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Review: 102 floors and 1,860 steps – numbers in English

An A1 ESL lesson plan that reviews numbers, dates and prices on a visit to the Empire State Building.

Grammar
Everything from lessons 9 to 11: numbers, decimals and dates (5/1/1931), How old…?, big numbers, a or an, plurals, phone numbers, emails and prices.
Topic
New York's famous skyscraper and its numbers, with key words like elevator, stairs, observation deck and souvenir.
Activities
Students read the building's numbers on a poster, hear a dialogue on the 86th floor and a guide, do five self-checking review drills, chat about souvenirs, open boxes of number tasks and record a voice message.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Up, up, up!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the new wordsVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and chooseChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: a famous skyscraper

    • Look at the photo: the Empire State BuildingPictureUnlock
    • Read the posterReal-life documentTry it
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the right answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Listen: on the 86th floor

    • Listen to Olivia and TundeListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen again and choose the right answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the guideListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Review: what can you do now?

    • Do you remember? Choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Is the sentence correct? True or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Sort the words: a, an or no a/an?Sort into columnsTry it
    • Complete the house group chatFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the pairs: question and answerMemory gameUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: high in the sky!

    • Choose the right repliesChatTry it
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Choose the right word: in the gift shopChoose the optionUnlock
    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Record yourself: hello from the 86th floorSpeaking, checked by the teacherUnlock

24 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

10 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+7 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • floor
  • elevator
  • stairs
  • top
  • lights
  • observation deck
  • souvenir

Grammar: numbers, dates, ages and prices, reviewed

The Empire State Building is a tower of numbers: 102 floors, 1,860 steps, an opening day of 5/1/1931. That makes it a good place for a numbers review of lessons 9 to 11. Learners use every point of the unit again, in new sentences about one visit, from How old is it? to How much are the postcards?

Numbers, decimals and dates, month first

The spelling traps come back, forty with no u and a hyphen in eighty-six, decimals still take point, and dates still put the month first, now with a year.

  • Opening day: May 1, 1931 (5/1/1931).
  • Our house in Brooklyn is 5.5 (five point five) miles from here.
  • And the big model is forty dollars!

How old…? with be, and big numbers

Age still takes be, never have, and hundred and thousand get no -s after a number. Years split into two halves: 1931 is nineteen thirty-one.

  • How old is this building? It's more than ninety years old.
  • A hundred and two floors, and one thousand eight hundred sixty steps.
  • More than ninety? Wow, I'm only twenty-eight!

A or an, and plurals

The first sound still decides between a skyscraper and an elevator, and plurals take no a or an at all: people, feet, postcards.

  • It's an old skyscraper, but so beautiful.
  • A souvenir for you?
  • It's got 102 floors, 73 elevators and 6,514 windows.

Phone numbers, emails and prices

Phone numbers are still said one number at a time, emails with at and dot, and prices the short way: $12.50 is twelve fifty. How much are goes with plurals.

  • It's three four seven, five five five, oh one seven two.
  • It's tunde dot adeyemi at example dot com.
  • How much are the postcards? They're two dollars each.

Try the numbers review exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 12 auto-checked exercises
  • 3 games
  • 1 teacher-checked task
  • 1 real-life document
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • read and say the building's big numbers: a hundred and two floors, one thousand eight hundred sixty steps
  • write and say dates month first, with the year: 5/1/1931 is May first, nineteen thirty-one
  • choose a, an or a plural with no article: an elevator, two dollars
  • ask about age and price: How old is it? How much are the postcards?
  • give a phone number and an email aloud: tunde dot adeyemi at example dot com

Lesson 12 closes Numbers all around, the third unit of English A1.1 · Hello, World, with no new grammar. It brings back lesson 9's numbers and dates, lesson 10's How old…?, big numbers, a, an and plurals, and lesson 11's phone numbers, emails and prices. The building's poster gives the review its numbers, from 102 floors to 5/1/1931.

Students spin a wheel of number questions, learn ten words from skyscraper to souvenir with pictures and audio, and choose words by picture. The reading is a visitors' poster of the building in numbers, from 73 elevators to a view of six states, with true-or-false and multiple-choice questions. They listen to Olivia and Tunde on the deck (an AI-voiced dialogue) and to a guide on the 410 days it took to build the tower. Five review exercises follow, each checked as students answer: a quiz, a true-or-false on correct and incorrect sentences, a sort into a, an or no a/an, a house group chat to complete, and a memory game of questions and answers. Then students chat with Tunde about souvenirs and a cab home and open boxes of number tasks.

