The world’s tallest man!
What do
you think
Zhao does
when he
needs some
clothes?
Chinese man,
27-year-old
Zhao Liang,
is the world’s
tallest man.
He measures
in at 2.46m.
He needed
two beds to
sleep on
when he went
into hospital
for a foot
operation!
What other
problems
might he
have?
The world’s smallest man!
He Pingping is the world’s
smallest man. He comes from
Inner Mongolia and was
born in July 1988.
He measures 73cms tall.
Hi, I have to interview
He Pingping on my TV
show soon. Can you
come up with some
good questions for me
to ask him please?
Body
parts
In every height
measurement there are:
4 femur lengths
7 head lengths
7 foot lengths
7 ulna lengths
5 tibia lengths
3 head circumferences
How many of
these bones can
you name?
True
of
false?
How
can you
find
out?
Up2d8 maths
Teachers guide
In April Zhao Ziang, a 27 year old from China, came to our
attention in the news when he was declared the world’s
tallest man at a staggering 2.46m (8ft 1in),10 centimetres
(four inches) taller than the current holder of the official title
At the time of writing Up2d8, Zhao had declined to be named
in the Guinness book of records so has no official status. His
clothes have to be custom-made.
…continued on the next slide
When he was younger his mum made them for him. He can
just squeeze into European size 56 shoes and needs to get
them from Japan or the US. When he was young he stayed
at home because of his height, he wouldn’t play with other
children because he was so much taller than all of them and
was embarrassed. He left school at 14. In 2006 he was
noticed by an artistic troupe and they employed him as a
musician. This really improved his life, for the first time in his
life he had friends. At the other extreme He Pingping, a young
man from Inner Mongolia, was officially recorded as the
world’s smallest man in 2008. The following spreads make
effective starting points for discussion and mathematics
surrounding length, analysing data and ratio and proportion.
1st spread: The world’s tallest man!
● Look at the picture of Zhao and ask the children to describe what they can see.
Compare his height with that of the nurse. Discuss what it means to be tall: higher than
the normal or average height of a of a man, woman or child. What would be good about
it e.g. climbing tall trees, seeing above the heads of people, what would be the
disadvantages e.g. buying clothes. Lead a discussion on the question ‘What do you
think Zhao does when he needs some new clothes?’
● Ask the children to read the information and discuss how high 2.46m is. Ask some
children to measure this amount on strips of paper and stick them together to represent
that height.
● Compare this height with theirs, the height of the classroom (could he stand up straight
in your classroom?) and other things until they can picture how tall he actually is.
● In pairs the children could measure each others heights and make their own strips of
paper to represent these. Once they have, line all the strips in order from shortest to
tallest. Find the height of the shortest and ask the class to estimate the next one and
then check with its owner. Use that as a basis to estimate the next and so on.
● Order these heights on a number line and then compare them, finding differences using
counting on. Select a few to compare using this method with Zhao’s.
● Younger children could make men out of platsicine or similar and order them according
to height. Ask questions such as which is shortest, tallest, whose has the longest arms?
1st spread: The world’s tallest man! continued…
● Discuss the possible size of his hands and feet. Will they be very large? Can the
children think why? Introduce the idea that our bodies are proportional. The third spread
goes into more detail on this.
● Ask the children to discuss, in pairs, the question about what Zhao would need to do if
he wanted to buy some clothes.
● Discuss the other problems he might have e.g. what if he needed to catch a bus or
tube, wanted to go on a ride at a theme park, visit the children’s homes, eat at a
restaurant?
2nd spread: The world’s shortest man!
● Lead a discussion on what fun it could be to be so small e.g. where could you go that
you can’t go if taller? Next discuss the disadvantages.
● Give the children some time to work with a partner to make up some questions that the
TV presenter could ask Pingping.
● Ask the children to estimate how long Pingping’s feet might be. Give them some paper
and ask them to sketch one and measure it with a ruler. Remind them that seven feet
lengths are about the same as a person’s height.
● Compare Pingping’s height with the children’s using the paper strips and the ideas from
spread 1.
● In the Foundation Stage, make a paper model of He Pingping, at 73 cm high. Children
can compare their height with He Pingping. Are they already taller than him? If not, how
many birthdays do they think they will need to catch up? How many He Pingping’s would
need to stand on top of each other to be as tall as Zhao Liang? Make a paper model of
Zhao Liang and check estimates. Use the paper models to check if Zhao Liang and He
Pingping can go everywhere in the classroom. Check everywhere! Invite Zhao Liang
and He Pingping to join you for story time.
● Find the difference between Zhao’s height and Pingping’s and ask the children to show
this amount using paper strips.
● Discuss the differences and similarities between the pairs of words long and high, length
and height. The children could practically illustrate these by using play people and set
them head to toe to the same length as the height of Pingping.
3rd spread: Body proportions
● Direct the children’s attention to the skeleton and ask them to try to identify the parts
shown. If it is helpful, provide appropriate resource books for them to look at.
● Look at the body ratio information and discuss how they could find out if the statements
are true.
● Provide tape measures, rulers, paper strips etc. so that the children can test the
statements out.
● Explain that a person’s height is dependent on the size of their bones and that there is
usually a ratio between these e.g. 7:1 for feet to height, 3:1 for circumference of head to
height. You may need to explain the term ratio first.
● You could extend this by working on proportion as a fraction of the whole e.g. 7:1 for
height to feet, a foot would be 1/8 of the height of the person.
● Next ask them to explore their height measurement and their arm span – what do they
notice? Are they the exactly or very nearly the same? You could explain that some
people are square shaped and others oblong with either their height or their arm span
longer than the other.
● They could explore other body ratios e.g. hand to ulna, finger to hand.