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GENERAL ENGLISH · ENGLISH IN VIDEO · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

MISDIRECTION

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1 Warm up
You are going to watch a video about misdirection. Read the definition below.

misdirection - the act of making someone believe in

something wrong or look in the wrong direction

How does the prefix mis- change the word? Who might make use of misdirection?

2 Vocabulary: part 1
Complete the questions below with the grammatically correct form of the words in the box, adding
the prefix mis-.

behave - calculate - direct - place - spell - understand - match

1. When was the last time there was a about something you said?
2. Have you ever a jump and hurt yourself as a result?
3. What did your parents do when you as a child?
4. Do you often your phone? Where do you usually find it?
5. What words do you often in English? And in your own language?
6. Have you ever left the house with socks?
7. How do magicians use to distract you and to do their tricks?

In pairs, discuss the questions above.

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3 Vocabulary: part 2

Match the following words with their correct definitions.

1. accurate a. at the end of a process or period of time in which many things

happen
2. rewind b. correct or true in every detail

3. inventory c. press something firmly, especially with your hands

4. surveillance d. go backwards to the beginning or to an earlier place

5. squeeze e. a list giving details of all the things in a place

6. eventually f. the process of watching a person or place that may be connected

to crime

4 Listening comprehension: part 1

Listen to the first part of the video (00:00 – 04:25). Correct these sentences.

1. Apollo Robbins used to be a psychologist.

2. He jokes that he might have taken someone’s wallet.

3. He asks the audience to remember what icon is on the top left corner of their phones.

4. Apollo asks the audience to close their eyes and remember what they are wearing.

5. He asks the audience to imagine there is a little manager in our head called Frank.

6. The cocktail effect refers to how you can hear someone saying their name in a party even though
you were not listening to the conversation.

In pairs, discuss what you think Apollo will do with Joe.

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5 Listening comprehension: part 2

Watch the second part of the video (04:25 – 08:34) and put these events in order.

Apollo puts Joe’s watch on his own wrist.

Apollo makes the chip appear on Joe’s shoulder twice.

Apollo catches the chip as it falls from above.

Apollo takes Joe’s watch.

Apollo takes the poker chip from his open hand as a joke.

Apollo asks the audience what he is wearing.

Apollo gives Joe a poker chip and ask him to hold it.

Apollo takes a shrimp from Joe’s pocket.

Apollo returns Joe’s watch and money.

6 Vocabulary: part 3

Read the transcript on page four and find the words which mean...

a. stealing money from people’s clothes and bags, especially in crowded places
(phrase, para.1)
b. verify something again (v, para. 2)

c. a way of voting in which people raise their hands (phrase, para. 2)

d. intended to seem impressive, important, clever (adj, para. 3)

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e. a failure to communicate clearly or effectively (n, para. 7)

f. something that takes someone’s attention away from other things (phrase,
para. 8)
g. gives form to something (v, para. 10)

The Art of Misdirection

by Apollo Robbins

1. Do you think it’s possible to control someone’s attention? Even more than that, what about predicting human
behavior? I think those are interesting ideas. For me, that would be the perfect superpower, actually kind of an
evil way of approaching it. But for myself, in the past, I’ve spent the last 20 years studying human behavior from
a rather unorthodox way: picking pockets. When we think of misdirection, we think of something as looking off
to the side, when actually the things right in front of us are often the hardest to see, the things that you look at
every day that you’re blinded to. At the age of five, Shane Melaugh has already become the youngest person to
represent Ireland as a member of the under-12s team.

2. For example, how many of you still have your cell phones on you right now? Great. Double-check. Make sure
you still have them. I was doing some shopping before. You’ve looked at them a few times today, but I’ll ask you
a question. Without looking at it directly yet, can you remember the icon in the bottom right corner? Bring them
out, check and see how accurate you were. How’d you do? Show of hands. Did we get it? Now that you’re done,
close them down. Every phone has something in common. No matter how you organize the icons, you still have
a clock on the front. So, without looking at your phone, what time was it? You just looked at your clock, right?
Interesting idea. Let’s take that a step further with a game of trust. Close your eyes. I realize I’m asking you to do
that while you just heard there’s a pickpocket in the room, but close your eyes.

