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A capital with no road in: the meanings of get, from get there to get seasick

This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches the meanings of get, from get to Juneau to get seasick, with Juneau, Alaska's capital, which has no road in.

Grammar
Get to a place and get there, get on a ferry but in a car, get + adjective or comparative for become, get + noun for buy or receive.
Topic
Juneau, Alaska's capital since 1906, and the Alaska Marine Highway ferries of the Inside Passage, with words such as deckhand, porthole and drizzle.
Activities
Episode notes to read, a ferry ride and a listener's message to hear, self-checking drills, a chat at a ferry terminal and open boxes.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: all aboard!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: at sea and in AlaskaVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: no road to the capital

    • Look at the photo: a ferry in Southeast AlaskaPictureUnlock
    • Read the episode notesArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: on the ferry to Juneau

    • Listen to Jade and AustinListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Listener's Take: Maxine's messageListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: get there, get on, get seasick

    • Study the scheme: the meanings of getGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use get + the word in bracketsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropTry it
    • Fill in the table: say it with getFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: getting there

    • Choose the right replies: at the ferry terminalChatTry it
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: use the correct form of getFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: what does get mean?QuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Jade's travel blogChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: the hosts' group chatDrag and dropUnlock

32 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • seasick
  • deckhand
  • porthole
  • solarium
  • ramp
  • prospector
  • capital
  • waterproof
  • coastline

Grammar: the meanings of get

Get does many jobs in English: it can mean arrive, become, buy or receive. On a ferry to a capital with no road in, students match each use of get to its meaning, choose on or in for each kind of transport, and use the forms got and, in American English, gotten.

Get there, get on, get seasick!

get is one of the busiest verbs in English: it can mean arrive, become, buy or receive. Its forms: get, gets, getting, got, gotten.

Get to a place, get there, get home

For arrive, use get to + a place: How do you get to Juneau? We got to the terminal at noon. There, here and home take no to: When did you get there? I got home late, never got to home.

Five meanings of get

FormMeaningExamples
get to + a placearrive in / atHow do you get to Juneau? We got to the terminal at noon.
get there / here / home (no to)arriveWhen did you get there? I got home late.
get + adjectivebecomeI got seasick. Don't get lost! Get ready!
get + comparativebecome moreIt's getting colder. The waves got bigger.
get + nounbuy or receiveI got a ticket online. Jade got a text from Darius.

No to before there, here and home

Use to before a place: get to Juneau, get to school, get to the terminal. But there, here and home never take to: get there, get home (not: get to there, get to home).

Get on a ferry, get in a car

Get on and get off go with big transport you can walk around in: a ferry, a bus, a train, a plane. A car or a taxi takes get in and get out of. No from after off: Everyone got off the ferry, not got off from.

Getting on and off

TransportAt the startAt the end
a ferry, a shipget on the ferryget off the ferry
a bus, a trainget on the busget off the bus
a planeget on the planeget off the plane
a car, a taxiget in / get into the carget out of the car

on / off or in / out of?

Use on and off for big transport where you can stand up and walk around: a ferry, a bus, a train, a plane. Use in (or into) and out of for a car or a taxi. Not: get in the ferry. And no from after off: get off the ferry (not: get off from the ferry).

Get + adjective or comparative: become

With an adjective, get means become: I got seasick. Don't get lost! Get ready! With a comparative, it means become more: It's getting colder. In American English, have takes gotten: Have you ever gotten lost?

got and gotten, and the adjective after get

get – got – gotten: in American English, use gotten after have: Have you ever gotten lost? (I've got = I have is a different phrase.) When get means become, use an adjective after it: get lost (not: get loss), get seasick (not: get seasicked), get wet, get cold, get ready, get tired.

Get + noun: buy or receive

With a noun, get means buy or receive: I got a ticket online. Jade got a text from Darius. The words after get show its meaning, as in the ferry examples: Jade got a cabin, not a tent.

  • You can't get to Juneau by car.
  • Jade got on the ferry in Bellingham.
  • The ferry started to rock, and Jade got seasick.
  • It's drizzling, and it's getting colder.
  • Jade got a cabin, not a tent.
  • Darius asked how she would get home.

Common mistakes

  • We got to there at noon.

    We got there at noon.

    no to before there

  • What time did you get to home?

    What time did you get home?

    no to before home

  • Let's get in the ferry.

    Let's get on the ferry.

    on / off for a ferry, a bus or a plane

  • Don't get loss!

    Don't get lost!

    get + an adjective: lost

Try the meanings of get exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 18 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • say how people arrive with get to and get there: You can't get to Juneau by car. What time did you get there?
  • use get on and get off for a ferry, a bus or a plane, and get out of for a car: Jade got on the ferry in Bellingham.
  • describe a change with get + adjective or comparative: Jade got seasick at breakfast. It's getting colder!
  • ask for help on a trip with get: Can I get on the ferry now? How can I get there?

