News agencies report that French soccer superstar Zinedine Zidane said that Italian player Marco Materazzi called him a “dirty terrorist” during the soccer World Cup final. The two had a short but heated conversation towards the end of the match and the French captain head-butted Materazzi in the chest and was red-carded. A billion people watched Zidane’s moment of madness live on TV. The Italian player said he did not say anything bad to Zidane: "I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means." A Paris-based anti-racism group SOS Racism says Zidane may be right. Zidane’s agent said Zinedine “is a man who normally lets things wash over him but on Sunday night something exploded inside him”.

People in France have mixed views on Zidane’s action. President Jacques Chirac called Zidane “a genius of world football.” Former Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet said Zidane’s act was “unforgivable” because he was a role model for millions of soccer-loving children. France striker Thierry Henry suggested Zidane’s poor childhood might explain why Zinedine lost control. He said: "You can take the man out of the rough neighborhood, but you can't take the rough neighborhood out of the man." Zidane was sent off 14 times in his career including for head-butting. However, Zinedine’s wizardry and soccer skills were good enough for soccer journalists to give him the World Cup’s MVP prize.

WARM-UPS

1. ZINEDINE ZIDANE: Walk around the class and talk to as many students as you can. Find out what students know about Zinedine Zidane. Share your findings with new partners.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

Soccer / superstars / World Cup / red cards / head butts / madness / racism / genius / role models / childhood / rough neighborhoods / losing control / wizardry

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

3. ANGER: Which of these things would make you angry? What would you do if someone said these things to you? Rank them in order of the worst and talk about them with your partner(s). Decide on a good answer to each.

____ You are a dirty terrorist ____ You have no brains ____ Your English is no good ____ You smell bad

____ All people from your country suck ____ Your religion is the worst ____ You have no fashion sense ____ You come from a bad family

4. RED CARD: Write down (or brainstorm) three everyday things you would like to give people a red card for. Talk about them with your partner(s). Change partners and find out what other students think are everyday red card actions.

5. TWO-MINUTE DEBATES: Face each other in pairs and have these fun 2-minute debates. Students A believe in the first argument, students B the second. Change pairs often.

1. Soccer is the world’s greatest sport. vs. There are better sports.
2. Soccer’s World Cup is the greatest sporting event. vs. No. The Olympics is.
3. Sport stars are overpaid. vs. Sport stars deserve every penny they earn.
4. Too many sport stars are bad role models. vs. They are not paid to be role models.
5. America and China will win the World Cup one day. vs. No chance.
6. Soccer is a game full of beauty. vs. Soccer is a game full of violence.
7. Nothing unites the world like soccer’s World Cup. vs. The Internet is better.
8. Women’s soccer is just as good as men’s. vs. That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard today.

6. SOCCER: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with soccer. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	The Italian soccer coach has called Zinedine Zidane a terrorist.	T / F
b.	Zidane and an Italian player exchanged angry words on the pitch.	T / F
c.	The Italian player is intelligent and knows what “terrorist” means.	T / F
d.	Zidane’s agent said his client normally does a lot of washing.	T / F
e.	France’s president called Zidane a genius after the game.	T / F
f.	France’s ex-sports minister said Materazzi’s act was unforgivable.	T / F
g.	Zinedine Zidane grew up in a middle class neighborhood.	T / F
h.	Zidane received an award for the MVP of the 2006 World Cup.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	heated	stupidity
b.	madness	tough
c.	ignorant	blew up
d.	wash over	ex
e.	exploded	unaware
f.	views	attacker
g.	former	angry
h.	striker	magic
i.	rough	pass by
j.	wizardry	opinions

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	The two had a short but	madness
b.	towards the end	control
c.	Zidane’s moment of	views on Zidane’s action
d.	Paris-based anti-	of the match
e.	lets things wash	millions of soccer-loving children
f.	People in France have mixed	heated conversation
g.	he was a role model for	and soccer skills
h.	explain why Zinedine lost	racism group
i.	you can't take the rough	over him
j.	Zinedine’s wizardry	neighborhood out of the man

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words in the column on the right into the gaps in the text.

Zidane - "Italy player called me a terrorist"

News agencies report that French soccer superstar Zinedine Zidane said that Italian player Marco Materazzi called him a “dirty terrorist” ________ the soccer World Cup final. The two had a short but ________ conversation towards the end of the match and the French captain head-butted Materazzi in the ________ and was red-carded. A billion people watched Zidane’s moment of ________ live on TV. The Italian player said he did not say anything bad to Zidane: "I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ________. I don't even know what the word means." A Paris-________ anti-racism group SOS Racism says Zidane may be right. Zidane’s agent said Zinedine “is a man who normally lets things ________ over him but on Sunday night something ________ inside him”.		based heated exploded madness during ignorant wash chest
People in France have ________ views on Zidane’s action. President Jacques Chirac called Zidane “a ________ of world football.” Former Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet said Zidane’s act was “________” because he was a role model for millions of soccer-loving children. France striker Thierry Henry suggested Zidane’s poor childhood might ________ why Zinedine lost control. He said: "You can take the man out of the ________ neighborhood, but you can't take the rough neighborhood out of the man." Zidane was sent off 14 times in his career ________ for head-butting. However, Zinedine’s ________ and soccer skills were good ________ for soccer journalists to give him the World Cup’s MVP prize.		explain wizardry genius including enough mixed rough unforgivable

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Zidane - "Italy player called me a terrorist"

News agencies report that French soccer __________ Zinedine Zidane said that Italian player Marco Materazzi called him a “dirty terrorist” during the soccer World Cup final. The two had a short but __________ conversation towards the end of the match and the French captain head-butted Materazzi in the chest and was red-carded. A billion people watched Zidane’s __________ of madness live on TV. The Italian player said he did not say anything bad to Zidane: "I did not call him a terrorist. I'm __________. I don't even know what the word means." A Paris-based anti-racism group SOS Racism says Zidane may be right. Zidane’s agent said Zinedine “is a man who __________ lets things wash over him but on Sunday night something __________ inside him”.