3. Now, you’ve been watching me for about 30 seconds. With your eyes closed, what am I wearing? Make your
best guess. What color is my shirt? What color is my tie? Now open your eyes. Show of hands, were you right?
Interesting, isn’t it? Some of us are a little bit more perceptive than others, it seems. But I have a different theory
about that model of attention. They have fancy models of attention, Posner’s trinity model of attention. For me,
I like to think of it very simple, like a surveillance system. It’s kind of like you have all these fancy sensors, and
inside your brain is a little security guard. For me, I like to call him Frank. So Frank is sitting at a desk. He’s got
lots of cool information in front of him, high-tech equipment, he’s got cameras, he’s got a little phone that he can
pick up, listen to the ears, all these senses, all these perceptions. But attention is what steers your perceptions, it’s
what controls your reality. It’s the gateway to the mind. If you don’t attend to something, you can’t be aware of
it. But ironically, you can attend to something without being aware of it. For example, the cocktail effect: You’re
in a party, having conversations with someone, and yet you can recognize your name without realizing you were
listening to that.

4. Now, for my job, I have to play with techniques to exploit this, to play with your attention as a limited resource. So
if I could control how you spend your attention, if I could maybe steal your attention through a distraction. Now,
instead of doing it like misdirection and throwing it off to the side, instead, what I choose to focus on is Frank,
to be able to play with the Frank inside your head, your security guard, and get you, instead of focusing on your
external senses, just to go internal for a second. So if I ask you to access a memory, like, what is that? What just
happened? Do you have a wallet? Do you have an American Express in your wallet? And when I do that, your
Frank turns around. He accesses the file. He has to rewind the tape. What’s interesting is, he can’t rewind the
tape at the same time that he’s trying to process new data. This sounds like a good theory, but I could talk for a
long time, tell you lots of things, and a portion of them may be true, but I think it’s better if I tried to show that to
you here live. If I come down, I’m going to do a bit of shopping. Just hold still where you are.

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5. Hello, how are you? It’s lovely to see you. Wonderful job onstage. Lovely watch, it doesn’t come off very well.
Do you have a ring as well? Good. Just taking inventory. You’re like a buffet. Hard to tell where to start, so many
great things. Hi, how are you? Good to see you. Hi, sir, could you stand up, please? Just right where you are.
You’re married, you follow directions well. Nice to meet you, sir. You don’t have a lot in your pockets. Anything
down here? Hopefully so. Have a seat. There you go. You’re doing well. Hi, sir, how are you? Good to see you,
sir. You have a ring, a watch. Do you have a wallet on you?

6. Well, we’ll find one for you. Come on up this way, Joe. Give Joe a round of applause. Come on up, Joe. Let’s play
a game. Pardon me. I don’t think I need this clicker anymore. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Come on
up to the stage, Joe. Let’s play a little game now. Anything in your front pockets? Money! All right, let’s try that.
Can you stand right over this way for me? Turn around and, let’s see, if I give you something that belongs to me,
this is just something I have, a poker chip. Hold out your hand for me. Watch it closely. This is a task for you to
focus on. You have your money in your front pocket?

7. Good. I won’t put my hand in your pocket. I’m not ready for that kind of commitment. Once a guy had a
hole in his pocket, and that was rather traumatizing for me. I wanted his wallet, he gave me his number. Big
miscommunication. Let’s do this simply. Squeeze your hand tight. Do you feel the poker chip in your hand?
Would you be surprised if I took it? Say yes. Good. Open your hand. Thank you very much. I’ll cheat if you give
me a chance. Make it harder for me. Just use your hand. Grab my wrist, but squeeze, squeeze firm. Did you see it
go? No, it’s not here. Open your hand. While we’re focused on the hand, it’s sitting on your shoulder. Go ahead
and take it off. Now, let’s try that again. Hold your hand out flat. Open it up. Put your hand up a little bit higher,
but watch it close. If I did it slowly, it’d be on your shoulder. Joe, we’re going to keep doing this till you catch it.
You’ll get it eventually. I have faith in you. Squeeze firm. You’re human, you’re not slow. It’s back on your shoulder.
You were focused on your hand, distracted. While you were watching, I couldn’t get your watch off. Yet you had
something inside your pocket. Do you remember what it was? Check your pocket. Is it still there? Oh, there it
was. Put it away. We’re just shopping. This trick’s more about the timing. I’m going to try to push it inside your
hand. Put your other hand on top, would you? It’s amazingly obvious now, isn’t it? Looks a lot like the watch I was
wearing, doesn’t it?