Lesson 32 closes Adventure and challenge, unit 8, and the whole of English B1.2 · Changemakers. It builds on A1.2 lessons 9 and 11, where students asked How do you get to work? and learned get on and get off, and on B1.1 lesson 13's faster and faster. As the season's last lesson, it ends the course. A trip to a city you can only reach by plane or by sea needs get at every step.

Students spin a wheel of questions about trips, boats and getting lost, then learn twelve words, from rock and drizzle to prospector and coastline, with pictures and audio. They read the episode notes on Juneau and the Alaska Marine Highway, then hear Jade on a ferry with Austin, a deckhand, and a message from Maxine, a student in Juneau, both AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking drills, among them a table that says each phrase again with get. In the speaking chapter, students ask Sylvia for help at a ferry terminal, then open boxes about trips and getting home.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, a word gap-fill and a memory game, then a choice of get phrases, the right form of get, word order, a quiz on what get means, Jade's travel blog with gaps and the hosts' group chat with words to drag.

Grammar:
meanings of get · get to + place · get on / get off · get + adjective · get + comparative
Topic:
Juneau · Alaska · the Alaska Marine Highway · ferries · the Inside Passage · state capitals · travel · Stories That Travel

Teaching tips

  • Collect the meanings on four posters: arrive, become, buy or receive and on or off. As each get phrase comes up, a student puts it on the right poster: get there, get seasick, get a cabin.
  • Before the notes, ask how to drive to Juneau. Students plan a route on a map of Alaska, then read that no highway leads in or out, so people get there by plane or by sea.
  • Play the ferry dialogue twice: first for Jade's trip, then for every get. Students say what each one means: got on is about transport, got seasick means became, and got a cabin fits buy or receive.
  • End the season with the last open box: students suggest a true story for the show's next season and explain how the hosts would get there and what might go wrong on the way.

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The whole course: English B1.2 · Changemakers

32 lessons for adults at B1 in American English, about people and ideas that changed things: start-ups, future cities, food, memory, customs, art, volunteers and adventure. The podcast team of English B1.1 is back for a season called Changemakers. Learners use the second conditional, the passive, reported speech, the past perfect, relative clauses and verb patterns, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Start-up stories

    the second conditional, If I were you, the first vs the second conditional, also, too, as well and besides

    1. Lesson 1The garage where Silicon Valley beganThe second conditional for imagined situations
    2. Lesson 2Would you sell lemonade to save bees?Second conditional questions and If I were you
    3. Lesson 3Pitch it to the Sharks!First vs second conditional: a real plan or a dream?
    4. Lesson 4A bakery that hires anyone?Adding ideas: also, too, as well, either and besides

  2. Unit 2 Cities of tomorrow

    the passive in the present simple and the past simple, with modals, and in the present perfect and present continuous

    1. Lesson 5Can you cross a city without going outside?The present simple passive
    2. Lesson 6A park on top of a freeway?The past simple passive
    3. Lesson 7Can a desert city catch the rain?The passive with modals
    4. Lesson 8Can an old railroad become a park?The present perfect and present continuous passive

  3. Unit 3 Food for the future

    comparative and superlative adverbs, the future passive, verbs with prepositions, phrasal verbs with up, away and out

    1. Lesson 9Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts?Comparative and superlative adverbs
    2. Lesson 10Lettuce from space?The future passive with will be
    3. Lesson 11Why do corn, beans and squash grow together?Verbs with dependent prepositions
    4. Lesson 12What happens to dining-hall leftovers?Phrasal verbs with up, away and out

  4. Unit 4 Memory and learning

    reported statements with say and tell, tense changes, time and place words, reported questions, requests and commands

    1. Lesson 13Can you train your memory?Reported statements with say and tell
    2. Lesson 14He got better but never rememberedReported statements about the past
    3. Lesson 15Can a TV show teach the alphabet?Reported questions
    4. Lesson 16Can you learn a new skill at 70?Reported requests and commands

  5. Unit 5 Customs and manners

    degree adverbs such as quite and pretty, the past perfect, the past perfect vs the past simple, make vs do

    1. Lesson 17To tip or not to tip?Adverbs of degree before adjectives and adverbs
    2. Lesson 18They'd already started without me!The past perfect: had + past participle
    3. Lesson 19What should you do at a powwow?Past perfect vs past simple
    4. Lesson 20How do you accept a lei?Make vs do: collocations to learn

  6. Unit 6 Art and design

    relative clauses with whose, non-defining relative clauses, relative clauses without a pronoun, when and why

