The old pirate

A wooden leg, a hook, an eye patch... how did the old pirate lose them all? Listen to the joke, understand the story, work on the past tenses, then tell the joke yourself!

Final task: you will have to film yourself telling the joke in one shot, without reading any notes. Don't learn it by heart: tell it in your own words, imitate the old pirate and the young sailor, and keep the punchline for the very end! Check the assessment grid (Step 4) to see how you will be marked.

These activities are designed to support teachers, who can include them in their own lesson sequences.

Step 1: discover the joke (A2/B1)

An old pirate in a bar, a young sailor, and a very surprising answer.

• General comprehension Listen to Patrick telling the joke. What happened to the old pirate?
• Detailed comprehension Listen again and catch the exact words: rum, sharks, sword, grapefruit…
• The vocabulary list Wooden leg, eye patch, hook, parrot… all the words of the pirate, with ▶ to listen.
• Listen and match Listen to the words and find their translation: can you remember them all?
• Patrick's version: drag the words Listen to Patrick and put the missing words back in the story.

Step 2: listen again and think (B1)

The same joke, told by two different people.

• Lewis's version: drag the verbs Same joke, new voice! Put the verbs back in Lewis's story.
• Two versions, one joke Patrick and Lewis don't use the same words… so what's the secret of a good joke?

Step 3: grammar in context (B1)

He was sitting, he was smoking, he lost his leg: the past tenses of the story.

• The words of the story A or the? On or into? Wood or wooden? Choose the right word and read why.
• The lesson The background or the events? See the two past tenses side by side, with the pirate's sentences.
• Simple past or past continuous? Listen to the sentences of the story and sort the verbs: background or event?
• Prepositions: the meanings Into, onto, around, off… match each preposition with its meaning.
• Prepositions in the story At a table, on his shoulder, into the bar… put the prepositions back in the story.

Step 4: tell the joke yourself (B1)

Now it's your turn to make your classmates laugh!

• Listen and repeat The whole joke, sentence by sentence: listen, repeat and imitate the pirate!
• Tell the whole joke Seven steps and a few key words: now tell the joke your way.
• Assessment grid How will your joke be marked? Read the grid before you film yourself.