8. Oh, thanks. But it’s only a start. Let’s try it a little bit differently. Hold your hands together. Your other hand on
top. If you’re watching this little token, this obviously has become a little target, like a red herring. If we watch
this kind of close, it looks like it goes away. It’s not back on your shoulder. It falls out of the air, lands right back in
the hand. Did you see it go? Yeah, funny. We’ve got a little guy. He’s union, works up there all day. If I do it slowly
it goes straight away, it lands by your pocket. Is it in this pocket, sir? Don’t reach in your pocket. That’s a different
show. That’s rather strange. They have shots for that. Can I show them? Rather bizarre. Is this yours, sir? I have
no idea how that works. We’ll send that over there.

9. I need help with this one. Step over this way for me. Don’t run away. You had something down by your pants
pocket. I was checking mine. I couldn’t find everything, but I noticed you had something here. Can I feel the
outside for a moment? Down here I noticed this. Is this something of yours, sir? I have no idea. That’s a shrimp.
You’ve entertained all of these people in a wonderful way, better than you know. So we’d love to give you this
lovely watch as a gift. Hopefully it matches his taste. We have a couple of other things, a little bit of cash. And
we have a few other things, these all belong to you, along with a big round of applause from all your friends. Joe,
thank you very much.

10. So, same question I asked you before, but this time you don’t have to close your eyes. What am I wearing?
Attention is a powerful thing. Like I said, it shapes your reality. So, I guess I’d like to pose that question to you. If
you could control somebody’s attention, what would you do with it? Thank you.

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7 Grammar: part 1
Look at the sentences from the script. Why are the verbs in bold in the -ing form or infinitive?

1. Without looking at it directly yet, can you remember the icon in the bottom right corner?
2. Do you think it’s possible to control someone’s attention?
3. Now, you’ve been watching me for about 30 seconds.
4. Now, for my job, I have to play with techniques to exploit this, to play with your attention as a
limited resource.
5. Joe, we’re going to keep doing this till you catch it.
6. What’s interesting is, he can’t rewind the tape at the same time that he’s trying to process new
data.

Now match the examples above to the rules below.

We use a verb in its -ing form:

a. in continuous tenses, e.g. sentence

b. after certain verbs, e.g. sentence

c. after prepositions, e.g. sentence

We use a verb in its infinitive form:

a. after adjectives, e.g. sentence

b. after certain verbs, e.g. sentence

c. to express purpose, e.g. sentence

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8 Grammar: part 2
Complete the sentences with the -ing or infinitive forms of the verbs below.

be come give help manage notice

pay pick remember steal study trick

1. Apollo has been human behavior for a long time by pockets.

2. Apollo said that ‘Frank’ stops attention when he needs something.

3. Apollo invited him on the stage him demonstrate his theory.

4. Joe enjoyed on stage with Apollo, but it was easy him.

5. Apollo to take Joe’s watch off without him it.

6. After Joe’s watch and money, Apollo decided them back.

9 Speaking
Discuss the questions below.

1. What did you think of Apollo’s presentation?

2. Do you agree with his ‘Frank’ theory?
3. Do you think anyone can learn how to control human attention like that?
4. How would you define ‘attention’?
5. Are you good at remembering details?
6. When and how did Apollo change clothes during the talk? Did you notice?