    1. Lesson 21Art that moves in the airRelative clauses with whose
    2. Lesson 22A heart that sells a stateNon-defining relative clauses
    3. Lesson 23What would you paint on a city wall?Relative clauses without who, which or that
    4. Lesson 24Why does the sign say Hollywood?Relative adverbs: when, why and where

  7. Unit 7 Volunteers and changemakers

    verb + -ing or to, -ing as a subject and after prepositions, stop, remember, try and forget, prefer and would rather

    1. Lesson 25A day on, not a day off?Verb + -ing or verb + to
    2. Lesson 26The house that welcomed a neighborhoodGerunds as subjects and after prepositions
    3. Lesson 27A walk that lasted 24 hoursStop, remember, forget and try + to or -ing
    4. Lesson 28Head, heart, hands and healthPrefer, would rather and would prefer

  8. Unit 8 Adventure and challenge

    possessive 's vs of, must and can't for deduction, might, may and could for possibility, the meanings of get

    1. Lesson 29Could you climb a fourteener?Possessive 's, s' or of
    2. Lesson 30It must be here somewhere!Must and can't for deduction
    3. Lesson 31How did Houdini get out?Might, may and could for possibility
    4. Lesson 32 · you're hereA capital with no road inThe meanings of get

Questions about this lesson

What are the meanings of get?
The main meanings of get are arrive, become, and buy or receive. Get to Juneau and get home mean arrive; get seasick and get colder mean become; get a ticket and get a text mean buy and receive. With transport, get on and get off mean board and leave. The B1 lesson A capital with no road in on edio.ai teaches them on a ferry.
How do you use get to and get there?
Use get to + a place for arrive: How do you get to Juneau? We got to the terminal at noon. There, here and home already include the place, so they come straight after get: When did you get there? What time did you get home? In A capital with no road in, a quiz sets got there against got to there.
What's the difference between get on and get in?
Get on and get off are for big transport you can walk around in: a ferry, a bus, a train or a plane. Get in (or into) and get out of are for a car or a taxi. So it's Let's get on the ferry, not get in the ferry, and Sylvia got out of the taxi. A capital with no road in, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, drills both pairs.
Is it "get to home" or "get home"?
It's get home, with no to: What time did you get home? Let's get home before it gets dark. The same goes for get there and get here. With a named place, to comes back: get to school, get to Juneau. The scheme of A capital with no road in lists get to home and got to there among the common mistakes.
Is it "got" or "gotten" in American English?
Both, in different places: the past is got, and after have it's gotten. Last summer, we got lost in a big city. Have you ever gotten seasick on a ferry? I've never gotten a ticket for a ferry before. I've got, meaning I have, is a different phrase. The homework of A capital with no road in on edio.ai asks for each form.
Why is there no road to Juneau, Alaska?
Juneau sits between steep mountains and the sea, and the mountains and ice make road building very hard. No highway leads in or out of the city; the roads in town run out from downtown and end. So people, and goods too, arrive by plane or by boat.
How do you get to Juneau, Alaska?
You get there by plane or by sea. Planes serve Juneau all year, and the state ferries of the Alaska Marine Highway link it with other towns. The main ferry line runs north from Bellingham, Washington, along the Inside Passage, a sea route of channels and islands. A big ferry can have cabins, lounges and a heated solarium, and some travelers sleep in tents on the back deck.
How do I teach the meanings of get to B1 students?
Sort get by the word that follows it: a place, there or home, an adjective, a comparative, a noun, or on and off. Each group has one meaning, so students can guess new phrases. A capital with no road in on edio.ai moves from episode notes and a ferry ride to the scheme, five drills and a chat at a ferry terminal.
What's a good game for practicing get?
Try a travel story told one sentence at a time: each student adds a line with get, as in We got to the station late, then We got on the wrong train, then We got lost. The open boxes in A capital with no road in give more prompts, like Tell the story of a time you got lost. How did you get home?
What's good homework for the meanings of get?
Combine a meaning quiz with a text full of get: students say whether got in Jade got a text from Darius means received, became or arrived, then complete a short blog. In A capital with no road in on edio.ai, all ten homework tasks check themselves, ending with Jade's travel blog and the hosts' group chat.
How do you practice get one-to-one?
Plan a real trip together: the teacher asks How will you get to the airport?, Where do you get off? and What if you get lost?, and the student answers, then asks back. The chat in A capital with no road in on edio.ai needs no partner: the student asks Sylvia, a ferry worker, for help, and each wrong reply has a mistake with get.
Are there interactive exercises for the meanings of get?
Yes: drag-and-drop gaps and a terminal chat that check each answer. With no account, this page plays three parts of A capital with no road in, a B1 lesson on edio.ai: Jade's ferry ride with Austin, a deckhand, a gap text where students drag in the words after get, and Sylvia's chat at the ferry terminal. An account opens the other tasks.
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