LICEOS DEL EJERCITOLICEO PATRIA

Welcome to our English

VirtualClass.

TOPICExploring the world

LEARNERS

This lesson was designed for students of

fifth grade.OBJECTIVES• Given a reading, students will be better

to read for general ideas and details.

• By the end of the lesson students will be

able to understand vocabulary used to

describe countries.

LET’S EXPLORE DUBAI

What do you know about Dubai? Would you like to visit it? I invite you to read this e-book about Dubai, some of the words

have the definition, just click on them. Then answer the questions that are at the end and in the attached word document..

Enjoy your trip!

LOCATION

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) consists of seven Emirates’ and Dubai is the most popular destination of them all. It is situated on the southern shore of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula. Dubai is the second largest Emirate after Abu Dhabi and is usually recognized as the ‘Pearl of the Persian Gulf’.

CLIMATE

Dubai has a hot arid climate The highest recorded temperature in Dubai is 47.3 °C (117.1 °F), and the lowest recorded temperature is 7 °C (45 °F).

POPULATION

According to the census conducted by the Statistics Center of Dubai, the population of the emirate was 1,422,000 as of 2006, which included 1,073,000 males and 349,000 females.

LANGUAGE

Although Arabic is the official language of Dubai, Malayalam, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil, Persian, Tagalog, Chinese and other languages are spoken in Dubai. English is the lingua franca of the city and is very widely spoken by residents.

ECONOMY

The emirate's main revenues are from tourism, real estate and financial services. Although Dubai's economy was originally built on the back of the oil industry, revenues from petroleum and natural gas currently contribute less than 6% of the emirate's economy.

EDUCATION

There are 88 public schools run by the Ministry of Education that serve Emiratis and expatriate Arabs as well as 132 private schools. The medium of instruction in public schools is Arabic with emphasis on English as a second language, while most of the private schools use English as their medium of instruction. Approximately 10% of the population has university or postgraduate degrees.

NIGHTLIFE 

Dubai has an excellent nightlife scene with a large choice of bars and nightclubs to be enjoyed. The bars that are allowed to serve alcohol are mostly in hotels, though there are a few exceptions.Dubai also has some interesting laws regarding nightclubs; they all must close at 3 am, 21 years and over is the legal drinking age but there are even some clubs that can refuse entry to anyone under 25 years of age

SHOOPING

Dubai has got excellent shopping facilities. With excellent tax-free prices and bargaining options, markets in Dubai have become quite popular among the tourists. There are a lot of shopping malls and souks spread across the city. The Dubai Shopping Festival in spring and Dubai Summer Surprises in summer are two major events where you will find lot of bargains and other entertainment activities.

BEACHES

Dubai is land of sun and sand, so beaches form the most attractive part of its beauty. The city’s main beaches consist of the long stretch of Jumeirah Beach Park and the Al Mazmar Beach Park which is an artificial park cum beachfront. Dubai is an excellent place to visit during the winter months when the temperatures are pleasant enough to enjoy the beaches. During summers, the beaches look deserted during the day and all tourists flock in the evening. Just avoid getting out to the beachfront when temperatures reach their peak of 40 degree Celsius.

THE BURJ AL ARAB

At 321 m (1,050 ft), it is the second tallest building in the world used exclusively as a hotel. It stands on an artificial island 280 m (920 ft) out from Jumeirah beach, and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. It is an iconic structure, designed to symbolize Dubai's urban transformation and to mimic the sail of a boat.Construction of Burj Al Arab began in 1994. The hotel cost US$650 million to build. It is one of the most expensive hotels in the world. The cost of staying in a suite begins at US$1,000 per night; the Royal Suite is the most expensive, starting at US$28,000 per night

BURJ DUBAI

A super tall skyscraper under construction in Dubai is the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 818 m (2,684 ft). Construction began on 21 September 2004, and the tower is expected to be completed and ready for occupancy by the end of 2009. 

QUESTIONS

• What did you learned about Dubai?• What was the most interesting for you?• For the next class, prepare a power point presentation,

about a country you would like to visit and give reasons why.

SOME RESOURCESIf you want to know the meaning of a word you can go to:http://dictionary.reference.com/http://www.yourdictionary.com/http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asphttp://www.pdictionary.com/http://www.my-english-dictionary.com/

If you want to learn more about Dubai, feel free to go to:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubaihttp://www.dubai.com/http://www.godubai.com/aboutdubai/

Thanks, I hope you have enjoyed your trip!

See you around our next adventure.