Sports Lesson Plan

Notes:

This is a lively lesson which introduces the phrases “What sports do you play” and “I play ~”. During the lesson you’ll have a lot of fun playing different sports.

Lesson Procedure:

Warm Up and Maintenance:

See our "Warm Up & Wrap Up" page.

New Learning and Practice:

1. Introduce and play sports
As the lesson is sports themed we are going to do lots of fun sports activities. Make sure all of the desks and chairs are moved to the side of the classroom.

You’ll need the following sports flashcards: soccer/football, tennis, golf, basketball, baseball, volleyball, rugby, badminton
You’ll also need lots of review flashcards from previous lessons
You’ll need the following equipment: balloons, bean bag balls or small soft balls, a waste paper basket or a cardboard box, a length of rope

Start by dividing the class up into teams (for small classes make 2 teams, for larger classes make up to 4 teams). Get each team to come up with a team name and then elicit the team names and write across the top of the board (this will become the score board). During this part of the lesson students will compete in a number of sports and win points for their team.

Soccer/Football: First, stick the soccer/football flashcard onto the bottom of the board and say "What sport is this?". Elicit "Soccer" or "Football". Then say, "I like playing soccer (or football). Do you like playing soccer (or football)?". Hopefully this will elicit some positive responses. Then stand up and say "Ok, let’s play soccer (or football)!".

Get everybody to stand up and form a line, each student behind the other, one line per team. At the other end of the classroom make a small goal (use two chairs or cushions for goal posts). Place a balloon a few meters in front of the goal – far enough so that when kicked makes it possible to score but not too easy. Hold up a review flashcard – the first student in the first team has to say the vocab correctly to have a shot. If correct, let them run up and kick the balloon. A goal earns a point (write on the score board). Play until at least each student has had a chance to shoot. Then get everyone to sit down and review the team scores (we are not finished yet!).
Tennis: Next, place the tennis flashcard on the board and elicit it. This time we are going to play "Head Tennis" with balloons. Pair up 2 students from opposing teams and have them stand facing each other. They then have to head the balloon between each other – the last player to head the balloon wins (for younger students, patting the balloon is fine). The winner has to then answer a question to win a point for their team (e.g. What’s your name? How old are you?, etc.). Play until everyone has had a go, then sit everyone down and review the team scores.
Golf: Same as above with eliciting the flashcard. This time we are going to play "Pencil Golf". Put students in pairs from opposing teams and have them face up in the middle of the classroom with a pencil each. Give each pair a small bean bag ball or soft ball. Players take turns to hit the ball towards the opposite wall – therefore each student will compete to hit the ball in a different direction – however, as they are only using pencils the balls won’t travel far each hit! Give a time limit of 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, the student from each pair who is closest to his/her wall is the winner. Now, the winner will have to say the correct vocab for a review flashcard to win a point for their team. Then sit everyone down and review the team scores.
Basketball: Same as above with eliciting the flashcard. This time we are going to play "Shoot the Basket". You’ll need a waste paper basket or just a cardboard box. Also, take a piece of paper and screw it up into a ball. Get everybody to stand up and form a line, each student behind the other, one line per team. Put the basket at the other end of the classroom. Hold up a review flashcard – the first student in the first team has to say the vocab correctly to have a shot at the basket with the screwed up paper ball. If correct, let him/her take a shot. A successful shot earns a point (write on the score board). Play until at least each student has had a chance to shoot. Then get everyone to sit down and review the team scores.
Baseball: Same as above with eliciting the flashcard. This time we are going to play "Balloon Baseball". Have each team line up – everyone is a batter and the teacher is the pitcher. Stand in front of the first student in the line and ask a question (e.g. Where do you live?, What is your favorite food?, etc.). If the student answers correctly pat the balloon towards the student. S/he has to hold their hands together and swing and hit the balloon (like a baseball swing). A successful hit wins a point. Any hit that bounces against a classroom wall wins an extra point for a home run! Play until at least each student has had a chance to bat. Then get everyone to sit down and review the team scores.
Volleyball: Same as above with eliciting the flashcard. This time we are going to play "Balloon Volleyball". Put students in pairs from opposing teams and have them face up with a length of rope separating them (you can lie the rope right across the classroom and have students stand either side as they play). Give each pair a balloon. They pat the balloon to each other and try to stop it hitting the floor – whoever lets it drop loses a point. Let everyone play for a few minutes, then ask who the winner of each game is. To win a point for their team they must answer a review flashcard correctly. Then get everyone to sit down and review the team scores.
Rugby: Same as above with eliciting the flashcard. This time we are going to play "Rugby Balloon Pass". In rugby you have to pass the ball backwards, so we are going to play a game passing a balloon backwards. Get each team to line up, each student behind the other. Give the player at the front of each team’s line a balloon. S/he must pass the balloon backwards to his team-mate over the head. The next player passes behind to his/her team-mate between the legs, and so on, over the head and between the legs. Each team must race against each other. The team that gets the balloon to the last player wins a point. You can play this game a few times. Then get everyone to sit down and review the team scores.
Badminton: Same as above with eliciting the flashcard. This time we are going to play "Badminton Keep Ups". Put students in pairs from opposing teams. Give each student a screwed up paper ball. Each student has to compete against his/her partner to pat the ball up the most times before the ball hits the ground. Allow everyone about 2 minutes and then find out who managed to keep the ball up the most from each pair. To win a point for their team they must answer a review flashcard correctly. Finally, get everyone to sit down and tally the final scores to find out which team is the winner. The winning team will get a special prize at the end (see point 7 below)!

