Recently our CISL San Diego students took a trip to Belmont Park and Mission Beach for some afternoon relaxation. They had a great time and were kind enough to share some photos with us!

To celebrate this fun part of San Diego, we are offering a short reading about Belmont Park and Mission Beach. If you don’t know the words in bold, try to guess their meaning from the context of the sentence. This is great practice for all students, but especially helpful for students taking the TOEFL, Cambridge CAE or FCE, or IELTS test soon.

Fun in the Sun: CISL Students at Mission Beach’s Belmont Park

Belmont Park is a staple of Mission Beach. Its major roller coaster, the Big Dipper, and its pool, the Plunge Olympic pool, were built in 1925! Today students who are over 21 can also enjoy The Wave House, which has a simulated wave machine for amateur and professional surfers to tackle.

CISL students recently took a trip to Mission Beach’s Belmont Park. In addition to hanging out at the beach, students enjoyed Belmont Park’s games, laser tag, and the Sky Climb rock wall before heading over to Mission Beach for some relaxation.

It looks like everyone had a great time!

 

Vocabulary Challenge:

Do you know what each of the words in bold means?

Staple (noun)

Simulated (past particle; adjective)

Amateur (noun)

Tackle (verb)

Heading Over (phrasal verb)

 

Can you use them in a sentence?

Staple (noun) ______________________________________________________________________________________

Simulated (adjective) ______________________________________________________________________________________

Amateur (noun) ______________________________________________________________________________________

Tackle (verb) ______________________________________________________________________________________

Heading Over (phrasal verb) ______________________________________________________________________________________

Speaking Practice

Can you answer these questions about the vocabulary words?

1. What is a staple of your diet?

2. The word “amateur” comes from the French word “lover of”. Why do you think the English language adopted and slightly changed the word? Does it make sense how the English language adapted the word?

3. Are you an amateur at something?

4. How do you tackle big problems at work/school?

5. Where are you heading over to after class finishes tomorrow?

 

Sunset photo from Shutterstock.