Asian Odyssey
Synopsis: Asian Odyssey is a lower level to intermediate interactive story, which follows the journey of a group of young Japanese university students on a trip around Asia. This one was written for high school students but I have only ever used it with lower level university students.
The syntax that we focus on in this story is listed on the first page under contents and there are ten episodes.
Download the text: Asian Odyssey (pdf), by Mark White
CONTENTS
1. The Start of the Journey (be verb)
2. The Boat Trip (there is/are)
3. Okinawa, Korea and China (present simple)
4. Taiwan and Hong Kong and China (present continuous)
5. Vietnam, China and The Philippines (future going to)
6.China,Vietnam,Cambodia and the Philippines(present perfect)
7.Some Problems in South East Asia.(“would” conditional)
8.The Escape (comparatives)
9. Australia (superlatives)
10. Back in Japan (gerunds)
1. THE START OF THE JOURNEY
It is the start of the rainy season in Japan. Four university students are at a bar. Is it an expensive bar? Is it crowded?
The name of one of the students is Yuichi. How old is he? Is he good- looking? Is he intelligent? Is he hard-working? Is he cool? Yuichi studies engineering. Is it interesting? Is it difficult? Is his university expensive?
Yuichi talks to one of his friends. The name of the friend is Gen. Is he the same age? Is he from Osaka? Is he fun? Is he funny? Is he well-off? Is he drunk? Gen studies law. Is it hard? Is it boring? Is it useful? Is his university prestigious?
Gen and Yuichi and two other friends are at a table. Yuichi is in the corner. Gen is next to him. There are two people on the other side of the table. One of them is a guy and the other one is a young woman. They are students too. They are a couple. The name of the guy is Kazu. Is he a university student? Is he hungry?
There is a lot of food on the table. Is it hot? Is it Japanese food? What is it? There is some beer on the table too. Is it cold? Is it Yebisu?
The name of Kazu’s girlfriend is Yoshimi. Is she attractive? How old is she? Is she tall? Is she overweight? Is she funny? Is she stupid? Is she tired? Is she drunk? Is she a student? Is she a student of history? Is she a student of English?
The four friends want to travel during the summer vacation. They want to go to Australia. They want to travel by land and water through Asia to Australia.
Yuichi wants to travel through the Philippines. Is the Philippines dangerous? Gen wants to go via Korea. Is Korea safe? Yoshimi and Kazu want to go straight to China. How much is a boat ticket from Osaka to Shanghai? How long is the voyage? How far is it? Is it dangerous?
At the end of the first semester the four friends leave. Yoshimi and Kazu take a boat. Is it very big? Is it fast? Is the sea calm?
Yuichi takes a boat too. He takes a boat to Okinawa. How much is it? Is Okinawa in Japan? Is it nice there? Is the language like Japanese?
Gen hitches to Shimonoseki. Is Shimonoseki in Kyushu? Is it big? Is hitching safe? Is it easy? Is the weather fine?
Gen catches a boat. It goes to Pusan. Is the sea rough? He talks to an American woman on the boat. Is she friendly? Is she an English teacher? Is she attractive? Is she blond?
Download the text: Asian Odyssey (pdf), by Mark White
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Did my first interactive story today with a private student with Asian Odyssey. It was wonderful, thanks. Amazing… We were trying to think of details like the name of the bar and stuff, too.
I also really enjoyed the mp3 file talking about interactive stories. It was very encouraging. I get a little discouraged, sometimes… Thanks, again.
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it is realy a good read an interactive story, it is very useful for us to learned real english conversation, you listen then you answer the question from the narrator it is fun you know.. it’s realy wonderful, so thank you very much to the people who was started this kind of usefull english tutorial..
I enjoyed it.Thank you.
I am very greatful of AJ that he has create this facilatation that people has been improving his/her daily english and i hope that every boday will use thier own effert to help other and fillful thier weaknesess , this is realy clear to the world that english is not the native language for the entire world but need to try to learn real and clear english it need lots efforts and straggles which will not easy to do on own it need to help you the native people , I hope that the native people will help us an all aspect of the english way , I have been straggling for about two an half year to improve my english it is still not the real postion but get better then past if comper and people telling me daily base your english is not too bed why you are tring to learn more but in fact my heart saying it is not as like the native sepakers speak.
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Hi there Mark,
Wow, this is a fantastic resource. I love this Asian Odyssey text. There is so much listening and speaking practice here for students, what an excellent piece of text. And it is really interesting for students as it encourages them to interact and use their imaginations, along with showing their level of fluency in a fun and expressive way. Brilliant.
Thank you so much.
Jon
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Thank you very much, very helpful to improve English speaking.
James Peter