Tuesday December 21, 2004

Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Brazils international star Ronaldinho is the World Player of the Year for 2004. He thanked his Barcelona team mates for helping him win the award, and spoke of his happiness with his team, “Every day that goes by I feel more happy … and every day brings new and beautiful surprises.” The Barcelona star edged out Arsenal’s Thierry Henry into second place and Inter Milan’s Andriy Shevchenko into third spot. For Henry it was a case of missed again – he was also runner up last year to Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane. Shevchenko, meanwhile, can take consolation in being named European footballer of the year last week. The decision was made by international coaches and team captains and announced earlier at FIFA headquarters in Zurich.

Thierry Henry was gracious in defeat and didn’t mind settling for the runners-up spot. He put on a brave face, saying he was pleased to have achieved such recognition two years running, “To be here two years in a row means I have been consistent for a long time and that really pleases me.” He paid tribute to Ronaldinho and Shevchenko, “they are the kind of players who make you jump off your seat. Ronaldinho is the fourth Brazilian to win the award in its thirteen-year history. Romario won in 1994 Ronaldo cleaned up in 1996, 1997 and 2002 and Rivaldo scooped the prize in 1999. Every single winner since 1991 has played for Italian or Spanish teams. Birgit Prinz from Germany won women’s’ player of the year.

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about football (soccer) / Ronaldinho / Thierry Henry / best ever players / winning / being second / Barcelona …
To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. 2004 AWARDS: Students make their choices for Sports star of the year / tennis player of the year / F1 driver of the year / golf player of the year / sumo wrestler of the year / hockey player of the year / Olympic athlete of the Year / swimmer of the year …

3. MY COUNTRY: Talk about domestic and international football in your country (or town / city) with other class members.

4. FOOTBALL IS A MAN’S GAME: In pairs students comment on this statement and find 3 reasons per pair why men’s football (or vice versa) is better. Put the best / wackiest / most controversial on the board for students to discuss further.

5. 2-MINUTE DEBATES: Students face each other in pairs and engage in the following (for-fun) 2-minute debates. Students A are assigned the first argument, students B the second. Rotate pairs to ensure a lively pace and noise level is kept:
Football is an art. vs. No way.
Football is the best game in the world. vs No it isn’t.
David Beckham is the most handsome footballer. vs. Ridiculous
Ronaldinho deserved the FIFA award. vs Theirry Henry did..
Spanish football (Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia…) is the best in the world. vs. England’s Premier League is.
The USA will be World champions one day. vs. Will not. China has a better chance.
Football stars are overpaid. vs. Worth every penny.
Real football (what is called soccer in America) is better than American football. vs. American football is one hundred times more exciting.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘first’, ‘second’ and ‘third’.

2. HEADLINE: Put the article headline on the board for students to talk about / predict / speculate. Pairs / groups formulate and present their own guesses as to the contents of the report.

3. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:

(a)  Ronaldinho is Argentinean.  T / F
(b)  Ronaldinho plays for Manchester United.  T / F
(c)  Arsenal’s Thierry Henry came second.  T / F
(d)  Henry was runner-up last year.  T / F
(e)  Henry was bitter about his defeat.  T / F
(f)  Ronaldinho and Shevchenko are the kind of players who make you jump off your seat.  T / F
(g)  The FIFA World Player of the Year awa rd started in 1956.  T / F
(h)  Every single winner of the award has played for Italian or Spanish teams.  T / F

4. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	star	delight
(b)	happiness	polite
(c)	runner-up	win
(d)	consolation	accomplish
(e)	coach	hero
(f)	gracious	unchanging
(g)	achieve	solace
(h)	consistent	steal the show
(i)	clean up	loser
(j)	scoop	manager

5. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	international	your seat
(b)	every day that	tribute to
(c)	edge	defeat
(d)	it was a	star
(e)	take	out
(f)	gracious in	goes by
(g)	put on a brave	consolation in
(h)	paid	history
(i)	jump off	face
(j)	thirteen-year	case of missed again

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Ronaldinho World Player of the Year

