• Listening and watching, speaking

• History, fake news, World War II, urban legends, England

• B1

• Whole class, groups of three

• Answering questions, guessing game

• 10 minutes (video + questions + lestip 1), 15 minutes (lestip 2)

Linby is a small village in Nottinghamshire, England, which claims an incredible story took place there during World War II. However... it might not be completely true. Why do the residents of Linby continue to believe it, and what did actually happen?

In this YouTube video, vlogger Tom Scott discusses what took place (or didn't) in Linby, and why it might be an urban legend. The students are going to watch a video and answer a number of questions. Next, they're going play a guessing game similar to the popular TV panel show Would I Lie To You?

Leerdoel

• You can describe plans and arrangements, habits and routines, past activities and personal experiences.

• You can solve a problem or answer a question by collecting and selecting the necessary information.

Vragen aan de klas

• Who was Lord Haw Haw?

• Why were the Germans confused?

• Why does Tom think the story isn’t true?

• What did Tom do to find out what really happened?

• Why do you think this story is still told by the people of Linby?

Actieve werkvormen
Lestip 1: Taking notes

Have the students take notes while watching the video to let them practice asking questions with interrogative pronouns: who, what, where, when, why and how.

Lestip 2: Guessing game

The students write down an anecdote in three sentences: something that happened in real life or something they’ve made up. When they're finished, they form groups of three. One student reads out their story, and the other two have two minutes to ask questions to determine whether or not it really happened. They then take one minute to confer and decide if the story is true or false.

You can model the game with one confident student and let the whole class vote for ‘truth’ or ‘lie’.

Lestip 3: Tips

If students have trouble thinking of questions, remind them to ask questions starting with who, what, when, where, why, or how. You can also choose to let them ask yes or no questions only.

If students have trouble coming up with an anecdote, let them choose an item from their bag or around the classroom to use as inspiration.