It is important to give the module the sense of a beginning and end and teachers are advised to try to make the first lessons memorable.
Here are some ideas for the opening lesson:
y display of sports posters in the room
y playing music of a recognisably sporty nature y display of some sports equipment
Teachers can help students to cope smoothly with the module by suggesting ways in which they could prepare in advance for various sections so that they do not need to do things in a panic or rush. It will also mean that they do not miss some excellent opportunities, such as the school’s Sports Day or the Olympic Games, to gather useful materials for their work. Students may do the following in advance of various parts of the module:
1. gain some knowledge of fan websites
2. collect some samples of sports goods advertising 3. note sports goods in shops
4. find some websites to assist consumers of sports goods 5. keep an eye out for films with a sporting theme
6. jot down ideas for an end-of-module display and keep useful pictures and information for it 7. collect examples of different types of sports writing, e.g. brochures
8. film a few minutes of action or take some photos on sports day or at the school swimming gala, or a sports match taking place in school
9. think of ideas for a survey and who they would ask to answer their questions 10. listen with more attention than usual to sports commentators
Teachers can remove items they decide they do not have time to include, or which do not suit the needs of their students. The tasks above require more attention to sports elements in daily life and collecting useful information, texts and recordings related to sports. They will heighten students’
awareness of the sports genres, which may be useful for the writing tasks to be done later on in the module.
Students should be reminded to keep all handouts and materials for this module properly in a folder.
Teachers may also ask students to keep a logbook/journal to record and reflect on the learning process throughout the module if they wish.
Sports and Games Learning Activity Vocabulary
This simple exercise helps students to recall or learn the names of some major sports. Initial letters are given as a clue to prompt students to come up with the answer quickly. Teachers may test students’
previous knowledge by giving students some time to complete the exercise on their own and circulate to see what they can do unaided. Alternatively, teachers may set up a whole-class competition and divide the class into groups/teams to see which group can come up with the most correct answers.
Answers can then be quickly gathered orally around the room. If a class has any spelling problems, visual reinforcement should be given by writing the answers on the board or displaying a slide after gathering the answers orally.
T3 Answers:
1. badminton 11. motor-racing 2. baseball 12. running 3. cycling 13. snooker 4. darts 14. squash 5. diving 15. swimming 6. fencing 16. table-tennis 7. golf 17. taekwondo 8. gymnastics 18. tai-chi 9. ice-skating 19. tennis 10. judo 20. volleyball
Catering for Learner Diversity
For less advanced students:
You can also provide the last letter of each word for the learning activity and cut down on the number of items students have to deal with.
For more advanced students:
You may expose students to more complex sports vocabulary and provide them with more challenge by asking them to complete the crossword puzzle on sports people (pages T67-T68, Supplementary Materials 1) or the listening exercise on introductory talk (page T69, Supplementary Materials 2).
Answers for crossword puzzle (Supplementary Materials 1):
Across Down
2. COACH 1. JOCKEY
7. DEFENDER 3. GYMNAST 8. CYCLIST 4. BOXER 10. WEIGHTLIFTER 5. REFEREE 11. UMPIRE 6. SPECTATOR 12. ATHLETE 7. DIVER 13. SKIER 9. SKATER 15. AMATEUR 13. SURFER 16. LEAGUE 14. CAPTAIN
Tape script and answers for listening exercise (Supplementary Materials 2):
CD Track 1: Rules at a sports centre
It’s good to welcome you all here to the school’s Sports Centre. We are very proud of this 1. facility and hope you will enjoy using it and help to take care of its 2. equipment. In order to keep everything in good condition and to avoid 3. injuries, we have a number of rules. You will find these on the notice board and if you have any doubts about whether something is allowed or not, please go and look. Not knowing a rule is not an excuse for breaking it. You must check on the rules and learn them.
