Sports and games

Objective & content

This sheet on sport teaches popular sports, such as football, rugby, tennis, swimming and baseball, the things and places you need for them (racket, bat, helmet, trainers, pitch, pool, court) and what players do (kick, throw, catch, hit, win, lose). Pupils name pictures, read Carys's text about sport in Wales, then use the words. By the end, they can name sports, say what you need for them and what players do.

Pedagogical guide

Page 1 names eight sports, then six sports things and places; each word box holds two extra words, so pupils must choose. Page 2 is Carys's text: an eleven-year-old in Cardiff plays football, goes swimming and plays tennis, her cousin Ethan plays baseball in Boston, and the text ends on the Commonwealth Games, where Wales has its own team. Eight multiple-choice questions follow, then seven sentences where pupils write play or go (play football, go swimming), taught as word partners, with a worked example. Page 3 has nine sentences to complete with action words from a box, then a word search of twenty words across, down and diagonally; the letters left over spell a hidden message, so pupils can check their own work. Every task tests words only. The grammar stays on the present simple and can: there is no past tense on the sheet.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Ask pupils which sports they play; write the English names on the board.
2. (8 min) Page 1: pupils write the words under the pictures alone, then compare in pairs.
3. (10 min) Read Carys's text aloud; pupils answer the questions.
4. (5 min) Pupils write play or go in each sentence.
5. (7 min) Page 3: pupils complete the sentences with the action words.
6. (10 min) Pupils do the word search and write the hidden message.
7. (5 min) Check with the answer key on pages 4 and 5.

Adaptations

[S] Before page 1, mime a few sports for the class to guess.

[A] Pupils write four sentences about the sports they play or watch.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy of pages 1 to 3 per pupil. Pages 4 and 5 are the answer key and teacher notes: keep them. Pupils need the present simple and can. To take it further, pupils choose a sport from an English-speaking country and present it to the class with a picture and three facts.