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The most successful football coach Britain has ever seen announced his retirement on Wednesday when Sir Alex Ferguson called an end to his 26 years in charge of Manchester United, one of the world's footballing powers. Sir Alex is perhaps the most successful coach in any British sport. He brought unparalleled success to his club, winning 38 trophies during his reign. In a statement he said: "The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about and one that I have not taken lightly. It is the right time. It was important to me to leave an organisation in the strongest possible shape and I believe I have done so." He added: "I must pay tribute to my family. Their love and support have been essential."
Twitter said the news of Sir Alex's retirement received four times more mentions than news of the death of Margaret Thatcher last month. The top names in football were quick to pay homage to the legendary manager. David Beckham tweeted: "Without him, I would never have achieved what I have done in my career….I am truly honoured to have been guided by the greatest manager in football." FIFA president Sepp Blatter tweeted: "His achievements in the game place him without doubt as one of the greats." UEFA president Michel Platini described Ferguson as a "visionary" who "has made a massive contribution to football". His successor has an exceedingly tough act to follow. Sources: WARM-UPS 1. SPORTS COACHES: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about sports coaches. Change partners often and share your findings. 2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently. 3. MANAGER: What makes a good one? Complete this table and share what you wrote with your partner(s). Change partners often.
4. PLAYERS: Students A strongly believe the players win games, not the manager/coach; Students B strongly believe the coach/manager wins games. Change partners again and talk about your conversations. 5. SPORT: Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.
6. RETIREMENT: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word 'retirement'. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. BEFORE READING / LISTENING 1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.
3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)
GAP FILL
LISTENING - Guess the answers. Listen to check.
LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps The most successful football coach Britain (1) _____________________ his retirement on Wednesday when Sir Alex Ferguson called an end to his 26 years in charge of Manchester United, (2) _____________________ powers. Sir Alex is perhaps the most successful coach in any British sport. He brought (3) _____________________ club, winning 38 trophies during his reign. In a statement he said: "The (4) _____________________ that I have thought a great deal about and one that I have not taken lightly. It is the right time. It was important to me to leave an organisation in the strongest possible shape and (5) _____________________." He added: "I (6) _____________________. Their love and support have been essential." Twitter said the news of Sir Alex's retirement received four times more (7) _____________________ death of Margaret Thatcher last month. The top names in football were quick to pay (8) _____________________ manager. David Beckham tweeted: "Without him, I would never have achieved what (9) _____________________ ….I am truly honoured to have been guided by the greatest manager in football." FIFA president Sepp Blatter tweeted: "His achievements in the game (10) __________________ one of the greats." UEFA president Michel Platini described Ferguson as a "visionary" who "has made (11) _____________________ football". His successor has an exceedingly (12) _____________________. COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ
ROLE PLAY
AFTER READING / LISTENING 1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words 'coach' and 'manager'.
2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
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. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:
SPORTS COACHES SURVEY Write five GOOD questions about sports coaches in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.
SPORTS COACHES DISCUSSION STUDENT A's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT B's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)
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MULTIPLE CHOICE - LANGUAGE The most successful football coach Britain has ever seen announced his retirement on Wednesday when Sir Alex Ferguson (1) ____ an end to his 26 years (2) ____ charge of Manchester United, one of the world's footballing powers. Sir Alex is perhaps the most successful coach in any British sport. He brought (3) ____ success to his club, winning 38 trophies during his (4) ____. In a statement he said: "The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great (5) ____ about and one that I have not taken lightly. It is the right time. It was important to me to leave an organisation in the strongest possible shape and I believe I have done so." He added: "I must (6) ____ tribute to my family. Their love and support have been essential." Twitter said the news of Sir Alex's retirement received four times more mentions than news of the (7) ____ of Margaret Thatcher last month. The top names in football were quick to pay homage to the (8) ____ manager. David Beckham tweeted: "Without him, I would never have achieved what I have done in my career….I am (9) ____ honoured to have been guided by the greatest manager in football." FIFA president Sepp Blatter tweeted: "His achievements in the game place him without doubt as one of the (10) ____." UEFA president Michel Platini described Ferguson as a "visionary" who "has made a (11) ____ contribution to football". His successor has an exceedingly (12) ____ act to follow. Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.
SPELLING
PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER Number these lines in the correct order.