10 Extension activity 1
Answer the questions below. Watch the whole video to check.

1. How has Apollo been studying human behavior for the last 20 years?

2. What do phones have in common, according to Apollo?

3. What is the ‘cocktail effect’?

4. What item did Joe have in his trousers that was extraordinary?

5. What was the gift for Joe after his act?

6. What was Apollo wearing at the beginning and at the end of his talk?

7. What does Apollo say about attention at the end?

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Transcripts

4. Listening comprehension: part 1

Apollo Robbins: Do you think it’s possible to control someone’s attention? Even more than that,
what about predicting human behaviour? I think those are interesting ideas. For me,
that would be the perfect superpower, actually kind of an evil way of approaching
it. But for myself, in the past, I’ve spent the last 20 years studying human behaviour
from a rather unorthodox way: picking pockets. When we think of misdirection, we
think of something as looking off to the side, when actually the things right in front
of us are often the hardest to see, the things that you look at every day that you’re
blinded to.

Apollo Robbins: For example, how many of you still have your cell phones on you right now? Great.
Double-check. Make sure you still have them. I was doing some shopping before.

Apollo Robbins: You’ve looked at them a few times today, but I’ll ask you a question. Without looking
at it directly yet, can you remember the icon in the bottom right corner? Bring them
out, check and see how accurate you were. How’d you do? Show of hands. Did we
get it?

Apollo Robbins: Now that you’re done, close them down. Every phone has something in common.
No matter how you organize the icons, you still have a clock on the front. So,
without looking at your phone, what time was it? You just looked at your clock,
right? Interesting idea. Let’s take that a step further with a game of trust. Close your
eyes. I realize I’m asking you to do that while you just heard there’s a pickpocket in
the room, but close your eyes.

Apollo Robbins: Now, you’ve been watching me for about 30 seconds. With your eyes closed, what
am I wearing? Make your best guess. What colour is my shirt? What colour is my
tie? Now open your eyes. Show of hands, were you right? Interesting, isn’t it?

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Apollo Robbins: Some of us are a little bit more perceptive than others, it seems. But I have
a different theory about that model of attention. They have fancy models of
attention, Posner’s trinity model of attention. For me, I like to think of it very
simple, like a surveillance system. It’s kind of like you have all these fancy sensors,
and inside your brain is a little security guard. For me, I like to call him Frank. So
Frank is sitting at a desk. He’s got lots of cool information in front of him, high-tech
equipment, he’s got cameras, he’s got a little phone that he can pick up, listen to
the ears, all these senses, all these perceptions. But attention is what steers your
perceptions, it’s what controls your reality. It’s the gateway to the mind. If you
don’t attend to something, you can’t be aware of it. But ironically, you can attend
to something without being aware of it. For example, the cocktail effect: You’re in
a party, having conversations with someone, and yet you can recognize your name
without realizing you were listening to that.

Apollo Robbins: Now, for my job, I have to play with techniques to exploit this, to play with your
attention as a limited resource. So if I could control how you spend your attention,
if I could maybe steal your attention through a distraction. Now, instead of doing
it like misdirection and throwing it off to the side, instead, what I choose to focus
on is Frank, to be able to play with the Frank inside your head, your security guard,
and get you, instead of focusing on your external senses, just to go internal for a
second.

Apollo Robbins: So if I ask you to access a memory, like, what is that? What just happened? Do
you have a wallet? Do you have an American Express in your wallet? And when I
do that, your Frank turns around. He accesses the file. He has to rewind the tape.
What’s interesting is, he can’t rewind the tape at the same time that he’s trying to
process new data.

Apollo Robbins: This sounds like a good theory, but I could talk for a long time, tell you lots of things,
and a portion of them may be true, but I think it’s better if I tried to show that to
you here live. If I come down, I’m going to do a bit of shopping. Just hold still where
you are.

Apollo Robbins: Hello, how are you? It’s lovely to see you. Wonderful job onstage. Lovely watch, it
doesn’t come off very well. Do you have a ring as well? Good. Just taking inventory.
You’re like a buffet. Hard to tell where to start, so many great things.

Apollo Robbins: Hi, how are you? Good to see you.

Apollo Robbins: Hi, sir, could you stand up, please? Just right where you are. You’re married, you
follow directions well. Nice to meet you, sir. You don’t have a lot in your pockets.
Anything down here? Hopefully so. Have a seat. There you go. You’re doing well.

Apollo Robbins: Hi, sir, how are you? Good to see you, sir. You have a ring, a watch. Do you have a
wallet on you?

Joe: I don’t.

