Talking Stories

   Did you see that much-spoken-about second goal of the England/Germany game?

Calls to use technology for big decisions in football are coming thick and fast at the FIFA World Cup…  Engage your children in this debate using the child-friendly online news lesson at BREAKING NEWS ENGLISH.

You will find a whole series of activities that will get your senior phase class buzzing with discussions, multiple-choice questions, grammar exercises, homework and lots more.  This is an excellent website with up-to-date lesson plans on items that are in the news.

Here are some World Cup blogs for older children to read about some of the important 2010 matches.

Click on the picture below to test your football knowledge with a World Cup quiz.  There is a quiz for each of the World Cup Groups.

Have you ever wondered how a Mexican Wave starts? 

Someone, somewhere, needs to take the initiative and persuade people around them to join in.  Apparently 25 people is the critical mass needed to start a Mexican Wave.  Once the wave starts, we all join in… but only a few of us have the courage to stand up and make it start.  Perhaps the rest of us fear exposure or failure or looking silly…

I wonder if it’s like that with everything in life?  What will it take to turn around our failing education system in South Africa?  How many of us need to stand up and say, “I’m committed to doing my best to serve the needs of our children.”  If a large enough group of teachers was prepared to stand together and produce excellent lessons and share resources and refuse to give up against all odds, could we actually produce a Mexican Wave in education?  Could we produce startlingly good results that would encourage others around us to join in? 

What would it take for us to get those good results in circumstances that are far from ideal?  Certainly it would require standing up in front of others, at the risk of looking silly or failing.  But imagine how powerful it would be if we could create a revolutionary wave of optimistic learning expectations; a wave that swept around our country and lifted children and teachers from despair to hope for the future!

At present only half the children who start school make it all the way to matric, and only 60% of those pass their matric exams.  Can you and I make a difference, or is this an unrealistic dream?

Children love to play the card game, “Top Trumps.”  If you are unfamiliar with this game, click here to FIND OUT HOW TO PLAY TOP TRUMPS. 

Now download a World Cup 2010 soccer set of Top Trumps that you can make and play with your class, or with your family during the long South African winter school holiday.

Click on each of the following six pages and print them out.  If possible, laminate the pages.  Then cut out each of the 32 country playing cards and play the game according to traditional Top Trumps rules.

cards1
cards2
cards3
cards4
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cards6

This resource, together with a whole host of games, quizzes, wordsearches and other activities, was created by the children of Northwood Primary School.

Are you feeling heartbroken after South Africa lost to Uruguay today? 

Turn the music up and practice these diski dance moves…

Fifty one interactive whiteboard lessons on the World Cup Soccer theme are available here:
Promethean Planet 
Browse to find a lesson suitable for your age group and learning area.  They can all be downloaded for free if you take a moment to register your details.

Have you been singing that song?  Here’s the full version, before Coca Cola made it into an advert.  Enjoy it with your kids!

 

I think this is the best World Cup 2010

 resource I’ve given you so far!

Have a look at these 8 mini-books that you can make, one for each of the country groups in the 2010 World Cup.  Kids can colour the country flags in each group, read snippets of World Cup history, read facts about South Africa, as well as fun South African words to teach foreigners!

Each book has 8 pages and is made from a single sheet of A4 paper.  The clever folding, with one cut, enables you to make a neat book that doesn’t fall apart.  You can also download the folding instructions:

Mini-Book 1
Mini-Book 2
Mini-Book 3
Mini-Book 4
Mini-Book 5
Mini-Book 6
Mini-Book 7
Mini-Book 8
Folding Instructions

 How many of these African countries are taking part in the World Cup?

How many African countries can you name?

Test your knowledge with this wordsearch!
African Countries Wordsearch

Find out more about each of the Football World Cup 2010 teams. 

Click on the link: World Cup 2010 Team Map 

Then click on any continent and you will find out which countries from that continent are represented at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Then click on the country of your choice to find a map and some simple information about the country – at a primary age reading level.

You could make this into a class literacy activity with different pairs of children gathering simple information on different countries, then telling the class two or three interesting points about their chosen country.