URBAN ENGAGING
ACTIVITIES
READ, WRITE AND
UNDERSTAND
URBAN
LEGENDS
LEGENDS
URBAN LEGENDS
You can find two activities in this download :
1. There are seven urban legends – you can give them to the students in the
form of a handout or they can be cut out in the form of the cards. The
legends are, however, not finished. Now, you can ask the students to finish
the legends using their own imagination and creativity (the first half of the
worksheet is called Create your own ending). The second half of this
worksheet contains the “real” endings of the given legends. Students need to
match the legend with its correct ending.
Extension for this activity – have students to study the characteristic features of
urban legends (worksheet on urban legends) and then ask them to find given
features in the seven legends they have just read)
key: 1. G 2. A 3. F 4. B 5. C 6. E 7. D
2. This activity focuses mostly on student’s writing. Their task is to choose (or
you can assign them) one of the provided urban legends and turn it into a
short story. The planning sheet contains all the information they should
include in their story. The worksheet where they write their story is
provided – or they can write it in their notebooks.
Before doing any of these activities you can introduce the topic of URBAN LEGENDS
using the worksheet that contains some information about them.
AN ALLIGATOR IN CHARACTERISTICS OF URBAN LEGENDS
YOUR TOILET!
Have plots and
Have you heard about the alligators that are living in characters,
the sewer? A man had two as pets, but they got too big,
so he set them loose down the sewer. Now they’ve had may use fear,
babies, and the babies are so small that they are humor, or horror to
crawling up into people’s toilets. My aunt’s colleague’s influence readers or
cousin’s neighbor got bitten on the butt by one while listeners,
using the toilet. are cautionary or
DO YOU BELIEVE IT? morality tales warning
readers,
A story like this is called an urban legend or urban myth. These stories
are pretty unbelievable, but usually seem to have just enough truth to are inspired by or
them that they could be real. The story is always told by a friend who spread by
heard if from someone else, which means it is impossible to verify.
The name “urban” does not mean that these stories happen in large misinformation,
happened to a
towns. It is used to distinguish them from traditional folklore tales. “friend of a friend”,
have a twist at the
A LIITLE BIT OF HISTORY end.
Dr. Jan Brunvand, an urban legend expert Urban legends are stories or gossips, which seem to be
published his first book, The Vanishing true and are either published in the media, Internet or
Hitchhiker, in early 1980s. He not only told among people. They are usually very exciting and
published all the contemporary folklore he their fascinating subject matter provokes the listeners
had heard and recorded over the years to retell it further. They can be local, but usually aren’t
through his studies, but he also examined – they concern well known people and common things,
their meanings. In this book he introduced that’s why they can spread among the whole country or
the term “Urban Legend”. He believes that even abroad. They can have many different variants.
most urban legends began with a true story Usually anonymous and seemingly very probable, urban
that was modified by each teller just like legends concern everyday life and important matters
traditional folklore. such as food or security.
MOST URBAN LEGENDS ARE ABOUT SOMETHING BAD
HAPPENING TO SOMEONE
There is an urban legend about a man who went abroad, got sick after accepting
a drink from a local and woke up the next day in a bathtub full of ice. He had a scar
on his back where his kidney had been removed. Supposedly, the thief wanted to
sell the organ on the black market.
READ WRITE UNDERSTAND DISCUSS
One of our old dinner ladies from 1 A double-glazing salesman in south 2
school was chattering on the corner London was ringing a contact
of a busy road when she saw a driver, veering telephone number he’d been given, and the
from side to side, collide with a stationary receiver was picked up immediately at the
motor. Expecting the driver to carry on other end. A tiny voice whispered: “Hello?”
regardless, as so many people seem to do in “Hello, can I speak to your daddy, please?”
this day and age, she and the others in the said the caller. “No, he’s busy,” replied the
street were pleasantly surprised to see the little voice. “Your mummy, then. I’ll speak to
considerate driver stop, earnestly examine the her.” “You can’t. She’s busy too.”
damage and take a pen and paper from his car “Is there anyone else there?” persisted the
and write down the details. caller.
He then placed the note under the damaged “Yes,” the voice conceded, “a policeman, but he
car’s windscreen wiper before driving on. A is busy as well.
minute later, the owner of the damaged car “Anyone else?” The caller was now getting a
appeared. He was distressed to see his dented little exasperated.
wing but pleased to see the note, which he “Yes, a social worker.”
read carefully. “Well, can I speak to the social worker, then?”
