Wednesday February 9, 2005
Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Most people can remember the first time they got behind the wheel of a car and slowly but shakily drove those first few hundred meters. One little boy may not have memories of his first solo driving attempt because he is only four years old. Yes, barely tall enough to see over the steering wheel, a four-year-old boy took his mother’s car for a spin yesterday in Michigan, USA. The unnamed post-toddler woke up in the middle of the night and decided he wanted to watch a video. He took his mother’s car key, got into the car, started the ignition, and drove 400 meters to the video rental store, at an average speed of seven kilometers per hour. He wasn’t tall enough to reach the accelerator, but knew how to put the car into gear from having watched his mother while sitting on her lap as she drove. He also managed to stop the car. On his return journey he attracted the attention of the police. He reversed home, colliding into two parked cars as well as the police car that tried to stop him. The police officer thought the car was driverless, as he couldn’t see anybody steering. The boy was not arrested for underage driving, but taken home for a glass of hot milk. He seemed oblivious to the fuss he had caused. His reaction was, “The video store was shut”. Next stop Formula One.

Lesson & plan in Word.doc

Example Class Handout in .pdf

WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about driving / being four years old / the things little kids get up to / joyriding / underage driving / hot milk / Formula One…

To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. CAR BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with cars. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. DANGER KIDS: Talk to your partner / group about all the naughty or dangerous things you got up to as a kid. Change partners / groups and share the funniest / most shocking / most unbelievable stories with your new partners / group

4. MY DRIVING HISTORY: Talk to your partner about your driving history – the first lesson / driving experience / near misses or accidents / epic journeys / the cars etc. If you cannot drive, you have probably been driven, so you can talk about driving too!

5. QUICK LEARNERS: If a 4-year-old can learn to drive a car to the nearest store, what other ‘hidden talents’ might they have? Discuss which of the following a 4-year-old might be capable of - and of the possible damage!:

1. Ordering things online using a credit card
2. Starting up a chainsaw
3. Deleting computer files
4. Using a microwave oven
5. Handling a gun
6. Riding a motorbike
7. Ordering delivery pizza on the telephone
8. Take the dog for a walk
9. Telling the neighbours your financial situation and other secrets
10. Make the baby’s lunch

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘joy’ and ‘ride’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements about the article are true or false:

1. Most people can’t remember the first time they got behind the wheel of a car.  T / F
2. A four-year-old boy drove a car by himself.  T / F
3. He wasn’t tall enough to see over the steering wheel.  T / F
4. He stole the car.  T / F
5. He drove 7 kilometers at an average speed of 23 kph. T / F
6. He learned to drive having watched his mother while sitting on her lap as she drove.  T / F
7. Amazingly, he caused no damage on his drive.  T / F
8. The boy was arrested by the police for underage driving.  T / F

3. DEFINITIONS: Students match the following words with the most likely definitions (Please think about the headline!):

(a) get behind the wheel (v)
(i) drive a car
(ii) fully support and be in favor of wheels

(b) shakily (adv)
(i) performed nervously and unconfidently, not smoothly or perfectly
(ii) driving a car at dangerously high speeds

(c) solo (adj)
(i) doing something alone
(ii) when somebody is way below average height for their age group

(d) a spin (n)
(i) a very naughty little boy or girl
(ii) a short drive somewhere in the car

(e) toddler (n)
(i) somebody who cannot drive very well
(ii) a child of 2 or 3 years old

(f) ignition (n)
(i) the part of the car where you put in the key to start the engine
(ii) the part of the brain that enables small children to learn very quickly

(g) accelerator (n)
(i) another name for the brake pedal on a car
(ii) a pedal on a car that makes the car go faster when pressed

(h) lap (n)
(i) a name given to an underage driver
(ii) your leg space above the knees that small children sit on when you are sitting down, and on which people place their bags on the train

(i) oblivious (adj)
(i) to have no idea about what is happening all around you
(ii) to want to live a very fast and exciting lifestyle

(j) fuss (n)
(i) the emotion you experience when you go to the video store when it is closed
(ii) lots of unnecessary excitement and/or arguing over a small and unimportant matter

4. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	remember	hardly
(b)	got behind the wheel	notice
(c)	shakily	commotion
(d)	solo	get to
(e)	barely	unaware
(f)	toddler	unsteadily
(g)	reach	recollect
(h)	attention	unaided
(i)	oblivious	sat in the driver’s seat
(j)	fuss	pre-schooler

5. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	remember the first	attempt
(b)	they got behind the	into gear
(c)	have	the fuss he had caused
(d)	first solo driving	two parked cars
(e)	started the	time
(f)	an average	memories of
(g)	put the car	underage driving
(h)	colliding into	wheel of a car
(i)	arrested for	ignition
(j)	He seemed oblivious to	speed of seven kilometers per hour

  

