The articulate hand

Watch this video, which shows director and performer Andrew Dawson. Just don't get worried about how much you really understand, and simply enjoy the recording.



Self-study activity:
1) Counter 00:00-00:45. Sound off. Describe what you see.

2) Counter 00:45-1:30. Sound off. Which story is Andrew telling with his hand?
a A day in the life of a seagull    
b The Apollo 11 moon landing  
c My summer holiday in Greece

3) Counter 0:00-1:30. Sound on. Check your answers to activity 2.

4) Before watching. Put Andrew's story in the correct order.
a Last year he worked as a choreographer on an opera in New York.
b He then got fascinated by the hands and realised how he could tell stories with his hands.
c He also occasionally works as a hand model in commercials and photography.
d Originally, he was told by his drama teacher that he was a really bad actor.
e That led to creating his own theatre show and touring around the planet.
f As a result he became interested in dance and more physical theatre.

5) Counter 1:30–2:50. Sound on. Check your answers to activity 4.

6) Match the sentence halves to make complete sentences.

1 If we go back in evolutionary terms	a- the fingers a little longer.
2 Then it became something	b- that is unique to us.
3 Then little by little we became bipedal	c- that you would walk on.
4 They could be a little softer,	d- we wouldn’t have any of this around us.
5 We end up gaining an enormous amount of dexterity	e- this hand was used for hanging out of a tree.
6 Without that dexterity	f- and these hands were free.

7) Counter 2:50-3:40. Check your answers to exercise 6.

8) Counter 3:40–4:43. Watch the final part of the video and answer these questions.
1 Name two things Andrew says we wouldn’t be able to do without our hands.
2 What does he describe as ‘the most magical thing’?
3 Do you notice anything about Andrew’s hands?

You can check your answers by reading the transcript of the video here.

Adapted from Global Lessons online, MacMillan Publishers