PUT THE WORDS IN THE RIGHT ORDER
CIRCLE THE CORRECT WORD (20 PAIRS) The most successful football coach Britain has ever seen announced his retirement on Wednesday when Sir Alex Ferguson called an end to his 26 years in charge of Manchester United, one of the world's footballing powers. Sir Alex is perhaps the most successful coach in any British sport. He brought unparalleled success to his club, winning 38 trophies during his reign. In a statement he said: "The decision to retire is one that I have thought a great deal about and one that I have not taken lightly. It is the right time. It was important to me to leave an organisation in the strongest possible shape and I believe I have done so." He added: "I must pay tribute to my family. Their love and support have been essential." Twitter said the news of Sir Alex's retirement received four times more mentions than news of the death of Margaret Thatcher last month. The top names in football were quick to pay homage to the legendary manager. David Beckham tweeted: "Without him, I would never have achieved what I have done in my career….I am truly honoured to have been guided by the greatest manager in football." FIFA president Sepp Blatter tweeted: "His achievements in the game place him without doubt as one of the greats." UEFA president Michel Platini described Ferguson as a "visionary" who "has made a massive contribution to football". His successor has an exceedingly tough act to follow. Talk about the connection between each pair of words in italics, and why the correct word is correct. INSERT THE VOWELS (a, e, i, o, u) Th_ m_st s_cc_ssf_l f__tb_ll c__ch Br_t__n h_s _v_r s__n _nn__nc_d h_s r_t_r_m_nt _n W_dn_sd_y wh_n S_r _l_x F_rg_s_n c_ll_d _n _nd t_ h_s 26 y__rs _n ch_rg_ _f M_nch_st_r _n_t_d, _n_ _f th_ w_rld's f__tb_ll_ng p_w_rs. S_r _l_x _s p_rh_ps th_ m_st s_cc_ssf_l c__ch _n _ny Br_t_sh sp_rt. H_ br__ght _np_r_ll_l_d s_cc_ss t_ h_s cl_b, w_nn_ng 38 tr_ph__s d_r_ng h_s r__gn. _n _ st_t_m_nt h_ s__d: "Th_ d_c_s__n t_ r_t_r_ _s _n_ th_t _ h_v_ th__ght _ gr__t d__l _b__t _nd _n_ th_t _ h_v_ n_t t_k_n l_ghtly. _t _s th_ r_ght t_m_. _t w_s _mp_rt_nt t_ m_ t_ l__v_ _n _rg_n_s_t__n _n th_ str_ng_st p_ss_bl_ sh_p_ _nd _ b_l__v_ _ h_v_ d_n_ s_." H_ _dd_d: "_ m_st p_y tr_b_t_ t_ my f_m_ly. Th__r l_v_ _nd s_pp_rt h_v_ b__n _ss_nt__l." Tw_tt_r s__d th_ n_ws _f S_r _l_x's r_t_r_m_nt r_c__v_d f__r t_m_s m_r_ m_nt__ns th_n n_ws _f th_ d__th _f M_rg_r_t Th_tch_r l_st m_nth. Th_ t_p n_m_s _n f__tb_ll w_r_ q__ck t_ p_y h_m_g_ t_ th_ l_g_nd_ry m_n_g_r. D_v_d B_ckh_m tw__t_d: "W_th__t h_m, _ w__ld n_v_r h_v_ _ch__v_d wh_t _ h_v_ d_n_ _n my c_r__r…._ _m tr_ly h_n__r_d t_ h_v_ b__n g__d_d by th_ gr__t_st m_n_g_r _n f__tb_ll." F_F_ pr_s_d_nt S_pp Bl_tt_r tw__t_d: "H_s _ch__v_m_nts _n th_ g_m_ pl_c_ h_m w_th__t d__bt _s _n_ _f th_ gr__ts." __F_ pr_s_d_nt M_ch_l Pl_t_n_ d_scr_b_d F_rg_s_n _s _ "v_s__n_ry" wh_ "h_s m_d_ _ m_ss_v_ c_ntr_b_t__n t_ f__tb_ll". H_s s_cc_ss_r h_s _n _xc__d_ngly t__gh _ct t_ f_ll_w. PUNCTUATE THE TEXT AND ADD CAPITALS the most successful football coach britain has ever seen announced his retirement on wednesday when sir alex ferguson called an end to his 26 years in charge of manchester united one of the world's footballing powers sir alex is perhaps the most successful coach in any british sport he brought unparalleled success to his club winning 38 trophies during his reign in a statement he said "the decision to retire is one that i have thought a great deal about and one that i have not taken lightly it is the right time it was important to me to leave an organisation in the strongest possible shape and i believe i have done so" he added "i must pay tribute to my family their love and support have been essential" twitter said the news of sir alex's retirement received four times more mentions than news of the death of margaret thatcher last month the top names in football were quick to pay homage to the legendary manager david beckham tweeted "without him i would never have achieved what i have done in my career…i am truly honoured to have been guided by the greatest manager in football" fifa president sepp blatter tweeted "his achievements in the game place him without doubt as one of the greats" uefa president michel platini described ferguson as a "visionary" who "has made a massive contribution to football" his successor has an exceedingly tough act to follow PUT A SLASH ( / ) WHERE THE SPACES ARE
FREE WRITING Write about sports coaches for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner's paper. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ ACADEMIC WRITING Soccer is the best game in the world, although many people disagree. Compare and contrast soccer with a sport of your choice. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ 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 out more about Sir Alex Ferguson. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. SPORTS COACHES: Make a poster about sports coaches. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things? 4. SIR ALEX: Write a magazine article about Sir Alex Ferguson. Include imaginary interviews with players who played for and against his team. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s). 5. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles. 6. LETTER: Write a letter to a soccer expert. Ask him/her three questions about Sir Alex Ferguson. Give him/her three of your opinions on sports coaches. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions. ANSWERS TRUE / FALSE (p.4)
SYNONYM MATCH (p.4)
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (p.8)
MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ (p.9)
ALL OTHER EXERCISES Please check for yourself by looking at the Article on page 2. Help Support This Web Site
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