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

4-year-old joyrider

Most people can remember the first time they got __________ the wheel of a car and slowly but shakily drove those first few hundred meters. One little boy may not have __________ of his first solo driving attempt because he is only four years old. Yes, __________ tall enough to see over the steering wheel, a four-year-old boy took his mother’s car for a spin yesterday in Michigan, USA. The unnamed post-toddler woke up in the __________ of the night and decided he wanted to watch a video. He took his mother’s car key, got into the car, __________ the ignition, and drove 400 meters to the video rental store, at an average speed of seven kilometers per hour. He wasn’t tall enough to reach the accelerator, but knew how to put the car into __________ from having watched his mother while sitting on her lap as she drove. He also managed to stop the car. On his return journey he attracted the attention of the police. He reversed home, __________ into two parked cars as well as the police car that tried to stop him. The police officer thought the car was driverless as he couldn’t see anybody steering. The boy was not arrested for underage driving, but taken home for a glass of hot milk. He seemed __________ to the fuss he had caused. His reaction was, “The video store was shut”. Next stop Formula One.

middle     memories      gear      behind     oblivious      started      colliding      barely

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH:  Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5. ‘JOY’/ ‘RIDE’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:

1. What naughty things did you get up to when you were small?
2. What are your earliest memories?
3. What are your earliest memories of getting behind the wheel of a car?
4. Do like driving, or being a passenger?
5. What should be the legal driving age?
6. The boy drove while underage. Do you think anything should happen to him or his mother?
7. Were / Are you a quick learner?
8. Can you remember the first time you studied English / got on a bicycle / used a computer / went to the movie theatre / spoke English to a native speaker …?
9. Are you oblivious to a lot of what happens around you? What kind of things are you oblivious to (pain / current affairs / being talked about behind your back / financial problems…)?
10. Is it OK to drive a car with a child sitting on your lap?
11. Do you like hot milk?
12. What do you drink before going to bed?
13. Would you like to drive a Formula One car?
14. Teacher / Student additional questions

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on joy riding. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. LETTER TO HIS MUM: Write a letter to the boy’s mother about the dangers of driving with a child seated on one’s lap.

4. CHILD SAFETY: Create a child car safety information sheet for parents.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. Most people can’t remember the first time they got behind the wheel of a car.  F
2. A four-year-old boy drove a car by himself.  T
3. He wasn’t tall enough to see over the steering wheel.  T
4. He stole the car.  F
5. He drove 7 kilometers at an average speed of 23 kph. F
6. He learned to drive having watched his mother from sitting on her lap as she drove.  T
7. Amazingly, he caused no damage on his drive.  F
8. The boy was arrested by the police for underage driving.  F

DEFINITIONS:

(a) get behind the wheel (v)
(i) drive a car

(b) shakily (adv)
(i) performed nervously and unconfidently, not smoothly or perfectly

(c) solo (adj)
(i) doing something alone

(d) a spin (n)
(ii) a short drive somewhere in the car

(e) toddler (n)
(ii) a child of 2 or 3 years old

(f) ignition (n)
(i) the part of the car where you put in the key to start the engine

(g) accelerator (n)
(ii) a pedal on a car that makes the car go faster when pressed

(h) lap (n)
(ii) your leg space above the knees that small children sit on when you are sitting down, and on which people place their bags on the train

(i) oblivious (adj)
(i) to have no idea about what is happening all around you

(j) fuss (n)
(ii) lots of unnecessary excitement and/or arguing over a small and unimportant matter

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	remember	recollect
(b)	got behind the wheel	sat in the driver’s seat
(c)	shakily	unsteadily
(d)	solo	unaided
(e)	barely	hardly
(f)	toddler	pre-schooler
(g)	reach	get to
(h)	attention	notice
(i)	oblivious	unaware
(j)	fuss	commotion

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	remember the first	time
(b)	they got behind the	wheel of a car
(c)	have	memories of
(d)	first solo driving	attempt
(e)	started the	ignition
(f)	an average	speed of seven kilometers per hour
(g)	put the car	into gear
(h)	colliding into	two parked cars
(i)	arrested for	underage driving
(j)	He seemed oblivious to	the fuss he had caused

  

GAP FILL:

4-year-old joyrider

Most people can remember the first time they got behind the wheel of a car and slowly but shakily drove those first few hundred meters. One little boy may not have memories of his first solo driving attempt because he is only four years old. Yes, barely tall enough to see over the steering wheel, a four-year-old boy took his mother’s car for a spin yesterday in Michigan, USA. The unnamed post-toddler woke up in the middle of the night and decided he wanted to watch a video. He took his mother’s car key, got into the car, started the ignition, and drove 400 meters to the video rental store, at an average speed of seven kilometers per hour. He wasn’t tall enough to reach the accelerator, but knew how to put the car into gear from having watched his mother while sitting on her lap as she drove. He also managed to stop the car. On his return journey he attracted the attention of the police. He reversed home, colliding into two parked cars as well as the police car that tried to stop him. The police officer thought the car was driverless, as he couldn’t see anybody steering. The boy was not arrested for underage driving, but taken home for a glass of hot milk. He seemed oblivious to the fuss he had caused. His reaction was, “The video store was shut”. Next stop Formula One.