Then he exploded. The passer-by said she’d “No, she’s busy too,” said the soft little voice.
witnessed the accident and asked what the “Look, you’ve got all those people at your
matter was: didn’t he have the other driver’s house and they’re all busy. What are they
details on the note? doing?” asked the caller.
A friend of a friend, out on a shopping expedition, was in need 3
of refreshment. So, laden down with her purchases, she found
a cafeteria and brought herself a refreshing cup of a tea and Kit-Kat. The
place was so full the only seat she could find was opposite a scruffy punk
reading the paper, but she put her bags down and relaxed.
Apparently, as she did so, the punk folded up his paper, reached forward for
the Kit-Kat, broke off half and shoved it in his mouth.
The woman was taken aback and quite speechless, but the punk ignored her,
and a minute later he picked up the rest of the bar and finished it.
By now the woman was furious. Fuming, she reached forward for the punk’s
cream cake, took a massive bite, then threw it back down on the table, before
gathering up her bags and storming out of the cafeteria.
URBAN LEGENDS
The father of a boy I went to school 4 A man who lives round the corner 5
with was a police sergeant - and was left his keys with a neighbor while
once called out to the scene of an armed robbery he and his family went on holiday. The neighbor,
of a bank. The cashier told him a nasty-looking a conscientious man, took his responsibility
man in a trench-coat had entered the bank, come seriously, keeping an eye on the property at all
over to his window and pushed a dog-eared times. When a furniture van turned up on the
envelope under the glass. The bank clerk Wednesday to deliver a new closet, the neighbor
squinted at the childish scrawl on the back of the let them in. signed for the furniture, and kept an
envelope. The note read, “GIV US ALL THE eye on the deliverymen while they were inside
MUNNY, IVE GOT A GUN.” He looked up to the property. They turned up again the next day
find himself staring down the barrel of a pistol. saying they’d delivered the wrong piece and
The cashier complied immediately, thrusting the would have to take it back. He left them to it,
money over the counter, which the robber shoved watched them leave, and again locked up
into his greedy hands. carefully. But when the family returned, they
The thief himself had only just arrived home found everything they had – video, TV, jewelry,
and started excitedly to count his money, when microwave – was missing. The police arrived and
the police burst through the door. The robber questioned the neighbor intensely. He racked his
threw his arms in the air immediately, but was brains but could not recall nothing out of the
baffled by the efficiency of the police on the case. ordinary apart from the slight problem with the
“How did you track me down so fast?” he wailed. closet. The officers nodded knowingly. “That’s
happening all over town,” they explained.
One of the first places to have the 6 One of my uncle’s friends got a job for 7
automatic video speed checks fitted a building company driving a cement
was at Wembley on London’s north circular mixer truck. Driving the monster truck thrilled
road. him to bits, but working on big ready-mix jobs kept
Recently a motorist known to a friend was him away from home for days at a time. And
quite taken aback to receive a summons from although he loved his young wife, he became
the police advising him that following the convinced she was having an affair. It was the
examinations of photographic evidence, he was little things: she’d started wearing new clothes and
being fined for exceeding the speed limit. too much perfume. Apparently, in an effort to catch
The thing was, his car had broken down on the her out, he drove home early one day. Sure enough,
morning of the stated date, so he demanded to there was a brand new red soft-top sports car
see the pictures himself. parked outside the house, and the upstairs
Down at the station, he was shown the prints, curtains were closed. Wiping a tear from his eye
which indeed showed his car crossing a with his fist, he backed up his truck, and filled the
junction at considerable speed and with the car to the brim with quick-setting cement. He hid
light red. round the corner to see what would happen. His
But as the driver pointed out, the photo wife came out of the house with a man in a suit.
missed out a crucial point. They looked together at the ruined car and his wife
burst into tears. The husband was surprised to see
the man shrug his shoulders, bid his wife goodbye
and climb into a completely different car.
CREATE YOUR OWN ENDING LEGEND
# ____
THE ENDINGS
A “Looking for me,” came the whispered reply. D Jumping out of his truck, he marched to confront
E E his wife and found out the truth. The car was a
G Gsurprise present she had bought him. The man was the
E E salesman who’d just delivered it.
B “NQuite simple,” the sergeant sneered, snapping on the bracelets. N
“E YDour name and address were on the other side of the envelope.” D
G
E E He was being towed by a breakdown truck at the
N C # Apparently, a diminutive villain hides in the cupboard when E# time.
D E _ it’s delivered. Then he fills it up with consumer collectables G_
Gove_rnight, and his accomplices remove him along with the “wrong” FGEDNE___ Still angry, she decided to catch the firs bus
home, felt in her pocket for some change, and
E_ wardrobe the next day.
