The Return of the Long Queue
C1 reading: After complaints about waiting times, the leisure centre introduced online booking for swimming sessions. Includes vocabulary, six comprehension questions, discussion prompts and full-sentence answers.
What’s in the worksheet?
- 4 vocabulary explanations
- Six comprehension questions and two discussion prompts
- Separate full-sentence answer key and teaching notes
Question whether an empty physical queue proves improved access. The leisure-centre story shows that online booking can move inconvenience to people unable to act at a fixed release time, even when they can use technology.
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Page 3 of 3 · Answer key · A4 printable PDF
A simple way to teach it
Before the lesson
Use the reading, questions and key. Check capacity, reservation, constitutes and romanticise. The argument does not simply reject online services or praise the original queue.
- Identify who benefits from booking ahead and why the cleaner and parent struggle. Explain why digital training alone would not remove scheduling barriers.
- Answer the questions about the additional booking routes and unchanged capacity. Compare a photograph of an empty building with evidence about who obtains places.
- Review evidence-based alternatives, then discuss fair measures of access when places remain scarce.
Support and extension
Support by listing barriers before and after the change. Extend by proposing an evaluation that includes unsuccessful applicants rather than only people visible at the centre.
Suggested approach. Adjust the pace and number of questions to suit your class.