Let me tell you a few important ones now.
y Rules about 4. footwear. You are not allowed to go about the Centre with bare feet or do any 5.
exercise or play any games barefoot. The only exception is the martial arts such as 6. karate and taekwondo. When on the mats you should have bare feet, but this is the only time.
y As our floors are expensive wooden ones, only 7. sports shoes which will not harm them are allowed. Ordinary shoes are not to be worn beyond the 8. locker room.
y Personal belongings, such as backpacks, and pieces of equipment, such as 9. racquets*, must be kept in lockers. Anything left out will be removed by the staff and only returned after a fine has been paid.
y You may not bring 10. roller skates or skateboards into the building.
y No notices or posters may be put up in the Sports Centre.
y The only drink you may carry round the Centre is water in a sealable bottle.
y Equipment, such as mats and 11. table-tennis tables, must be put away after use.
T4
y Throwing balls against the 12. gymnasium walls is not allowed.
y Hanging from the 13. hoop rims and slam 14. dunking are both forbidden.
y Bad language is, of course, as throughout the rest of the school, not to be used.
y Since there is great demand for the basketball 15. courts, games are played to 12 points.
y Winning teams may continue playing until they lose.
y Eye protection must be worn when playing 16. squash.
y Use of exercise equipment is limited to 30 minutes.
y 17. Weights must never be dropped.
y Equipment must be wiped after use.
Well, I had better not tell you too many rules or you will not remember them all. Be careful about footwear, being 18. considerate of other people, not damaging anything through carelessness and making sure that you do not do anything to 19. hurt yourself. The only reason we have the rules is that they allow you to play the sports you like 20. safely and happily here as much as you want.
Thank you.
* “racquets” is British spelling; “rackets” is its American equivalent Letters Page
Learning Activity
Reading and Vocabulary
The text consists of some simple fan letters. The headings and words matching exercises require students to understand the main ideas of the letters. Teachers should encourage students to make guesses and justify them as far as possible. To enable students to read the letters at greater ease, teachers might like to ask students to conduct an Internet search on terms like “Manchester United”,
“Real Madrid”, “foul”, “hoop”, “referee”, “dribbling” and “HKAAA Meet” before they start reading.
Answers:
Question 1
1. E 2. A 3. F 4. C 5. B 6. D
Question 2
a. win i. time-out
b. (the) Reds j. coach
c. hoop k. tactics
d. team l. dribbling
e. scoring (goals) m. injury
f. transfers n. Meet/meet
g. fouled o. hop, skip and jump
h. referee
Catering for Learner Diversity
For less advanced students:
You may focus students’ attention on only some key vocabulary items and reduce the number of words students have to find from the letters. Further, you may reduce the number of letters that students need to read.
For more advanced students:
You may adapt the learning activity by removing the numbers in brackets.
T5 Web Help
There are so many websites on sports that any search will deliver a wealth of materials. For general purposes, all online daily newspapers offer plenty of sports. Even richer in materials are major broadcasters. The following are all worth attention:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/
http://www.chinaview.cn/sports/index.htm
http://www.cctv.com/program/SportsScene/11/index.shtml http://www.usatoday.com/sports/default.htm
http://www.localsportsreport.com/
http://msn.foxsports.com/
Major sports associations and leagues have websites, e.g.
http://www.nba.com/
http://www.fifa.com/
Many governments take a close interest in sports, e.g.
http://www.uksport.gov.uk/
http://www.ssc.gov.sg/publish/Corporate/en.html For specific Hong Kong information, one can start with:
http://www.hksi.org.hk/hksdb/html/et_main.html http://www.hkolympic.org/article/mainmenu
http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/events/sports.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_in_Hong_Kong
http://www.hkssf.org.hk/
http://www.hkrunners.com/?q=node/903
http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/lschemes/cscommittee/en/papers.php
For lists of sports, general information and advice on choosing a sport, one can try:
http://www.britishsports.com/sportsdirectories.html
http://extremesports.suite101.com/article.cfm/_what_is__index http://espn.go.com/
http://sports.yahoo.com/
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/
Apart from information on sports activities, Wikipedia also contains vocabulary lists related to various sports.
Language learning sites offer many exercises on sports words, e.g.
http://eleaston.com/sports.html
For the vocabulary of individual sports, try searches for, e.g. tennis glossary/tennis terms/tennis vocabulary. Sites such as these should be useful:
http://www.usatt.org/organization/glossary_tt.shtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Sports_terminology
We can get much information about basketball by typing in, e.g. basketball words at http://www.answers.com/
T6