Mail Online has an article about French President François Hollande being mocked at home for looking like 'a dwarf' when he posed next to the Coldstream Guards during his recent visit to London (see pic). The headline comments, "but at least he's not as short as Sarko", and to prove the point they provide a useful chart (above) comparing the height of various world leaders. Of course, as Britain has yet to fully embrace the metric system, the heights are given in feet and inches. I know my students are often uncertain what these units actually represent, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to review the question of imperial/metric equivalents when it comes to describing height, length, and distance.
- 1 inch (in) = 2.54 centimetres
- 1 foot (ft) = 12 inches = 30.48 centimeters
- 1 yard (yd) = 3 feet = 0.9144 metres
- 1 mile = 1,760 yards = 1.609 kilometres
So 5ft 7in is equivalent to 1m70, and 6ft 1in is 1m.85.
NOTES
1. In Britain, a person's height is always given in feet and inches (not yards).
2. "He's 5ft 9in" = "he's five foot/feet nine". You could also say "he's five foot/feet nine inches tall" (the use of the singular "foot" rather than the plural "feet" is common in informal speech when talking about height).
3. An alternative to "How tall are you?" would be "What's your height?".
LESSON IDEA
Use the chart to practise comparatives and superlatives:
• Hollande is taller than Sarkozy.
• Sarkozy is not as tall as Hollande.
• Cameron is as tall as Obama.
• Hollande and Napoleon are the same height.
• Sarkozy is the shortest leader.
etc., etc.
ALSO SEE
• Holland Tiptoes Into His New Role (The English Blog)
• Francois Hollande given ceremonial welcome in London - video (The Telegraph)
