world cup

Story and an Idiom: A World Cup Listening Activity

Posted by on Jun 06, 2014 0 Comments

Are your young learners excited about the World Cup? Sprout English has a NEW Word Bank lesson plan on Football (a.k.a. Soccer) that is designed for young learners. After you’ve tried the lesson, why not share this related story with your students? This story teaches the idiom “on the ball”.

The Dog That Was On The Ball


Once upon a time, there was a dog named Pickles. The dog was out for a walk with its owner when it spotted an object in a garden. The object was wrapped in some newspaper. The dog’s owner picked up the object. It was a trophy. This was not just any trophy. It was the missing World Cup Trophy! Earlier that week, a thief had stolen the trophy from a museum in London. (more…)

Using the World Cup’s Yellow Card/Red Card System for Classroom Management

Posted by on Jun 06, 2014 0 Comments

Will your students be watching the World Cup this year? The 2014 FIFA World Cup takes place in Brazil from Thursday, June 12 to Sunday, July 13 with 32 teams competing. The world is abuzz with excitement! Did you know that soccer is the world’s most popular sport? It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries. It even has two different names—it is known as “soccer” in Canada and the US and “football” to the rest of the world.

Classroom Management

Classroom management can be an ongoing challenge at the best of times. When everyone is excited about something shared the world over, it can be even more difficult to keep the peace. At my old school, we used a red card/yellow card management system during the World Cup. This worked very well because it got everyone into the spirit of the games while also reminding everyone that misbehaving wouldn’t be tolerated. (See chart below.)

Yellow Card/Red Card System (more…)

Soccer (Football)

Posted by on Jun 06, 2014 0 Comments

Excitement is building all around the world for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, which takes place in Brazil from June 12 to July 13. Kids usually get energized by anything sports-related, so get them into the spirit of the games with our featured vocabulary lesson on Soccer (Football)! (We’ve included both of the sport’s common names in our title because we have subscribers from all over the world. For those of you who might be unaware, this sport is known as “soccer” in the US and Canada and “football” to the rest of the world.)

In this eight-page Word Bank lesson, students will learn nine words associated with soccer, including soccer player, goalie, team, soccer ball, cleats, goal, score, kick, and run. (more…)