Football World Cup 2006 | Teaching English | British Council

Theme: Football – 2006 World Cup and women’s football.
Lexical area: Sports

Instructions for language assistants in Italics

Classroom materials

Introduction
This lesson is about football and is based on the World Cup this summer. Task 1 is a simple introduction to the topic where students do a drawing dictation of a football pitch. Task 2 is a trivia quiz about the World Cup. Task 3 is designed for lower levels and is a game of World Cup Bingo. Task 4 is a reading task for higher levels using an Trend UK article about women’s football and Task 5 asks students to predict the winning team for this year. Task 6 is a more creative activity which asks students to design a new mascot for a future World Cup event held in their own country.

1. Pitch picture
Before telling the class what the class is about ask them to draw exactly what you describe. Grade your language according to the level of your group to describe a simple picture of a football pitch.

For example: ‘Draw a rectangle. Draw a line across the middle of the rectangle and draw a small circle in the middle of the line… etc etc.’
At the end, the students should have a basic outline of a football pitch. Now add more details to make it into a stadium and ask them to label the parts of the picture. Teach the new vocabulary as you go along.

Task 1 Pitch picture
Listen carefully to your teacher and draw what he / she describes.

2.World Cup trivia quiz

You can use this quiz either with students on their own, in pairs or as groups.
Answers:
1 – b 2 – c 3 – a (Pelé was in Brazil’s winning teams in 1958, 1962 and 1970) 4 - c , 5 – b, 6 - a

Task 2 World Cup trivia quiz
What do you know about the World Cup? Try this quiz to find out.

1) When was the first ever World Cup?
a) 1926
b) 1930
c) 1938

2) Which country has won the World Cup the most times (five times in total) ?
a) Italy
b) Argentina
c) Brazil

3) Which famous football player has won three World Cup competitions?
a) Pelé
b) Maradonna
c) David Beckham

4) What does FIFA stand for?
a) Football Is Fun Association
b) Football International For All
c) Fédération Internationale de Football Association

5) How many different stadiums will be used for the 2006 World Cup in Germany?
a) 6
b) 12
c) 18

6) Where was the World Cup held in 2002?
a) Korea / Japan
b) Thailand / Cambodia
c) England / Wales

Now write some more trivia questions about football.

3. World cup bingo
This is a very simple task for lower levels. Cut up the table and give one group to each student, pair or group. Tell them you are going to play bingo using the groups playing in the World Cup. Before you start write all the countries on small bits of paper or card and put them in an envelope. (You could get the students to do this quickly in the class by writing the countries of their group on cards.) Then play a normal bingo game by pulling out the countries one by one. Students tick them off as they hear them called. To make the bingo more challenging, instead of saying the country directly, give students a clue instead. For example, ‘This country is the host of the World Cup this year’ for Germany or ‘This country is famous for its pasta and pizzas’ for Italy. Grade the clues and your language according to the level you’re teaching. When one group has got a ‘bingo’ ask them to be the bingo caller for the next round. If you have access to a map of the world you could extend this task by seeing which group can plot all their countries on the map within a set time limit.

Task 3 World cup bingo

GROUP A	GROUP B	GROUP C	GROUP D
Germany Costa Rica Poland Ecuador	England Paraguay Trinidad & Tobago Sweden	Argentina Ivory Coast Serbia & Montenegro Holland	Mexico Iran Angola Portugal

GROUP E	GROUP F	GROUP G	GROUP H
Italy Ghana USA Czech Republic	Brazil Croatia Australia Japan	France Switzerland South Korea Togo	Spain Ukraine Tunisia Saudi Arabia

4. Women’s Footie: Reading
This is a reading task for higher levels from the British Council’s Trend UK website. Pre-teach vocabulary if necessary and discuss the questions with your class before they read the text. Then ask students to read the text and use it as a starting point for a discussion about women’s football in their own country.

Task 4 Women’s Footie: Reading
Before reading the text, discuss these questions with your group.

Do women play football in your country?
Why do you think football is traditionally played only by men?
Do you know any women who play football?
Do you think there are any sports that women shouldn’t play? Why? Why not?

