How to take the most of THE WORLD CUP

2014 World Cup Mascot

With the World Cup in motion and our students enjoying their summer break (though not the teachers), time for fun and some learning in-between, don’t you agree?

I’ve collected some resources / links with stuff connected to football and the World Cup.

1. Let’s start with books - simple ones and not that expensive, ok?  ;)

Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby, is an award winning football classic.

Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend by Francesca Simon has a low level of English and is therefore great for newly confident readers.

The Story Of Football, by Rob Jones, takes a look at Football through the ages, from the Roman Army to the modern day.

The Story of The World Cup, by Richard Brassey, is definitely a book for all ages that I'm sure you'll enjoy.

World Football Facts and Records, unlike the previous books, is packed with info and stats on football.

2. In what concerns vocabulary - or games - there is absolutely no shortage, but quantity means we have to be very careful in selecting the most appropriate ones for our classes. 

Here you will find a very clear, simple and organised soccer / football guide. Do have a look! Also here you'll find basic football vocabulary.

However, the most comprehensive place for students to practise football vocab is at the British Council - check its variety and quality!!!

3. Now, finally, games:

Check FIFA! Yap, there you'll find plenty of interesting games for you to play.

There is another great place for nice games. At ESOL Games, especially under the heading "Activities for English Beginners and Elementary Students", the games are quite easy for 7th / 8th graders. Why not check this one or this to have an idea?

Again, the British Council has fantastic games for all to play here.

There are also movies. An example is "Bend it Like Beckham", a 2003 comedy about bending the rules to reach one's goals and explores the world of female football (some worksheets included here).

As a curiosity, I'm including a video about the introduction of QR Codes made with Portuguese cobblestone in Brazil  in order to guide and provide tourists with relevant information. Technology also at the service of the World Cup!

Now that so many of our students already have smartphones, QR Codes are also a great idea to use in our classes - for scavenger hunts, for worksheets, for pics...

Have fun and enjoy the matches!

Halloween Games

Halloween is also a time to play and learn. Check these out:

http://www.abcya.com/word_search_halloween.htm - great word search that one can either play online or print
http://www.smartygames.com/igre/math/halloweenMath.html - choose a maths operation and use the arrow keys to move a ghost. Nice game!
http://blackdog.net/holiday/halloween/hangman/index.html - Halloween hangman in which one has to guess the word by pressing the alphabet keys on the keyboard
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/games/spelloween/spelloween.html - a spelling test!
http://www.xtec.cat/~ihidalgo/hallow/acthal/hallo8.htm - for vocabulary practice
http://www.xtec.cat/~ihidalgo/hallow/acthal/hallo.htm - a crossword
http://www.edhelper.com/Halloween28.htm - learners choose the correct definition

among so many others!!!

Happy Halloween!

Resources on the London Olympics

Today's Interactive GOOGLE DOODLE on the Olympics: Hurdles

With the world’s eyes still on London, why not take advantage of so much data and resources available and use them for our classes? 

These 2012 Olympics will be one of the biggest and best sporting events. Having this in mind and the fact that sport is one of the topics in our curricula, have a look, for example, at stuff provided by the British Council:

London 2012, the facts and figures:

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-for-the-games/london/read/london-2012-facts-and-figures

To practise and revisit vocab, check

http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/vocabulary-exercises/sporting-events  and

http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/vocabulary-exercises/olympic-sports  - english for the games / Olympic sports – wordsearches + hangman

Whatever sports you are following at the Olympics, don't forget all the great worksheets you can download at their English for the Games page. Check them all out here:

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-for-the-games/Sports/worksheets

The Get Set London 2012 is the official site for educators and it also contains a set of resources for different age groups  at http://getset.london2012.com/en/resources.

In spite of the Portuguese medal drought, let’s be optimistic and believe that in a near future our Portuguese athletes will get more governmental support and bring home some medals. To practise the future tense or simply for the fun of using English, go to http://london2012.sochi2014.com/en/  and ask sts to write a message on a virtual placard held by virtual fans in a virtual Olympic stadium. There is no need for registration and then they can share the link with friends on Facebook, Twitter or VK (another social network) and with us, teachers, even as an advertisement.

Here, the official site for the London Olympics, one can even follow the medals and their distribution country by country, which can become a nice exercise in Geography asking sts to locate those countries in the map (Google already presents us the maps here) and then doing some research or even practise adjective degrees. 

For some History on the Olympic Games and its evolution, have a look at The Olympic Museum at http://assets.olympic.org/virtualexhibitions/expo-heroes-en.html

As a stepping stone for a much more serious debate, why not read ASTERIX AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES (here you can read / download the ebook)  whose story satirizes performance enhancing drug usage in sports? Should they be accepted in sports? Pros / Cons, consequences, doping in sport... are only some examples for dividing the class into two groups and leading a class debate.

Any suggestions?