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Apollo Robbins: Well, we’ll find one for you. Come on up this way, Joe. Give Joe a round of applause.
Come on up, Joe. Let’s play a game.

Apollo Robbins: Pardon me. I don’t think I need this clicker anymore. Thank you very much. I
appreciate that. Come on up to the stage, Joe. Let’s play a little game now. Anything
in your front pockets?

Joe: Money.

Apollo Robbins: Money! All right, let’s try that. Can you stand right over this way for me? Turn
around and, let’s see, if I give you something that belongs to me, this is just
something I have, a poker chip. Hold out your hand for me. Watch it closely. This
is a task for you to focus on. You have your money in your front pocket?

Joe: Yup.

Apollo Robbins: Good. I won’t put my hand in your pocket. I’m not ready for that kind of
commitment. Once a guy had a hole in his pocket, and that was rather traumatizing
for me. I wanted his wallet, he gave me his number. Big miscommunication. Let’s
do this simply. Squeeze your hand tight. Do you feel the poker chip in your hand?

Joe: I do.

Apollo Robbins: Would you be surprised if I took it? Say yes.

Joe: Very.

Apollo Robbins: Good. Open your hand. Thank you very much. I’ll cheat if you give me a chance.
Make it harder for me. Just use your hand. Grab my wrist, but squeeze, squeeze
firm. Did you see it go?

Joe: No.

Apollo Robbins: No, it’s not here. Open your hand. While we’re focused on the hand, it’s sitting on
your shoulder. Go ahead and take it off. Now, let’s try that again. Hold your hand
out flat. Open it up. Put your hand up a little bit higher, but watch it close. If I did it
slowly, it’d be on your shoulder. Joe, we’re going to keep doing this till you catch it.
You’ll get it eventually. I have faith in you. Squeeze firm. You’re human, you’re not
slow. It’s back on your shoulder. You were focused on your hand, distracted. While
you were watching, I couldn’t get your watch off. Yet you had something inside your
pocket. Do you remember what it was?

Joe: Money.

Apollo Robbins: Check your pocket. Is it still there? Oh, there it was. Put it away. We’re just
shopping. This trick’s more about the timing. I’m going to try to push it inside your
hand. Put your other hand on top, would you? It’s amazingly obvious now, isn’t it?
Looks a lot like the watch I was wearing, doesn’t it?

Joe: That’s pretty good.

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Apollo Robbins: Oh, thanks. But it’s only a start. Let’s try it a little bit differently. Hold your hands
together. Your other hand on top. If you’re watching this little token, this obviously
has become a little target, like a red herring. If we watch this kind of close, it looks
like it goes away. It’s not back on your shoulder. It falls out of the air, lands right
back in the hand. Did you see it go? Yeah, funny. We’ve got a little guy. He’s union,
works up there all day. If I do it slowly it goes straight away, it lands by your pocket.
Is it in this pocket, sir? Don’t reach in your pocket. That’s a different show. That’s
rather strange. They have shots for that. Can I show them? Rather bizarre. Is this
yours, sir? I have no idea how that works. We’ll send that over there. I need help
with this one. Step over this way for me. Don’t run away. You had something down
by your pants pocket. I was checking mine. I couldn’t find everything, but I noticed
you had something here. Can I feel the outside for a moment? Down here I noticed
this. Is this something of yours, sir? I have no idea. That’s a shrimp.

Joe: Yeah. I’m saving it for later.

Apollo Robbins: You’ve entertained all of these people in a wonderful way, better than you know. So
we’d love to give you this lovely watch as a gift. Hopefully it matches his taste. We
have a couple of other things, a little bit of cash. And we have a few other things,
these all belong to you, along with a big round of applause from all your friends.
Joe, thank you very much. So, same question I asked you before, but this time you
don’t have to close your eyes. What am I wearing? Attention is a powerful thing.
Like I said, it shapes your reality. So, I guess I’d like to pose that question to you. If
you could control somebody’s attention, what would you do with it? Thank you.

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Key

1. Warm up

5 mins.
Write the title of the unit on the board (Misdirection) and elicit what they think it means.
Students read the definition. Elicit the meaning of the prefix mis- (badly or incorrectly), and ask if they can think
of any other words with this prefix. Then ask which professionals might make use of misdirection (e.g. magicians
and pickpockets).