Now read the text about women’s football in Britain.

Women’s footie

Male domination of the ‘beautiful game’ is fast disappearing, as football takes over as the most popular sport for women and girls. Fancy footwork, muddy pitches and dreams of glory have made football a national obsession in the UK, particularly among boys and men. Whether it be playing in school, on weekends with friends or following the ups and downs of their favourite teams, British males are known for their love of the ‘beautiful game’. But research shows that girls too are making their mark, with football now the most popular female sport in the UK. Figures gathered by The Football Association show that there are now over 60,000 girls and women belonging to football clubs and playing in competitive matches. This has put the traditionally ‘female’ dominated sport of netball in second place.

Make way for the girls
In the past female participation in football was considered ‘unlady-like’ but attitudes are slowly changing. The Brit flick Bend It like Beckham brought woman’s football to the big screen, showing that girls can be skilful and enjoy competition just as much as boys. Ellie plays football every weekend for a club in London, she says she finds it ‘so much more interesting than any other sport’. Each game tests both her physical stamina and her ability to keep a cool head even when she’s under pressure.

Women’s football in England has had a Premier League since 1993, and several women are now making acareer out of the game. Hope Powell was appointed the National Women’s Coach in 1998. When she first started kicking a ball around she thought she was the only girl who could play football, ‘when I eventually discovered there was another girl at my school who played the game I was amazed – even more so when I found out she actually played for a team!’.

Looking to the future
But even if the number of female players is rising, women’s football in the UK still has some catching up to do. In the United States a staggering 7.8 million women and girls are involved in the game, competing in regular matches. Plans to establish a professional women’s league should boost the UK’s prospects in the future. But in the meantime it’s hoped the popularity of the game will continue to flourish, as both players and spectators look forward to the Women’s World Cup in 1997.

Now think about your country. Is the attitude towards women’s football similar or different to the attitude in Britain?
Do you think there should be a World Cup for women too? Why / why not?

5. Predict the World cup winners

Ask a few students who they think is going to win the World Cup. Encourage a quick debate and get students to justify their predictions. With low level groups write some of their justifications up on the board to support the weaker students throughout the task.

There are several voting polls on the internet already. If you can, show your students this type of poll and have a class vote to see if they think their own country is going to win the Cup.

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/sport1/

Task 5 Predict the World cup winners

Who do you think is going to win the World Cup?
Why do you think they’re going to win?

Answer these questions then ask ten of your classmates the same questions.

Name

Winning team

Reason

Write a summary of the results here:

In our class, ____ people think _______________ is going to win the World Cup because….

6. World cup mascots
Download a picture of the mascot for the World Cup (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/ ). Show students the lion and ask them if they like it. Ask students if they remember any of the mascots from previous World Cups or other sporting events. Ask the students some questions to introduce the idea of mascots. For example:

Do they like the designs? Why do these events have mascots? What characteristics should a good mascot have?

Task 6 World cup mascots
You are going to design a mascot for the next World Cup in your country. Work with your group and then draw the mascot.

Internet links

The British Council’s Learn English site is currently stacked full of great activities connected to sports. You’ll also find some World Cup activities.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-central-sport

Ready made materials for Bend it Like Bekham. If you have access to the film too you could make this into an excellent class project.
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/

Ready made materials to use an extract from Nick Hornby’s book Fever Pitch. Great for higher levels.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish

The BBC’s World Cup site.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/

This is a downloadable wallchart for footie fans to keep track of the winners in the World Cup. If you’re teaching a group throughout the competition put one up in the classroom and asks students for the results of the matches in each class.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sol/shared/spl/hi/football/

The Women’s Sports Foundation. Current campaigns designed to get women and girls involved in sport in the UK.
http://www.wsf.org.uk/index.htm

FA takes long view. An article on the future of women’s football following England’s defeat at Euro 2005.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/women/ BBC Sport

Women’s Soccer Scene. Weekly magazine giving you all the latest results and club news from across the UK.
http://www.womens-soccer-scene.co.uk/

Kick It Out. An interview with women’s football coach, Hope Powell.
http://www.kickitout.org/index.php?id=35

By Jo Budden

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