For homework, students complete a gift-shop exercise on a or an, is or are, dollars and forty, and match words with their meanings. Then they record a voice message from the 86th floor with today's date, the building's age and big numbers, two souvenirs with prices and a pretend phone number, and the teacher listens to it.

Grammar:
review · numbers 0–100 and 3.14 · dates the US way · How old…? and big numbers · a/an and plurals · phone numbers and prices
Topic:
the Empire State Building · New York · skyscrapers · review

Teaching tips

  • Run the true-or-false task as a mistake hunt: pairs find the one error in each wrong sentence, like a architecture student or fourty dollars, and say the correct version aloud.
  • Open with a quiz on the building: how many floors, how many steps? Students keep their guesses until the poster gives 102 and 1,860.
  • Turn the gift shop into a role-play: one student sells postcards at $2 and models at $12.50 and $40, the other asks How much is…? and How much are…?
  • Let pairs build a paper skyscraper, as one of the boxes suggests, and present it: It's got 20 floors and an elevator.
  • Use the memory game as an exit check: note who hesitates on How old…? or a phone number, and open the next lesson with a quick round of the same questions.

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The whole course: English A1.1 · Hello, World

32 lessons for complete beginners in simple American English, from the verb to be to can and can't. Eight units cover greetings, family, numbers, home, food, daily routines, the town and free time, and each ends with a review lesson. Pictures and definitions replace translations, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Hello!

    greetings, the verb to be, countries and nationalities, yes/no questions

    1. Lesson 1Hi, hey, howdy or aloha?The verb to be with I and you
    2. Lesson 2Ellis Island: where are they from?He's, she's, they're: the verb to be
    3. Lesson 3Six languages at the UNYes/no questions with be and short answers
    4. Lesson 4Review: hello from the Statue of LibertyThe verb to be and yes/no questions, reviewed

  2. Unit 2 My people

    family members, possessive adjectives, have got, describing people

    1. Lesson 5Why is Mother's Day in May?Possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her
    2. Lesson 6Best in show!Have got and the possessive 's
    3. Lesson 7National Best Friends DaySubject pronouns, possessives and describing people
    4. Lesson 8Review: Bobbie the Wonder DogPossessives, have got and 's, reviewed

  3. Unit 3 Numbers all around

    numbers and dates, a/an and plurals, phone numbers and prices

    1. Lesson 9Why is March 14 Pi Day?Numbers 0 to 100, decimals and US dates
    2. Lesson 10How old is the General Sherman tree?A, an and plurals, with big numbers and How old…?
    3. Lesson 119-1-1 and other numbers to knowSaying phone numbers, emails and prices
    4. Lesson 12 · you're hereReview: 102 floors and 1,860 stepsNumbers, dates, ages and prices, reviewed

  4. Unit 4 Home sweet home

    rooms in a house, this, that, these and those, furniture, opposites

    1. Lesson 13A house with 132 roomsThis is, these are and plurals
    2. Lesson 14Boston's skinny house: where's the bed?This, that, these, those and Where's…?
    3. Lesson 15Can a dorm room be cozy?Opposite adjectives and have got
    4. Lesson 16Review: homes for everyoneShowing and describing a home, reviewed

  5. Unit 5 Food I love

    likes and dislikes, present simple questions, ordering food

    1. Lesson 17Pancakes for breakfast?I like, I don't like and plural nouns
    2. Lesson 18New York pizza or Chicago deep-dish?Present simple questions and short answers
    3. Lesson 19A coffee to go, please!Ordering food with I'd like and Can I have…?
    4. Lesson 20Review: lunch from a food truckI like, Do you like and I'd like, reviewed

  6. Unit 6 My day

    telling the time, daily routines, days of the week, prepositions of time

    1. Lesson 21What time is it in Times Square?Telling the time and daily routines
    2. Lesson 22Who brings the mail?The present simple with we and they
    3. Lesson 23Is it morning in Hawaii?Prepositions of time with parts of the day
    4. Lesson 24Review: a New York morningTime, routines and days, reviewed

