Processes in Planes and Airports- Present and Past Passive Practice

Processes in Planes and Airports- Present and Past Passive Practice
Choose one process in an airport which you have experienced, know about, or can guess,
e.g. one of the processes in the list below. Explain what you experienced (using past
tenses) or know or can guess about the process (using present tenses if it is probably true
now). Explain the process one step at a time and use

“be + PP”

(past participle) as much

as you can. Your partner will listen carefully then comment on anything that you missed
out or which could be different, e.g. was different in another airport that they went to. They
should also be careful to use the right tense depending on whether what they say is one
past experience or something that is generally true.

Useful phrases for talking about processes
The first stage is…/ At the beginning of the process,…/ The process starts with…
The second step is…/ Secondly,…
After that…/ …, then…/ Next,…/… goes onto…
Before that…/ That follows…
While that is happening…/ At the same time,…
The final stage is…/ At the end of the process,…/ Finally,.../ Last of all,…

Useful phrases for doing the activity
You forgot to mention…
On… flights…
In my case…
In the past…
More recently…
I heard…

Possible airport processes to explain


Between check in and getting on the plane



Boarding (from reaching your gate to the plane taking off)



Booking a flight



Buying duty free on the plane



Changing your flight



Chasing up lost luggage



Checking in



Checking in online



Complaining about a fight



Customs



Duty free shopping



Eating an in-flight meal



Getting to the check in desk from the city centre



Getting to the city centre from the airport



Going through security



Transferring between flights



What happens to luggage at the airport that you arrive at



What happens to luggage at the airport that you depart from

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2015