Track records

Four race horses are bragging about how many races they've won this year... until a very unusual visitor joins the conversation! A joke suggested by Béatrice Sauderais: listen, understand why the ending is so funny, work on the present perfect, 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, play the proud horses and the not-so-modest dog, 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 (B1)

Four bored racehorses, a bragging contest, and a small greyhound.

• General comprehension Listen to the joke. Which horse has the best results… and what amazes them so much?
• Detailed comprehension Listen again and catch the exact words: boasted, broke in, wagging his tail…
• The vocabulary list Stable, greyhound, track record, to brag… all the words of the joke, with ▶ to listen.
• Listen and match Listen to the words and find their translation: can you remember them all?
• Crossword Translate the French clues and fill in the grid. Can you complete it without help?
• The story: drag the words Listen and put the missing words back in the joke.

Step 2: understand the joke (B1)

The horses are amazed… but not for the reason you expect!

• Read between the lines Why don't the horses care about the dog's record? And what's funny about “track record”?
• Talking about a joke The punchline, a play on words, absurd, a show-off… the words you need to explain a joke.
• Why is it funny? Put the missing words back in the explanation of the joke.

Step 3: grammar in context (B1)

I've been in eight races so far this year… the perfect joke for the present perfect.

• The lesson Results up to now or events of the story? The two tenses side by side, with the sentences of the joke.
• Present perfect or simple past? Listen to the sentences of the joke and sort the verbs.
• Choose the right form Been or was? Since or for? Never or ever? Choose the right form and read why.
• Say it in English! Ten French sentences: say them in English with the present perfect, then click to check.
• Your turn to brag! “That's nothing! I've…” A bragging contest in groups: who will be the greyhound?

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 play the proud horses!
• Tell the whole joke Six 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.