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Bright Lives English · Teacher sheet

Roger Bannister: They Said It Was Impossible… Then He Ran a Mile in 3:59

Level A2 (Elementary) · Video 4:02 · 45-minute lesson

brightlivesenglish.com/lessons/roger-bannister-four-minute-mile/

45-minute lesson plan

TimeStageWhat to do
0–3′Warm-upAsk the class: “How far can you run without stopping? How long do you think it takes a very fast runner to run 1,600 metres?” Let a few students answer.
3–13′WordsPre-teach the 5 words with the flashcards: mile, record, minute, impossible, second. Say each word, show the meaning, and ask for a quick example.
13–20′VideoPlay the video (4:02). Students follow the transcript. Play it a second time if needed.
20–28′ComprehensionWorksheet C (or the online Story Challenge): check answers together. Ask “How do you know?”
28–35′Grammarcomparatives: faster than / less than / more … than: to compare two things or people. Show “He ran faster than anyone before him.”, then do worksheet E together.
35–43′WorksheetStudents do worksheet A, B and D alone or in pairs. Check with the answer key.
43–45′SpeakingIn pairs: “After Roger's run, many other runners also broke four minutes. Why do you think it became easier for them once one person had done it?”

Homework: students finish the lesson online (flashcards + Story Challenge). With your class link, you see who finished.

Words and grammar

  • mile (noun): a distance of about 1,600 metres (1.6 km). “One mile is four laps of the track.”
  • record (noun): the best result so far. “The world record was a little more than four minutes.”
  • minute (noun): sixty seconds. “Each lap had to take less than one minute.”
  • impossible (adjective): nobody can do it; it cannot happen (opposite: possible). “Many people thought it was impossible.”
  • second (noun): a very short time; sixty seconds make one minute. “Every second was important.”

Grammar: comparatives: faster than / less than / more … than — to compare two things or people. “He ran faster than anyone before him.”

Discussion questions

  1. After Roger's run, many other runners also broke four minutes. Why do you think it became easier for them once one person had done it?
  2. What was the hardest moment in Roger Bannister's story? What did Roger Bannister do?
  3. Make two sentences about your own life with “comparatives: faster than / less than / more … than”. (From the story: “He ran faster than anyone before him.”)

Student worksheet

Name: Date:

A Match the words to their meanings

  1. mile (noun)
  2. record (noun)
  3. minute (noun)
  4. impossible (adjective)
  5. second (noun)
  6. track (noun)
  7. lunch break (noun)
  8. stopwatch (noun)
  1. the time in the middle of the day when you stop work to eat
  2. a very short time; sixty seconds make one minute
  3. a distance of about 1,600 metres (1.6 km)
  4. a small clock that you start and stop to measure how long something takes
  5. the best result so far
  6. a round path for running races
  7. sixty seconds
  8. nobody can do it; it cannot happen (opposite: possible)

B Complete the sentences from the story

second · minute · track · impossible · stopwatches · mile · record · lunch break

  1. One is four laps of the track.
  2. Every was important.
  3. Many people thought it was .
  4. One mile is four laps of the .
  5. The world was a little more than four minutes.
  6. Each lap had to take less than one .
  7. He trained in his .
  8. The timekeepers held their .

C Did you understand?

  1. Roger Bannister won a gold medal at the 1952 Olympic Games.True / False
  2. When did Roger train?
    1. All day, every day
    2. Only at weekends
    3. In his lunch break, about one hour a day
    4. Only at night
  3. What told Roger that the wind was weaker?
    1. The radio
    2. A flag on a church tower
    3. His coach's letter
    4. The trees in London
  4. One mile is four laps of the track.True / False
  5. What was Roger's time?
    1. 4 minutes and 1 second
    2. 3 minutes and 46 seconds
    3. 4 minutes exactly
    4. 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds
  6. His record lasted for many years.True / False

D Put the words in order

  1. He / ran / anyone / than / him / faster / before

E Grammar: comparatives: faster than / less than / more … than

We use it for to compare two things or people. short adjectives: fast → faster than, strong → stronger than, hard → harder than · long adjectives: important → more important than · irregular: good → better than, bad → worse than, little → less than, much / many → more than · faster and faster = it keeps getting faster

Example from the story: He ran faster than anyone before him.

  1. He ran than anyone before him. (faster / fast / fastest)
  2. Each lap had to take than one minute. (less / little / least)
  3. His work as a doctor was important to him than running. (more / most / much)

F Your turn

Retell Roger Bannister's story in 5–6 sentences. Use at least three words from exercise A.

Answer key

A. 1c 2e 3g 4h 5b 6f 7a 8d

B. 1 mile · 2 second · 3 impossible · 4 track · 5 record · 6 minute · 7 lunch break · 8 stopwatches

C. 1 False · 2 c · 3 b · 4 True · 5 d · 6 False

D. 1 He ran faster than anyone before him.

E. 1 faster · 2 less · 3 more

Transcript

In 1954, many people believed no one could run a mile in less than four minutes.

A busy young medical student wanted to try.

Could he do it?

This is the story of Roger Bannister.

Welcome to brightlivesenglish.com, where we teach real English using real-life stories.

Mile. A mile is a distance of about one thousand six hundred metres.

One mile is four laps of the track.

Record. A record is the best result so far.

The world record was a little more than four minutes.

Minute. There are sixty seconds in one minute.

Each lap had to take less than one minute.

Impossible. If something is impossible, nobody can do it.

Many people thought it was impossible.

Second. A second is a very short time.

Every second was important.

Now, one pattern: comparatives.

Fast becomes faster than.

Little becomes less than.

Other runners were fast.

He was faster than them.

He ran faster than anyone before him.

Ready? Let's begin.

Roger was born near London in 1929.

As a boy, he loved to run.

He ran for miles across fields and hills, and he won his school's big race three times.

Later, he studied medicine at Oxford.

In 1952, he ran at the Olympic Games in Helsinki.

He finished fourth.

No medal. He almost stopped running.

Then he found a new goal: the mile.

One mile is four laps of the track.

The world record was a little more than four minutes.

Each lap had to take less than one minute.

Many people thought it was impossible.

But Roger was a busy medical student in London.

So he trained in his lunch break, about one hour a day.

Every month, he got a little faster.

On 6 May 1954, Roger worked at the hospital.

Then he took the train to Oxford.

But the wind was very strong.

In strong wind, running is harder.

Would the wind stop?

At six o'clock, Roger looked at a flag on a church tower.

Then, suddenly, the flag dropped.

The wind was weaker.

Roger decided to run.

Two friends ran in front of him.

Every second was important.

One lap. Two laps. Three laps. Near the end, Roger ran past them, faster and faster.

The announcer said: "The time was three…"

The crowd shouted so loudly that nobody heard the rest.

Three minutes and 59.4 seconds.

He did it.

He ran faster than anyone before him.

His record lasted only 46 days.

But now, other runners knew it was possible.

Roger became a brain doctor.

He said this work was more important to him than running.

Let's review. One mile is four laps of the track.

The world record was a little more than four minutes.

Each lap had to take less than one minute.

Many people thought it was impossible.

Every second was important.

And remember: he ran faster than anyone before him.

Roger's story teaches us: impossible often means that nobody has done it yet.

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