Are you a football fan? Think about the following questions and then provide your answer:

How often do you watch a football match?

How often do you go to the stadium?

How much would you spend on a ticket?

What is your favourite football team?

Do you attend all of its matches?

Do you travel if it’s necessary?

And about the history of world cups?

When do you think they started? Where? Which countries have been champions?

Watch this video and check your predictions

How much do you know about football rules? Try the following quiz:

http://www.allthetests.com/quiz26/quiz/1263067870/Soccer-rules

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrukXClkgn0

Have you heard any news regarding the Argentine football team recently? Or about its players?

Have a look at the following words taken from an article headline and the picture. Try to guess what the piece of news is about, where and when it happened, who were involved and what effect it might have caused among people. Then read the article (see word file) and check.

Arsene Wenger

Lionel Messi

best player

After-reading

Were your predictions correct? Did you know this?

Now let’s practice some vocabulary. All these words are related to football. Can you explain them and/or give an example?

6-3 success – campaign - change direction – defence – defending champion - first leg - hit a hat-trick - keeper – match – player – squad – team - to be

beaten by - to be on the run - to be robbed in the last minute - to captain - to concede cheap goals - to qualify - to score (four) goals

Do you know any other words related to this sport?

Challenge yourself with a couple of vocabulary games!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quizzes/football/shootout.shtml

http://www.visualesl.com/drag/21.htm

If interested in learning more words, there’s a very clear list on this website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/vocabulary/football.shtml#shot

a booking - a defeat - a defender - a draw - a foul - a goalkeeper - a linesman (referee's assistant)- a manager - a midfielder - a penalty

shoot-out - a referee - a skipper (=captain) - a substitute - an attacker - extra time - full-time - injury time (=stoppage time) - to

knock out - to win

Now let’s watch this video on Argentina's World Cup qualifying highlights.from the BBC Sports website.

Try to understand the main idea of the video. What is the speaker’s point of view? Do you agree with him?

What is said about:

Alfio Basile Riquelme Diego Maradona Colombia & Brazil Martín Palermo

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8394734.stm

Placing ourselves into context. What do you know about South Africa?Decide if these statements are T or F for; then take 2 minutes and look up the answers.

1) South Africa is a melting pot country.

2) At the beginning of the 20th C, people were already independent.

3) The apartheid was a legally institutionalised system of segregation.

4) The racial stratification was white, coloured and black, but only white people had unlimited rights.

5) The country is part of a kingdom.

6) Their first democratic elections occurred in 1994.

We’re going to listen to the official song of world cup. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC8V8S_REhk&feature=player_embedded

1st time: As you listen, try to get the gist of the song. What do you think it is about? What’s the mood of the singer?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2nd time: Now have a look at the lyrics and perform the different tasks.

You can check your answers against this link (Utube video):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVSknBO2Um0

Song time!

What are your predictions for this year’s world cup?Possible winners? Last quarter?

Writing task:Choose one of the topics and write about it (minimum 120 words)

You’re a journalist who is going to cover all Argentine’s matches. You are in South Africa already and you need to write an article on:

a) This country’s scene setting. What the environment is like, tickets, etc.

b) People’s opinion on the different football teams and predictions made.

c) An interview with one member of the Argentine’s team.

Thank you for joining the class!!!

A kiss,

Ale

14th May 2010