Answers and an explanation for each question appear once you add this activity to your own library.

8-MIN READ & PRACTICE

🛹 How Skateboarding Began

Unit: Skateboards and Scooters • Level A1 Reading

1950s California

💡 How to use this lesson

👩‍🏫 Teacher's Guide

• Use this 8-minute reading activity to practice A1 reading comprehension in class.

• Check answers together using the evidence boxes provided under each question.

🧑‍🎓 Learner's Guide

• Read the short story about skateboards carefully first.

• Then answer the 8 questions one by one from easy to hard.

📖 The Story of Skateboarding

🔊 Listen

Long ago in the 1950s, skateboarding began in California. Surfers started this new sport. On some days, the ocean waves were flat, so they could not surf. They put roller skate wheels on pieces of wood. They rode these wooden boards on the street. At first, people called it sidewalk surfing!

A sunny 1950s California beach with young surfers holding early homemade wooden skateboards with roller skate wheels

Early wooden board with roller wheels

📌 Hard Words

Surfers 🔊

People who ride on ocean waves.

Flat 🔊

Smooth water with no waves to surf.

Sidewalk 🔊

A path next to the street for walking or riding.

📝 Practice Questions (1 to 8)

Easy → Hard

Q1 Skateboarding began in California.

True / False

____ True ____ False

Q2 Skateboarding started in the 1990s.

True / False

____ True ____ False

Q3 Surfers created skateboarding because the ocean waves were flat.

True / False

____ True ____ False

Q4 Who started the sport of skateboarding?

Multiple Choice

____ a. Swimmers ____ b. Surfers ____ c. Drivers

Q5 What were the first skateboards made of?

Multiple Choice

____ a. Pieces of wood ____ b. Plastic boxes ____ c. Metal sheets

Q6 What kind of wheels did people put on the wood?

Multiple Choice

____ a. Bike wheels ____ b. Car wheels ____ c. Roller skate wheels

Q7 Fill in the missing word from the text:

Gap-Fill

At first, people called it ____ (type answer...) surfing!

Q8 Fill in the missing word from the text:

Gap-Fill

Surfers could not surf when the ocean waves were ____ (type answer...) .

Reading: How Skateboarding Began

🛹 How Skateboarding Began

💡 How to use this lesson

👩‍🏫 Teacher's Guide

🧑‍🎓 Learner's Guide

📖 The Story of Skateboarding

📌 Hard Words

📝 Practice Questions (1 to 8)

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