philadelphia student tour guide

Flip the script and have your students be the tour guide! This engaging classroom project will deepen student engagement as they explore Philadelphia on their school trip.

Student Tour Guide: The Assignment

It’s your turn to be the tour guide! Prepare a 5-7 minute speech that showcases one of the sites that we will visit during our Philadelphia trip. Your speech should include historical context of the site, architectural elements, a story, and relevant logistics. Your presentation must also incorporate visual aids. Get ready to shine the light on Philadelphia!

Student Tour Guide: Speech Elements

History

Provide brief context or background for events that inspired the construction of the memorial, building, city, or sculpture. For example, for Philadelphia City Hall, you could briefly highlight details of the founding of City of Philadelphia.

Architectural Elements

Discuss the symbolism, layout, or interesting facts about memorial/building design. For example, with Philadelphia City Hall, you could share that this is the largest municipal building in the United States and that the exterior of the building is covered with allegorical figures and sculpture representing the seasons and continents.

Story

Tell a fun or interesting story pertaining to the memorial/building and/or the event it commemorates. For example, at Philadelphia City Hall, you could tell stories pertaining to curse of Billy Penn or how William Penn set aside the Center Square for public buildings, but it took 200 years before the square was used for that purpose.

Logistics

Address any relevant information pertaining to bathrooms, photography, security, meeting time, etc.

Student Tour Guide: Visual Aids

Visual aids are essential context for your presentation. However, since tour guides do not implement Powerpoint, Google Slides, etc. while on tour, this is not to be included. You may include one or more of the following:

Student Tour Guide:  Places to Choose From