'Uncle Buck' Sequencing Activity

The following activity is best done as a teacher-directed, front-of-the-class-type activity, with the teacher controlling the video clip and the number of repetitions.

To begin, students need 12 small blank pieces of paper. This can be done by folding and tearing a piece of A4 paper (or scrap paper with one blank side) to make 12 pieces.

Dictate the following sentences (all questions) from the 'Uncle Buck' video clip. The order dictated is not the order they appear in the clip. Students should ask for repetition and clarification of spelling in order to get all the sentences correct. One question is written on each paper. As a hint, teachers may tell how many words there are in the sentence so students know how many words, if any, they are missing on their paper.

Suggested order for dictation:

• Do you have kids?
• Where's your wife?
• How come?
• Where's your office?
• How come?
• What do you do for a living?
• Own or rent?
• How come?
• Are you my dad's brother?
• Where do you live?
• What's your record for consecutive questions asked?
• Do you have a house?

Note that the question "How come?" is repeated 3 times. It should appear on three separate pieces of paper. The expression "How come?" rarely appears in English textbooks despite being a very common English expression. ("How come?" means "Why?")

After students have written all the questions, play the clip below. Introduce the clip by asking students if they know the movie "Home Alone" starring Macaulay Culkin, and perhaps the deceased comedic actor, John Candy. Explain that in this scene from "Uncle Buck," the young boy is meeting his uncle for the first time due to a family emergency. The boy has many questions for his uncle, which he poses quickly, but in natural English. Note that one of the questions above is actually posed by the uncle to the child, i.e., "What's your record for consecutive questions asked?"

When students listen for the first time, they should just listen. After one listen, the teacher should play the clip again multiple times (10 or more, as it's only 25 seconds long), while students try to put the dictated questions in order. The teacher monitors student progress, and after some (or most) students have completed the task, the teacher repeats the clip while pausing after each question so students can confirm the correct order. As a follow-up, the teacher may pass out a short matching activity (jpg image below) that matches replies to the questions. The questions on this form are in the actual order they appear on the video clip. The replies, however, are out of order and must be matched to their respective questions.

I would like to thank Duane Kindt for introducing this clip to me many years ago when we were colleagues at Trident College in Nagoya. Thanks Duane!