2. Vocabulary: part 1

5 mins.
Read the words on the box, asking students to add the prefix mis- and eliciting the meaning of the new words (don’t
confirm or correct any guesses yet). Students complete the sentences. Remind them that, apart from adding the
prefix, they might have to change the form of the word. Correct the questions, eliciting the correct meaning this
time. Then, in pairs, students answer the questions. Elicit some answers as a whole class, especially regarding the
last question.

1. misunderstanding 2. miscalculated 3. misbehaved 4. misplace

5. misspell 6. mismatched 7. misdirection

3. Vocabulary: part 2

5 mins.
Students match the words to their meanings. When correcting, elicit example sentences using them.

1. → b. 2. → d. 3. → e.
4. → f. 5. → c. 6. → a.

4. Listening comprehension: part 1

10 mins.
Ask students to read the sentences, then watch the video and correct them as they go along. Elicit the corrections
from the students and write them on the board. Then, in pairs, students discuss what will happen in the next part
of the video, i.e. what Apollo will do with Joe.

1. Apollo Robbins used to be a 2. He jokes that he might have taken 3. He asks the audience to
pickpocket. someone’s phone. remember what icon is on the
bottom right corner of their phones.
4. Apollo asks the audience to close 5. He asks the audience to imagine 6. The Cocktail effect refers to
their eyes and remember what he is there is a little security guard in our how you can hear someone saying
wearing. head called Frank. your name in a party even though
you were not listening to the
conversation.

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TEACHER MATERIALS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

MISDIRECTION

5. Listening comprehension: part 2

10 mins.
Students watch the second part of the video and order the sentences. They then watch again to check. Elicit the
correct order.

Apollo gives Joe a poker chip and ask him to hold it.
Apollo takes the poker chip from his open hand as a joke.
Apollo makes the chip appear on Joe’s shoulder twice.
Apollo takes Joe’s watch.
Apollo puts Joe’s watch on his own wrist.
Apollo catches the chip as it falls from above.
Apollo takes a shrimp from Joe’s pocket.
Apollo returns Joe’s watch and money.
Apollo asks the audience what he is wearing.

6. Vocabulary: part 3

5 mins.
Students read the article to find the words with the meanings given. Tell them that they are in the same order in
the script.

a. picking pockets b. double-check c. a show of hands

d. fancy e. miscommunication f. a red herring
g. shapes

7. Grammar: part 1

5 mins.
In pairs, students read the sentences and try to work out why they are in the -ing or the infinitive form. They then
read the rules and match them to the sentences. When correcting, elicit other examples of each rule.
-ing verbs:

a. 3 b. 5 c. 1
Infinitive forms:

a. 2 b. 6 c. 4

8. Grammar: part 2

10 mins.
Students complete the sentences with the correct form of the verbs (i.e. either -ing or infinitive). When correcting,
elicit which rule is case refers to.

1. studying ≀ picking 2. paying ≀ to remember

3. to come ≀ to help 4. being ≀ to trick
5. managed ≀ noticing 6. stealing ≀ to give

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Learn without forgetting! vi
Scan the QR at the top of Page 1 to review the lesson flashcards with Expemo.
© Linguahouse.com. Photocopiable and licensed for use in Veronica School's lessons.
 HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
TEACHER MATERIALS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

MISDIRECTION

9. Speaking

10 mins.
In small groups, students discuss the questions. At the end, elicit some of their ideas as a whole class.

10. Extension activity 1

15 mins.
Students try to remember the information from the talk. They can read the script afterwards to check.

1. By picking pockets.
2. The clock on the front screen.
3. The fact that you can often hear your name being said at a party, even if you’re not paying attention to it.
4. A shrimp.
5. His belongings.
6. In the beginning, a dark shirt and tie. In the end, a light-colored shirt and no tie.
7. That it shapes reality.
Optional: Extension activity 2
In groups, record a TikTok-style video on your phone, explaining what misdirection is, talking about how attention
works and demonstrating the concepts.
15 mins.
In small groups, students plan and record a short video with the main ideas from the talk. They can then show
their videos to other groups and choose the best one.

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