Brazils international __________ Ronaldinho is the World Player of the Year for 2004. He __________ his B arcelona teammates for helping him win the award, and __________ of his happiness with his team, “Every day that goes by I feel more happy … and every day brings new and beautiful surprises.” The Barcelona star __________ out Arsenal’s Thierry Henry into second place and Inter Milan’s Andriy Shevchenko into third __________. For Henry it was a case of missed again – he was also runner-up last year to Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane. Shevchenko, meanwhile, can __________ consolation in being named European footballer of the year last week. The decision was made by international coaches and team captains and announced earlier at FIFA headquarters in Zurich.		take spot spoke star edged thanked
Thierry Henry was gracious in __________ and didn’t mind settling for the runners-up __________. He put on a __________ face, saying he was pleased to have achieved such recognition two years running, “To be here two years in a __________ means I have been consistent for a long time and that really __________ me.” He paid tribute to Ronaldinho and Shevchenko, “they are the kind of players who make you jump off your seat. Ronaldinho is the fourth Brazilian to win the award in its thirteen-year history. Romario won in 1994 Ronaldo cleaned __________ in 1996, 1997 and 2002 and Rivaldo scooped the __________ in 1999. Every single winner since 1991 has played for Italian or Spanish teams. Birgit Prinz from Germany won women’s’ player of the year.		up defeat prize brave row pleases

3. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED FOOTBALL SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class. Back in pairs students discuss their findings.

5. ‘ME’ DISCUSSION: Students ask each other the following questions based on language from the article:

(a)  In which sport would you like to be World Player of the Year?
(b)  Do you ever thank your classmates / workmates / teammates / mates …? What do you thank them for?
(c)  Have you ever won an award?
(d)  How do (would) you feel about finishing as runner-up? Is ‘winning silver losing gold’?
(e)  Does every day bring new and beautiful surprises for you? What does every day bring?
(f)  Have you ever had a case of ‘missed again’ or are you generally one of life’s winners?
(g)  What do you take consolation in when you lose something or are disappointed?
 (h)  Are you gracious in defeat or are you a bad loser?
(i)  Would you mind settling for second place?
(j)  When have you had to put on a brave face?
(i)  What do you do consistently, or consistently well?
(o)  Teacher’s additional questions

6. WORLD STUDENT OF THE YEAR: This award will be won by someone in your class. In pairs / groups students have to create criteria on which this award will be given. The criteria are given to each student to interview 3, 4, 5 … other students. Each student goes to the board and writes the name of their chosen winner and tells the class why they chose that student.

7. FOOTBALL RULES: In pairs / groups students have to be able to explain to an alien the rules of football. Change partners and adopt the roles of alien and rule-knower. Alien has to ask questions to have full understanding of the strange Earthling game.

8. FOOTBALL RULES: Write a list of sports on the board (including those most popular in the country you are teaching). In pairs students discuss the relative merits of those sports in comparison with the beautiful game (that’s football). Agree on which is the greatest game in the world. Change partners and discuss what you spoke about with your previous partner.

9. MOST IMPORTANT: A great Liverpool manager (Bill Shankly) once said ‘Football isn’t a matter of life and death, it’s more important’. Students discuss this in pairs / groups and make a mini presentation about the importance of football in their country / culture / life. After presentations, back in pairs / groups to discuss what was presented. He also said, ‘If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing.’

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Brazilian football. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. A DAY IN MY LIFE: Imagine you are an international sporting superstar. Write your diary entry for one day in your life.

4. LETTER OF THANKS: You are Ronaldinho. Write a letter of thanks to the managers and team captains who voted for you.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

(a)  Ronaldinho is Argentinean.  F
(b)  Ronaldinho plays for Manchester United.  F
(c)  Arsenal’s Thierry Henry came second.  T
(d)  Henry was runner-up last year.  T
(e)  Henry was bitter about his defeat.  F
(f)  Ronaldinho and Shevchenko are the kind of players who make you jump off your seat.  T
(g)  The FIFA World Player of the Year award started in 1956.  F
(h)  Every single winner of the award has played for Italian or Spanish teams.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	star	hero
(b)	happiness	delight
(c)	runner-up	loser
(d)	consolation	solace
(e)	coach	manager
(f)	gracious	polite
(g)	achieve	accomplish
(h)	consistent	unchanging
(i)	clean up	steal the show
(j)	scoop	win

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	international	star
(b)	every day that	goes by
(c)	edge	out
(d)	it was a	case of missed again
(e)	take	consolation in
(f)	gracious in	defeat
(g)	put on a brave	face
(h)	paid	tribute to
(i)	jump off	your seat
(j)	thirteen-year	history