A Taxi Driver in New York
In this interview you will meet Ray who has been a taxi driver for seven years. He is also the owner of two taxis. The interview has four main topics:
- The development of yellow cabs
- Ray's life as a taxi driver
- The American Dream/success
- Customers
Divide the students in your class into 1, 2, 3 and 4s. The no.1 students focus on topic no. 1, the no.2 students on topic no. 2 and so on. Ask them to take notes about their topic while listening.
Yellow Cab
After listening to the interview, come together in the 1, 2, 3 and 4 groups and compare your notes. Agree about the five most important words in your topic. Rank these words according to their importance.
Each group displays on a board their five words for the whole class.
Use the twenty words the groups have provided. Based on these words, make a short written summary of the interview.
Act out a conversation between Ray, the driver, and the following passengers (see below). Pick one role each. Prepare your lines.
Roles:
- Ray, the taxi driver
- an angry passenger
- a depressed passenger
- a very talkative passenger
- a-new-in-town passenger
- a passenger that does not want to pay.
Find a map of New York. Pretend that you are taking the final test before you get your taxi licence. You are going from:
- Battery Park to Central Park
- The UN Building to the Metropolitan Opera House
- The Empire State Building to MoMa
- The Rockefeller Center to Brooklyn via Brooklyn Bridge
Share and compare your route with a classmate.