airlines and short-term rentals have democratized travel, letting millions see the world who never could before. Yet the same accessibility has produced overtourism, environmental strain, and a thinner, more performative kind of cultural engagement.

1. For most of history, travel had a clear ______.

2. Budget airlines and rentals have ______ travel (made it open to far more people).

3. Which downside does the writer name?

travel has become too expensive for everyone people no longer take photographs overtourism and a thinner, more performative engagement

Listening

Two Views on Overtourism

What to do: Listen two times. Then complete the sentences and answer the questions. Notice how the speakers disagree politely.

Audio 2Maya and Tom discuss tourist fees

Maya: I do think cities like Venice are right to charge a fee. The place is buckling under the weight of day-trippers.

Tom: Granted, the crowds are a problem. But isn't there a risk that you just turn travel into something only the wealthy can afford?

Maya: That's a fair point. Although — to be fair — we're talking about five euros, not five hundred. It's more of a nudge than a barrier.

Tom: True. I suppose what bothers me is the principle. Once you start pricing people out of public places, where does it end?

Maya: I take your point. But by and large I'd rather a city protect itself than collapse under the numbers.

Tom: No, you're probably right. I just wish there were a fairer way to manage it than a fee.

1. Maya thinks Venice is right to charge an entry ______.

2. Tom worries travel could become something only the ______ can afford.

3. Maya says the fee is more of a ______ than a barrier.

4. What is Tom's main objection to the fee?

it is far too expensive for tourists it could price ordinary people out of public places it will not reduce the crowds at all

5. How would you best describe the tone of the conversation?

angry and personal they completely agree on everything disagreeing, but respectful and balanced

Vocabulary

The Right Word

What to do: Complete each sentence with a term from the unit. Spelling counts. Tap Check Answers when you're done.

1. When a destination has far more visitors than it can handle, we call it ______.

2. Staying longer in one place and traveling mindfully is known as ______ ______.

3. A journey taken in order to grow or change as a person is called ______ travel.

4. Turning a living culture into a product to be bought and sold is its ______.

5. Traveling somewhere few tourists ever go is going ______ ______ ______ ______ (idiom, 4 words).

Blunt or Nuanced?

What to do: At C1, the same idea can sound blunt or balanced. Decide whether each statement is overstated or hedged. Tap a card to move it (first box, then second box, then back), then tap Check Answers.

Blunt / Overstated

Hedged / Nuanced

Structure

Build the Sentence

What to do: Tap the chunks in the correct order to build an advanced sentence (a hedge and a cleft). Tap a chunk in your answer to send it back. Then tap Check Answers.

1. A hedged claim:

2. A cleft sentence (for emphasis):

Writing

A Balanced Opinion Piece

What to do: Write 250–300 words on one prompt below. Take a clear position — but concede one strong opposing point and answer it. There is no automatic score; use the checklist.

Choose a prompt

"The Future of Travel: Sustainable or Selfish?"
"Has travel lost its original meaning?"
"Why travel still matters in a globalized world."

Model opening: "It has become fashionable to dismiss modern travel as little more than collecting backdrops for social media. There is, admittedly, some truth to this. And yet to write off travel entirely seems to me an overcorrection — for all its excesses, it remains one of the few experiences capable of unsettling our assumptions about how others live."

0 words

Did you include…

a clear thesis (your real position)
at least one genuine concession (Granted…, While that may be true…)
two hedged claims (It could be argued…, tends to…)
five unit vocabulary items (overtourism, slow travel, commodification…)
a conclusion that doesn't overstate your case

Vocabulary

Flashcards

What to do: Tap a card to reveal the meaning and an example. These are the key terms for this unit and the reading.

overtourismnountap to reveal

when too many tourists harm a place and its residents"Venice is the poster child for overtourism."

carrying capacitynountap to reveal

the number of visitors a place can handle without damage"The island has exceeded its carrying capacity."

slow travelnountap to reveal

traveling less but staying longer and more thoughtfully"Slow travel means one town, not ten."

transformational travelnountap to reveal

travel undertaken to grow or change as a person"For her it was transformational, not just a holiday."

voluntourismnountap to reveal

combining volunteering with tourism abroad"Voluntourism can help — or just feel good."

commodificationnountap to reveal

turning something (e.g. a culture) into a product to sell"The festival risks the commodification of tradition."

the tourist gazenountap to reveal

the way tourists view a place as a sight to consume"The tourist gaze reduces a city to a photo."

cultural immersionnountap to reveal

deep involvement in a local culture, not just observing it"A homestay offers real cultural immersion."

off the beaten trackidiomtap to reveal

away from the popular, crowded tourist spots"We found a village well off the beaten track."

performativeadjectivetap to reveal

done mainly to be seen by others rather than for itself"Much travel today feels performative."

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