Teachers can choose either to do a report on a sports event or an essay on a sports issue, or both if it suits their students’ interests and abilities.
A Report on a Sports Event Learning Activity 1
Speaking and Reading Part A
Students discuss in small groups what they would expect and like to see in an article on the school’s sports day/athletics meet. Teachers should then ask students to share their answers.
Part B
Students read “A Day to Remember” and answer the questions that follow. The questions in this part aim to draw students’ attention to the structure and organisation of the article.
Answers:
1. Paragraph 1 – introduction + comment Paragraph 2 – top performer
Paragraph 3 – winning house
Paragraph 4 – an exciting event with some description Paragraph 5 – a popular event with some details Paragraph 6 – comment of the organiser
Paragraph 7 – dramatic moment Paragraph 8 – guest of honour 2. Paragraph 5
3. Paragraphs 4 and 6
4. a. How do you feel about not breaking the record? How do you feel about what happened?
b. How do you feel the event went?
c. Were any records broken?
5. a. I am disappointed (about not breaking the record).
b. I think everything went smoothly and not many records were broken.
c. The only exception is Wong Mei Ling of 1C breaking the record for Grade C girls’ long jump.
6. It was an exciting event, because the writer has used a lot of positive adjectives such as “splendid”,
“amazing”, “exciting”, “popular”, “good” and “dramatic”.
Catering for Learner Diversity For less advanced students:
If you consider it helpful to give them some extra practice on reported speech and the use of positive adjectives and adverbs, you may have students complete the worksheet on the next two pages to consolidate their knowledge.
T48 Reported Speech
When we report on a sports event, indirect speech may be used. As you change direct speech into indirect speech, remember to:
- change tense when using indirect speech e.g. present tense Î past tense
past tense/present perfect tense Î past perfect tense
- change words that depend on the time and place of the interview e.g.here Î there
we Î they this Î that today Î that day
tomorrow Î the following day Rewrite the following in indirect speech.
1. We are expecting to win the match tomorrow. If we do, we will have a good chance to win the cup.
She said________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
2. This is my lucky coin. I always carry it with me when I play tennis. It has helped me to win a lot of games.
He showed us___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
Adjectives
If you look at the article carefully, you will see that adjectives are used to make it more interesting. For example:
splendid performances, an amazing (number) of medals, exciting events, highly popular, good challenge, dramatic moment
Add some adjectives to these sentences to make them more interesting.
1. It was a _______________sunny day.
2. A/An _________ Lau crossed the finishing line seconds ahead of Au.
3. A/An _________ Yeung said it was one of his worst performances this year.
4. The ___________ crowd cheered on the English teachers to victory.
5. Ho broke the record with a __________ throw of the javelin.
6. A/An _________ Chan said it was her first ever medal.
7. The ___________ cheering team of Red House won the award for best performance.
8. The two fastest members of __________ 5D’s relay team were unable to run owing to injury.
Adverbs
The use of adverbs also helps to enrich the description of the actions.
1. Working with a partner, look at the expressions below and decide what effects the adverbs create.
Some have been done for you as examples.
Expression Effect followed very closely it was an exciting competition with no one sure until the end
who would win just ahead of his opponent
highly popular
had gone smoothly describes how well the athletics meet went – there weren’t any problems at all
suddenly tripped
badly sprained makes us more sympathetic over his pain
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2. Complete these sentences with suitable adverbs from the box below.
effortlessly enthusiastically finally just nearly painfully terribly totally
a. Dragon house __________ kept the cup, but Phoenix managed to gain extra points in the final events and won.
b. After many years of disappointment, Sharks ___________ took the championship.
c. A __________ exhausted Mak could only pant when we asked him how he felt.
d. Fanny So said she was ____________ disappointed not to win a medal this time.
e. Heung Wing Ho ____________ missed breaking the record.
f. Poon sailed _____________over the bar to win his fourth gold of the day.
g. The whole school ___________ cheered Keung on to his great victory.
h. Ting fell and twisted his ankle _____________.
Can you come up with other alternatives or better adverbs for the sentences above?
--- Answers:
Reported Speech
1. She said they were expecting to win the game the next day and if they did they would have a good chance to win the cup.
2. He showed us his lucky coin and said that he always carried it with him when he played tennis, and that it had helped him to win a lot of games.
