LESSON PLAN: SPORTS
FOCUS: SPORTS VOCABULARY
TIME:60 minutes
LEVEL: LOW
MAIN
OBJECTIVES
Sports vocabulary, question forms using the verbs ‘play’ and ‘do’
or common action verbs describing sports
MATERIALS
NEEDED
Sports flashcards, sports worksheet, information gap activity
sheets, writing production sheet
LANGUAGE
Does s/he play/do ____? Do you swim/skate/…? What sport
does s/he play/do? _____ plays/does _____.
WARM-UP
ACTIVITY
5-10 minutes
Mime different sports to find out the vocabulary the students
already know and which words are new to them. Or get
students to mime their favourite sports. As the students
guess, write the words on the board.
PRESENTATION
10-15 minutes
Call out the name “David Beckham” and ask, “What sport does
he play?” After someone calls out the correct answer, write his
name under the word football that you have written on the
board from the warm-up exercise. Try to think of a famous
athlete for each of the sports you have on the board. As the
matches are made, students can respond, “_____ plays/does
_____.” (e.g. David Beckham plays football.) For some ideas
refer to the flashcards included with this lesson.
PRESENTATION
Notes to teacher: Some sports use ‘play’ as the verb and other
use ‘do’. Usually we say ‘play’ for team sports or sports involving
a score like basketball, hockey and golf. Other sports like
gymnastics and boxing are timed or judged, so we use the verb
‘do’ when describing them. Some other sports like swimming
and skating have a common verb form (swim and skate) that are
used to describe them. Therefore you would ask, “Do you
swim/skate?
COMMUNICATION
PRACTICE
ACTIVITY
10 minutes
Place students into groups of three or four to play a game with
the flashcards. First students deal out all the cards. The first
student takes an athlete card from his/her hand and chooses
another student to ask a question to. For example, if the
athlete is Yao Ming, the student asks, “What sport does he do?”
If the second student has the matching sport card, he/she
responds, “He plays basketball.” If the second student does
not have the matching sport card, he/she responds, “I don’t
know.” Then another student takes a turn. The object is to
find all the matches.
COMMUNICATION
PRACTICE
ACTIVITY
10 minutes
After the flashcard game, you may want a settling activity.
Students can fill in the work sheet about sports and famous
athletes. Some of the vocabulary included in this worksheet
will help the students with the activities on sports found in
other sections of the Teaching Zone about sports.
PRODUCTION
ACTIVITY
15 minutes
This activity begins with an information gap activity in which
students gather the information necessary to complete the
writing production exercise that follows. First allow the
students to roam around the room asking each other questions
(Does _____ play/do ____?) in order to fill in the forms
(included in this lesson). After the forms are complete, the
students return to their seats and begin the writing production
activity.
Instructions for the Writing Production worksheet: Write a
few sentences about the __________ family. What sports do
they do/play? Can you add any more information about them?
Use your imagination. (Allowing the students to create a bit on
their own will give the students a chance to recycle past
vocabulary. Maybe you could give them a few topic ideas or
guidelines based on the vocabulary covered in previous lessons.)
WRAP-UP
ACTIVITY
5 minutes
As a quick wrap-up activity, scramble the letters of the sports
vocabulary on the board and see how many words the students
can get and spell correctly before the end of class.