Ferris Wheels and Roller Coasters

Objective & content

Two friends talk about Ferris wheels and roller coasters: one friend explains, the other asks. The episode tells how George Ferris, an engineer and bridge builder, made a giant wheel for Chicago's fair of 1893 to beat the Eiffel Tower, with thirty-six cars as big as a bus and sixty people in each car, then visits Chicago's new wheel by the lake, goes to Coney Island in New York for the slow ride of 1884 in a little wooden car, and ends with how a roller coaster climbs its hills with no engine and with the fast ones of today. The history is told in the past simple (had, wanted, paid, built, rode, opened, sat), how the rides work in the present simple (a chain pulls the train, magnets push it), with comparatives ("The first wheel was taller." "Each car was as big as a bus.") and questions in the past and the present ("How big was it?" "Do they have engines?"). Learners listen for the history, the numbers and the dates, then answer the quiz in the app and the one-page pupil sheet.

Pedagogical guide

The 45-minute lesson plan starts from a drawing of a big wheel and a hill with a little train: do you like a slow ride or a fast ride? Learners preview eight words, listen twice (once for the two rides, once with four pauses for questions), then check the facts, practice the vocabulary, sort sentences into "the first rides" and "rides today" to notice the past simple and the present simple, compare with taller and as big as, and ask and answer questions about the first rides in pairs. At A1+ learners form simple past simple questions themselves ("Why did he build a wheel?") and answer briefly ("Because of Paris!"). Most activities have a support path and a stretch path.

Suggested procedure

1. Activate knowledge (3 min): draw a big wheel and a hill with a little train, and ask whether learners like a slow ride or a fast ride.
2. Vocabulary preview (5 min): Ferris wheel, roller coaster, engineer, bridge, fair, track, nickel, chain.
3. First listen (5 min): play the whole episode (about three and a half minutes) and ask which two rides the friends talk about and which one is slow.
4. Second listen (12 min): pause four times to ask about George Ferris and the fair, the size of the first wheel, the 1884 roller coaster ride at Coney Island, and how roller coasters go up the hills, then about each friend's favorite ride at the end.
5. Comprehension check (5 min): the Facts part of the pupil sheet (questions 1 to 6, as in the app quiz).
6. Vocabulary practice (4 min): the Vocabulary part (questions 7 to 12).
7. Grammar focus (6 min): sort the episode's sentences into "the first rides" and "rides today", match past forms to their base verbs (have and had, build and built, pay and paid), notice taller and as big as, then the Grammar part (questions 13 to 18).
8. Speaking (5 min): in pairs, students ask and answer the episode's questions about the first rides, in the past and the present.

Materials & prerequisites

• The episode in the app, with its quiz.
• The one-page pupil sheet (18 items: facts, vocabulary, grammar) and its answer key, in the episode's printables.
• Prerequisites: the present simple, and years and big numbers in English.