Adjectives
1. bright/lovely/beautiful/gorgeous 2. exhausted/triumphant/delighted 3. disappointed/unhappy
4. excited/delighted/happy 5. magnificent/powerful/superb 6. smiling/happy/delighted/excited
7. hard-working/tireless/enthusiastic/talented 8. unlucky/disappointed
Adverbs
1. Expression Effect
followed very closely it was an exciting competition with no one sure until the end who would win
just ahead of his opponent a very close and exciting final highly popular very or more than popular
had gone smoothly describes how well the athletics meet went – there weren’t any problems at all
suddenly tripped it was unexpected, a shock to all
badly sprained makes us more sympathetic over his pain
2. a. Dragon house nearly kept the cup, but Phoenix managed to gain extra points in the final events and won.
b. After many years of disappointment, Sharks finally took the championship.
c. A totally exhausted Mak could only pant when we asked him how he felt.
d. Fanny So said she was terribly disappointed not to win a medal this time.
e. Heung Wing Ho just missed breaking the record.
f. Poon sailed effortlessly over the bar to win his fourth gold of the day.
g. The whole school enthusiastically cheered Keung on to his great victory.
h. Ting fell and twisted his ankle painfully.
T50 Learning Activity 2
Writing
This activity should preferably be conducted immediately after the school’s athletics meet/sports day, but if this is impossible, students can use their memory and imagination, school records and interviews to get the necessary information. If for any reason students have forgotten the details of the previous sports day, teachers may use the information provided in the data file below for this writing activity. If deemed necessary, students should be reminded to use the past tense and some consolidation can be done before they start to write.
Teachers should:
• introduce the writing topic to students. If possible, ask students to bring some pictures or the programme of the sports day/athletics meet so they will have more ideas to write about.
• preview the W5+H planning notes (Question 1) with students and ask them to note their W5+H information.
• lead students through an example of determining and mapping their main ideas and supporting details onto the mind map.
School Name: Sunshine Secondary School Date of the Sports Day: 21 October 20XX Time: 9:00 am to 4:30 pm
Place: Wanchai Stadium
Participants: 280 S1-S6 students (110 in Grade C, 100 in Grade B and 70 in Grade A) Houses/Teams: Red, Yellow, Blue and Green Houses
Guest of Honour: Ms Rita Lo (Director, Hong Kong Sports Association) Events:
Track – 100m, 200m and 400m races; 4x100 and 4x400 relay; hurdles Field – Long jump, high jump, discus, shot put, javelin
Winners and Overall Champions:
Grade C – John Wong and Mary Lee Grade B – Peter Leung and Susan Chan Grade A – Paul Lau and Jenny Yip Best Cheering Team – Blue House Winning House – Red House
The Most Exciting Moment: Athletes from the Red House and Blue House were neck and neck before the finishing line in Grade C 4x100 relay and the Blue House was just beaten in a photo finish.
An Essay on a Sports Issue Learning Activity 1
Speaking and Reading
1. Students are asked to define the term “sport”. A possible definition of sport is a physical activity played for enjoyment or competition.
2. Students work in pairs to determine whether the six activities in the table provided are sports or not.
There is no right or wrong but they must be able to justify their decisions.
3. Students brainstorm sports that involve animals. Examples are fishing, hunting, equestrian, horse racing, rodeo, bullfighting and greyhound racing.
4. Students read the article “Should hunting be allowed?” and answer the questions that follow.
Answers:
a. “…my opinion is that hunting is a fun-filled and healthy activity that should be allowed.”
b. Paragraph 2
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Evidence/Example: Not only does hunting require a lot of research and preparation, but it also calls for patience, perseverance, good shooting skills, a quick and clear mind as well as fitness and agility.
Paragraph 3
Reason: The wildlife population needs to be put under control and hunting can help.
Evidence/Example: If we don’t hold down the number of some animals, e.g. the seals in Canada, they will lack food and shelter and will die.
Paragraph 4
Reason: Hunting is a source of pleasure, excitement and satisfaction.
c. The writer advises us to make sensible decisions on where, what and how to shoot.
d & e. The words/phrases in brackets below are additional ones that belong to each category.
to give an example: for example, for instance, such as, like, (can be illustrated by)
to express contrast: despite, contrary to the view that, (although, however, nevertheless, in spite of)
to present a point/reason with order: Firstly, secondly, another reason why…is that, (next, finally, lastly)
to give additional information: also, (moreover, in addition, furthermore) to explain a result: If…
to emphasise a point: in fact, (indeed, in particular, especially) to conclude: all in all, (therefore, to sum up, in short, in summary)
to give your opinion: my opinion is that, I see no reason why, (I think/believe) Learning Activity 2
Writing
Teachers assign the essay topic “Should betting on sports be allowed by law”. They should go over the five writing steps with students and remind them of the structure for one-sided argumentative writing.
If necessary, teachers may brainstorm for ideas with the whole class and guide them to come up with evidence or examples to support their reasons.
Catering for Learner Diversity
You can make use of the additional essay “The Fight against Drugs in Sport” (page T76, Supplementary Materials 8) for additional input on argumentative writing. The writer of the essay argues that combatting drugs in sports is not as simple as we would like it to be and provide reasons and proof to support her/his stance.
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