  7. Unit 7 My town

    places in town, prepositions of place, giving directions

    1. Lesson 25Main Street, USAPrepositions of place: near and next to
    2. Lesson 26Meet me at Union SquarePresent simple questions and negatives with we and they
    3. Lesson 27Turn left on 42nd StreetImperatives for giving directions
    4. Lesson 28Review: streets for peoplePlaces, the present simple and directions, reviewed

  8. Unit 8 Free time

    hobbies, can and can't, sports, making plans

    1. Lesson 29Can you play Scrabble?Can and can't for ability
    2. Lesson 30Can you surf?Can for ability and how well
    3. Lesson 31Saturday morning: Little LeagueFree time and making plans
    4. Lesson 32Review: a book for every childCan, can't and free time, reviewed

Questions about this lesson

How do you say years, prices and phone numbers in English?
Each kind of number has its own reading: a year splits in two, nineteen thirty-one; a price is said the short way, twelve fifty; a phone number goes digit by digit, three four seven, five five five…; and a quantity comes in full, one thousand eight hundred sixty steps. Review: 102 floors and 1,860 steps, an A1 lesson on edio.ai, mixes them all on a single visit to a New York skyscraper.
How do you say years like 1931 in English?
Split the year into two pairs of digits: 1931 is nineteen thirty-one, and 1930 is nineteen thirty. Read each pair as an ordinary number, 19 and then 31, with no hundred or thousand. In a full date, the year goes last: May first, nineteen thirty-one.
How do you write a date with the year in American English?
Month, day, comma, year: May 1, 1931, or 5/1/1931 in numbers, and March 17, 1930 is 3/17/1930. The short form keeps the month first as well, so 1/5/1931 would mean January 5, not May 1. Spoken, the day becomes an ordinal: March seventeenth, nineteen thirty.
Is it "a elevator" or "an elevator"?
An elevator, because it begins with a vowel sound, like an old building or an observation deck. A consonant sound takes a instead: a skyscraper, a souvenir, a gift shop. Saying the pair aloud helps: an elevator runs smoothly, while a elevator needs a little stop between the two words.
Do you use "a" or "an" with plural nouns?
No, because a and an mean one, so plurals go without them: people, postcards, two dollars. Compare a souvenir with souvenirs, or an elevator with 73 elevators. A number or the can stand before a plural instead, as in the postcards or 1,860 steps, or nothing at all.
What words do you need to describe a skyscraper in English?
The key words are skyscraper, floor, elevator, stairs and observation deck, plus the verb climb. Floors are counted with ordinals, so the 86th floor is the eighty-sixth floor, and an observation deck is a high place to look at the city. After the visit comes a souvenir, a small thing to remember the trip by.
How do I review numbers with ESL beginners?
Bring dates, ages, prices and phone numbers into one setting, so learners must pick the right form each time. Review: 102 floors and 1,860 steps on edio.ai does it on a visit to the Empire State Building, with a poster and a dialogue on the 86th floor. Its true-or-false task works as a diagnosis: four of eight sentences hide one mistake, like fourty dollars, and the ones students miss show what needs another round.
What's a good game for reviewing numbers?
A memory game that pairs questions with their answers: students turn over cards to find each match. The memory game in Review: 102 floors and 1,860 steps on edio.ai pairs How old is the Empire State Building? with It's more than ninety years old, and How much are the postcards? with They're two dollars each. A box game follows, from saying 1,576 and 1,860 to making a paper skyscraper with a partner.
How do you review numbers one-to-one?
Play the partner in every pair task yourself, so the student both asks and answers. With Review: 102 floors and 1,860 steps on edio.ai, that means trading gift-shop prices and a pretend phone number and building a paper skyscraper together, while the chat about souvenirs and a cab home needs no partner at all.
What's good homework for a numbers review?
A spoken message that uses every kind of number, after a short written check. The homework of Review: 102 floors and 1,860 steps on edio.ai starts with a gift-shop exercise on a or an, is or are and forty, and a word match, both self-checking. Then students record a voice message from the 86th floor with today's date, the building's age, two souvenir prices and a pretend phone number, for the teacher.
Are there interactive numbers exercises for beginners?
Yes: sorting tasks and chats check every answer as students go. The page of Review: 102 floors and 1,860 steps on edio.ai lets visitors try four of its parts with no account: the poster of the building in numbers, the dialogue on the 86th floor, a sort of words into a, an or no article, and a chat about souvenirs and a cab. The other review exercises are locked until you sign up.
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