The Language Teacher
04 - 2001
World Records: Fun with the Four Skills
Michael J. Crawford
Hokkaido University of Education, Hakodate
QUICK GUIDE
Key Words: World records, Four skills
Learner English Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Learner Maturity Level: High School to Adult
Preparation Time: About one hour initially, compiling appropriate world records
Activity Time: 40 to 50 minutes
Learning about world records is fun. Who wouldn't be intrigued to learn that the world record for the number of plastic drinking straws stuffed into a person's mouth is 151, or that the distance record for squirting milk from the eyeball is 6 feet 7 1/2 inches (2 meters)? Over the years, I have developed several activities which make use of intriguing world records like these. Here I would like to present an activity designed for small groups of five to seven students (adaptable to larger groups) which involves all four language skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. In the activity, students take turns reading aloud two authentic world records and one fictional world record that they have written themselves. The other group members listen and guess which of the three records is not true.
Preparation
You will need to prepare two slips of paper for each member
of the group. Prepare the first slip with two authentic world
records and leave a space open for the students to write a fictional
world record (see sample in Fig. 1). Each of these slips should
have different authentic world records. (If you have a large class,
it's possible to distribute duplicate slips, as long as students
with duplicates don't do the activity together.) For use in explaining
the activity to the class, you will also need to prepare one or
two more of these slips for teacher use only, on each of which
you should write your own fictional world record.
The second slip of paper -- a recording sheet required for the
activity -- is the same for all members of the class (see Fig.
2).
Figure 1: Records are adapted from the Guinness Book of World Records (2000)
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1. Anna Bates gave birth to a boy weighing a record 10.9 kilograms in Seville, Ohio, in 1879. 2. Akira Matsushima from Japan unicycled a record 5247 kilometers across the U.S. between July 10 and August 22, 1992. 3.__________________________________________________________ |
Procedure
1. Begin by handing out the recording sheet shown in Figure 2 to all of the students in the class. Model the activity by reading one of the world record slips that you have prepared beforehand. Tell the students to write down the number of the world record that they think is not true. Then reveal which one is fictional, and explain that those students who chose correctly should give themselves a point in the points column. If they need more practice, do it again with the second practice slip.
Figure 2
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| (Practice # 1) | |||
| (Practice # 2) | |||
| Student 1 | |||
| Student 2 | |||
| Student 3 | |||
| Student 4 | |||
| Student 5 | |||
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2. Divide the class into small groups. Tell the students that
each of them will receive a slip of paper with two authentic world
records and a space for them to write their own fictional world
record. Explain that they should use their imagination and write
a world record that sounds at least reasonably possible. Divide
the class into groups and give them a few minutes to write their
fictional world records. Circulate around the class to help them
in case they have any questions.
3. After they have written their fictional records, the students
start the activity by having one of the group members read his/her
three records. Make it clear that if the students listening to
the records do not understand something, they should ask for repetition
or clarification. The activity proceeds until all students have
read the records on their sheets.
4. The students now tally their points and determine a winner
for each group.
5. Finally, have the winner of each group stand up. Have the
group winners compete with each other by reading their records
to each other and guessing which ones are fictional. The student
who gets the most points in this step is the winner!
Additional Points
1. When making the world record slips, be sure to vary the
order in which the records are listed. If the fictional record
is always Number 3, the students will catch on quickly.
2. If you are a fan of dictation, as I am, you can have the
students dictate one of their records to their group at the end
of the activity.
3. You may need to spend a few minutes giving your students
some ideas for using their imaginations before they try to write
their own fictitious world records.
Conclusion
Perhaps what I have found to be most encouraging about this
activity is how attentively my students listen to each other as
they are reading the world records. Not only do they listen attentively,
but they seem to be more willing to speak up if they don't understand
something. My guess is that this is due to their interest in this
weird and entertaining subject matter.
Reference
Guinness book of world records. (2000). New York: Bantam.
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