People in France have __________ views on Zidane’s action. President Jacques Chirac called Zidane “a __________ of world football.” Former Sports Minister Marie-George Buffet said Zidane’s act was “unforgivable” because he was a __________ model for millions of soccer-loving children. France striker Thierry Henry suggested Zidane’s poor childhood might __________ why Zinedine lost control. He said: "You can take the man out of the __________ neighborhood, but you can't take the rough neighborhood out of the man." Zidane was sent off 14 times in his career including for head-butting. However, Zinedine’s wizardry and soccer skills were good __________ for soccer journalists to give him the World Cup’s MVP prize.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘world’ and ‘cup’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT “WORLD CUP” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about the 2006 World Cup.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

dirty chest moment word based wash

mixed unforgivable poor rough career prize

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
2. What do you think of Zidane head-butting an Italian player?
3. Do you think his action can be forgiven?
4. Have you ever wanted to head-butt or punch someone?
5. Do you think Zidane should return his MVP award?
6. Has Zidane sent a wrong message to children?
7. Do you think the police should arrest Zidane for violent behavior?
8. Do you think soccer should be called “the beautiful game”?
9. What question would you like to ask Zinedine Zidane?
10. What do you think his answer would be?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What do you think about what you read?
3. Do you think Zidane is telling the truth and that Materazzi called him a “dirty terrorist”?
4. What should happen to Materazzi if he did call Zidane a “dirty terrorist”?
5. Do you believe Materazzi when he said he didn’t know what the word “terrorist” means?
6. Do you agree with the expression: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”?
7. How do you think Zidane’s teammates feel about his action and red card?
8. In which sport would you like to be a legend and why?
9. Are you glad Italy won the World Cup?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
2. Was there a question you didn’t like?
3. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
4. What did you like talking about?
5. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

WORLD CUP SURVEY: Conduct the following World Cup survey by asking your classmates their opinions of the performance of these teams:

	Student A	Student B	Student C	Student D
Italy
France
Germany
England
USA
Other ________

Sit with your partner(s) and share and talk about the opinions you found out. Write a report for a magazine based on your survey. Pin it to the classroom wall / put it in your school magazine/newspaper.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find information about the highs and lows of Zinedine Zidane’s career. Talk about what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. WORLD CUP REPORT: Write a report on the 2006 World Cup. Write about the high points and the low points. Read your report to your classmates in the next lesson. Which report did like best?

4. LETTER: Write a letter to Zinedine Zidane. Tell him what you think of his head-butting an opponent. Show your letter to your classmates in the next lesson. Your classmates will write a reply.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. T

c. F

d. F

e. T

f. F

g. F

h. T

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	heated	angry
b.	madness	stupidity
c.	ignorant	unaware
d.	wash over	pass by
e.	exploded	blew up
f.	views	opinions
g.	former	ex
h.	striker	attacker
i.	rough	tough
j.	wizardry	magic

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	The two had a short but	heated conversation
b.	towards the end	of the match
c.	Zidane’s moment of	madness
d.	Paris-based anti-	racism group
e.	lets things wash	over him
f.	People in France have mixed	views on Zidane’s action
g.	he was a role model for	millions of soccer-loving children
h.	explain why Zinedine lost	control
i.	you can't take the rough	neighborhood out of the man
j.	Zinedine’s wizardry	and soccer skills

GAP FILL:

Zidane - "Italy player called me a terrorist"

News agencies report that French soccer superstar Zinedine Zidane said that Italian player Marco Materazzi called him a “dirty terrorist” during the soccer World Cup final. The two had a short but heated conversation towards the end of the match and the French captain head-butted Materazzi in the chest and was red-carded. A billion people watched Zidane’s moment of madness live on TV. The Italian player said he did not say anything bad to Zidane: "I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means." A Paris-based anti-racism group SOS Racism says Zidane may be right. Zidane’s agent said Zinedine “is a man who normally lets things wash over him but on Sunday night something exploded inside him”.

French soccer superstar Zinedine Zidane has said that Italian player Marco Materazzi called him a “dirty terrorist” during the soccer World Cup final. The two had a short but heated conversation towards the end of the match and the French captain head-butted Materazzi in the chest and was red-carded. A billion people watched Zidane’s moment of madness live on TV. The Italian player said he did not say anything bad to Zidane: "I did not call him a terrorist. I'm ignorant. I don't even know what the word means." A Paris-based anti-racism group SOS Racism says Zidane may be right. Zidane’s agent said Zinedine “is a man who normally lets things wash over him but on Sunday night something exploded inside him”.

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