Last week one of my son’s classmates was crowned ‘Time Lord’ (or more correctly ‘Time Lady’). The newly created award was in recognition of her mastering the art of telling the time.
Being able to tell the time is something I have taken for granted for as long as I can remember. I have no recollection of how I was taught this skill. It did’t even occur to me just how much there is to telling the time until trying to explain the whole concept.
This isn’t an actual conversation, but you get the gist!
Okay, the numbers on a clock go from 1 to 12 (assuming your clock has numbers – my watch doesn’t!). These are the hours. The little hand has to go around the clock twice each day. There is a 7 o’clock in the morning and a 7 o’clock in the evening, for example.
So, when the little hand points to the 1 it is 1 o’clock. When it points to the 2 it is 2 o’clock. If it is somewhere between the 1 and 2 then it is somewhere between 1 and 2 o’clock. To work out how far between the two, you need to look at the big hand …
Okay, so you know I said the 12 numbers were the hours? Well, what I should have said is that this is when the little hand is pointing to them. When the big hand points to the numbers they don’t represent hours any more, they are minutes…but the 1 actually means 5 and the 2 means 10. Let me explain…
The big hand goes around the clock face once every hour. Each of the numbers on the clock represents 5 minutes. So, the 1 now equals 5 minutes past; the 2 equals 10 past, and so on. Now unless your clock helpfully shows the minutes, then you either have to remember this or learn your 5 times table to work it out!
So the 3 is 15 past? Err, well yes – but no! We actually say ‘quarter past’. Oh, and the 6 isn’t 30 past we say ‘half past’.
So the number 7 is ’40’? Again, it is and it isn’t! On a digital clock it would show ’40’ but on a clock with hands, once we get beyond 6 we don’t talk about ‘minutes past’ any more. We talk about ‘minutes to’ the next hour. Now you need to count anticlockwise. Anticlockwise…? Yes – the opposite way to the way the clock ticks! So, 11 equals ‘5 to’, 10 equals ’10 to’ and 9 equals – yes, you guessed it ‘quarter to’!
Great isn’t it!
So there really is more to telling the time than meets the eye! It just goes to show how important it is to break things down into manageable chunks. Learn one element at a time and then move on to the next.
I may not have a ‘Time Lord’ yet…but it will only be a matter of time.
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