#N _ found her own Kit-Kat intact.
_D
_ N
_ D#
_ # G “See for yourself_,” muttered the angry owner, showing her the
G _ paper, which read:
_ E “I’ve just crunched#_your car, and because there are loads of nosy
_ N people watching m__ e, I’m pretending to write down my name,
_ D registrat_ion number and insurance details.”
_
_
_
(RE)WRITING AN URBAN LEGEND
TASK:- PLANNING SHEET
DEVELOP A GIVEN URBAN STORY INTO A Working title of the story: Title of the urban legend:
SHORT STORY TIME:
PLACE:
YOU HAVE A PLOT SO YOU NEED TO
Adjectives: Simile:
THINK ABOUT:
SETTING
SETTING
Personification: Other characteristics (what can you
- set the scene – use lots of detail, vivid see, hear or smell there):
description, think of some isolated,
mysterious or abandoned place. Use
simile, personification and lots of
adjectives.
CHARACTERS
- create two set of characters – heroes
and villains
- write a detailed description of your
characters
STYLE
- create dramatic situations – use short
sentences, brief conversations, make use
of punctuation (exclamations, unfinished
sentences, questions).
Characters Key information:
Name:
Appearance:
Character traits:
Background information:
Relationship to other characters:
Other information:
Name:
Appearance:
Character traits: VOCABULARY
Background information: Synonyms:
Relationship to other characters: Antonyms:
Other information: Idiomatic expressions:
THE GOOD SAMARITAN
A motorist stops on the side of the road to help someone fix their flat tire. The person being helped then asks the
motorist for his address to send a reward. Several weeks later the motorist receives $10,000 in the mail.
THE DISSOLVING TOOTH
If you were to leave a tooth in a cup of coke overnight by morning the tooth would be completely dissolved.
THE VANISHING HITCHHIKER
A motorist picks up a female hitchhiker on a lonely stretch of road. He then drives her home only to find that she
has disappeared from his backseat. After knocking on her door he is told the girl died in car accident years ago in
the very same spot that he picked her up.
THE HOOK
A young boy and girl drive off into the woods only to hear on the radio that a convicted killer with a hook for
one of his arms has just escaped from a nearby mental facility. The boy simply locks the car door and insists they
stay but the girl wants to leave. The boy then reluctantly takes off and when they return home, , there is a hook
hanging on the outside handle of the car door.
FALLING INTO BED
Suddenly there was a strong wind and he fell off the building. The people in the street stopped and watched … he fell
fast. But when he was only a hundred meters from the street, a big car came … with a bed on top of it. He hit the
bed, not the road. Lucky man!
THE KENTUCKY FRIED RAT
A husband and wife decided to go to a drive-in movie, and prior to going there they got a bucket of takeaway
chicken. At the theatre they were enjoying the film and eating their chicken. The wife complained of the funny
taste of a piece of chicken she was eating. The husband inspected the chicken and they realized she had been
eating a complete batter-fried rat.
THE FLYING COW
A man drove very fast in his open-topped car along a big road. Suddenly there was a strange noise. He stopped and
looked around – there was a cow in the back of his car! It was dead. The man in a nearby pub told him that twenty
minutes ago he drove across a bridge. He hit a very big cow and it fell off the bridge on the road below.
A short story:
by
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WAYS TO USE URBAN LEGENDS IN THE
CLASSROOM
• Most of the stories are brief and very intriguing. They are a vehicle for teaching
listening skills and can help extend students’ concentration spans.
• Students see examples of concise, convincing narratives modelling many techniques they
can incorporate in their own work.
• Many urban legends have a large number of variations. Students see how changing a
few details can change the story radically. They also gain experience of the idea of
‘variations on a theme’.
• Many urban legends display the qualities of parables and illustrate how stories can be
‘templates’ for conveying values and strategies for behavior. In this sense urban legends
amount to cultural symbols.
• Deeper study of urban legends opens up discussion of what is truth, distinctions
between fact and fiction, how we arrive at our beliefs, how language can be used to
influence and manipulate.
You might consider using urban legends like this:
• Look at the different categories of story ranging from so-called ‘earthy tales’ and
gossip (which include some urban legends) through family and history tales, to ‘wonder
tales’, legends and myths.
• Tease out the themes of urban legends and have children write their own legends using
those themes.
• Explore variations of selected legends and help the children to make up more.
• Use urban legends to develop children’s storytelling skills.
(adapted from Steve Bowkett’;s book Jumpstart! Creativity)