The World Cup begins on 14 June 2018. To make sure you are prepared, take a look at the following ideas and resources we have compiled.
Link your language lessons to football
- Work in teams…arrange your classroom in groups and give each table a country or team name from the World Cup – France could become ‘les Bleus.’
- Throw a ball (gently) during a question and answer session to the students you want to answer.
- World Cup prepositions. Show the team formation and describe where each player is using prepositions (next to, behind, in front of, on the left etc.)
- Use sports stars to inspire. Research footballers in the Premier League who speak a foreign language and create a target language personal profile. Take a look at football celebrities Twitter feed to read tweets in the target language. Highlight the fact that Gary Lineker can speak Spanish, Arsène Wenger can converse in French, German, English, Spanish and Italian and Petr Čech can speak Czech, English, German and French amongst others.
- Hold a World Cup draw – put balls in a box with each students’ name on and pick one out when you need a question answering.
- Display the World Cup planner to track each team’s progress.
- Create a display of World Cup reading material. This could be in the target language – find articles in l’Équipe or Corriere dello sport.
- Organise your own World Cup tournament by linking up with the PE department – teach pupils key target language to use whilst they are playing.
- Get your pupils ‘match ready’ – read how to equip students to write creatively and succeed in the new GCSE by using football as a hook in this article in Languages Today magazine (ALL member only).
Take advantage of some popular classroom resources
Lightbulb languages downloadable classroom resources in French, German, Italian and Spanish
Arsenal Double Club’s range of football linked language resources in French, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese
¡Mi Madrid! BBC Key Stage 2 series part 8 which focuses on el fútbol and includes a target language story about the rivalry between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid. Key vocabulary includes different sports and the key grammar covers comparative adjectives and superlatives
Linguascope football fever activity packs – photocopiable resources in French, German and Spanish. (ALL members can contact the office for a 20% discount code until the start of the World Cup.)
8 football idioms from around the world – fun to share with pupils
10 meilleurs équipes africaines en 2018 selon la FIFA – YouTube video in French highlighting African teams
Find out some background information about the World Cup and its host nation Russia
World Cup posters: an illustrated history
A guide to the grounds hosting games in Russia
What England fans need to know about group G World Cup venues
Try your hand at learning Russian
Find a range of articles about the teaching and learning of Russian and posts in the target language in Rusistika (ALL member only)
Browse European Schoolbooks Ltd for a range of books to start you off on your Russian language learning journey
Read more blog posts linked to language and sport
Superb ways to combine a language with PE – find out the reasons why you might want to combine PE and languages
Discovering the power of language through yoga – a review of French yoga resources (ALL member only)
Handball auf Deutsch – find out how a school in Cheshire undertook intensive language work, physical training and fun whilst learning about the game of Handball (ALL member only)
Why not end this year with a themed day? – ideas for putting together a celebration of languages
If you have a resource or lesson idea you would like to share, get in touch!
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