This is the second story which I use to introduce the vocabulary which my students need to understand a song. I give the students more liberty with this story than I did when I presented Michael Jackson, the blind grey bat. They decide on the cowboy's name, how many children and grandchildren he has and where he goes. We do the arithmetic of figuring out how many mouths to feed he has on the board, practicing our numbers. In almost every TPRS story you ask how many there are, in order to work in the use of numbers as often as possible. When students do arithmetic regularly, instead of in a specific unit, they retain the numbers better and no longer flinch when they have to say anything larger than twenty. This story is fun to act out and the entire class can play the "angry crowd". Have you guessed what song we are going to listen to?
The Hungry Cowboy
Mark was a cowboy. He lived in Kansas City. He had thirteen children and
26 grandchildren. He had 39 mouths to feed. He had no money and no job.
His children and his grandchildren were very hungry. They were cold because they didn't have jackets. They
had runny noses. Mark decided to break away.
He went to Chicago. He wanted to buy 39 hamburgers,
but he didn't have enough money. He asked Bill Gates to give him 152 dollars,
but Bill Gates didn't understand. He looked the other way.
Mark roamed the West. He got to Phoenix, Arizona. In desperation,
he stole a horse with three legs. He went into a bank with a gun. He stole
318 dollars, but he didn't get far, because the horse had only three
legs. An angry crowd gathered round him. Mark cried.
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