2. Teach structures "What sports do you play?", "I play ~", "I don’t play~"
You should now have 8 sports flashcards on the board. Model the structures: point at the first card and say "I play soccer/football" – while nodding your head. Then go to the next flashcard and say "I don’t play tennis" shaking your head. Go through all the cards saying what you do and don’t play.

Teach structures "What sports do you play?", "I play ~", "I don’t play~" Now model with some students. Ask one student "What sports do you play?" and help him/her go through the 8 sports saying what s/he does and doesn't play. Do this with a couple more students so everyone gets the idea. Now in pairs, students ask and answer the question. Change pairs a few times until everyone has had plenty of practice.

3. Sing "What Sports do you Play?"
Get everyone to stand up and sing along to the song whilst they do the gestures. Either use the flashcards on the board to prompt the order of the sports in the song or use our song poster. Sing the song through a couple of times.

Lyrics for "What Sports do you Play?"

Chorus:
What sports do you play?
What sports do you play?
What sports do you play?
What sports do you play?

Verse 1:
I play *soccer (soccer!),
I play tennis (tennis!),
I play golf (golf!),
I play basketball (basketball!).

Chorus

Verse 2:
I play baseball (baseball!),
I play volleyball (volleyball!),
I play rugby (rugby!),
I play badminton (badminton!).

* In the British version of the song the word “football” is sung instead of “soccer”.

(download MP3 here)

Gestures for "What Sports do you Play?"

The gestures revolve around the actions for the different sports in the song:

- During the chorus have everyone sing and clap along.
- For the verses have everyone do the actions as they sing:

soccer/football: kick an imaginary ball
tennis: hit an imaginary tennis ball with an imaginary racket
golf: swing an imaginary gold club
basketball: bounce an imaginary basketball
baseball: swing an imaginary baseball bat
volleyball: smash an imaginary ball with your hand
rugby: throw an imaginary rugby ball to the side
badminton: smash an imaginary shuttlecock with an imaginary racket

We also have a video that you can stream in class to sing along with (Internet connection required):

4. Teach sports verbs and equipment vocab
On the board write: "To play soccer (or football) you have to __________ a soccer ball (or football)". Elicit the missing verb and write "kick" in the blank.

Before class, cut out the words from the Sports vocab cut outs worksheet – enough for each group of students. In pairs, the students have to match the words (e.g. golf – hit – golf ball). As students are matching the words go around the class checking and asking questions.

5. Do the "Let’s Play Sports!" worksheet
This worksheet practices the vocab from the last point. Give each student a worksheet and circulate as everyone fills in the blanks.

6. Read classroom reader "Alien Sports"
This story will tie everything together - you can practice talking about sports and sports equipment. Before class, download and print off the reader "Alien Sports". As you go through each page, point to the pictures and get each student to guess what sport each alien is playing - also elicit the sports equipment, for example:

Teacher: What sport do you think he is playing?
Students: Tennis?
Teacher: Let's see (turns over page) ... Yes, tennis! What is he hitting?
Students: A tennis ball!
Teacher: I play (or don't play tennis). How about you Marta?
Student (Marta): I play tennis (or I don't play tennis).

Get the students really involved in the reader by asking lots of questions (e.g. eliciting colors, clothes, body features with adjectives (e.g. the alien playing golf has a big eye) and other objects) and getting them to guess each sport. Encourage everyone to say which sports they do and don't play.

After reading the story, give out a reader worksheet to each student and read through the story one more time (without stopping for questions, etc.) as students match up the aliens to the sports. Then go through the answers as a class.

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Alternatively, watch our video version of the reader (Internet connection required):

7. Special prize for the winning team
The winning team from the sports competition at the beginning of the lesson can end the class by choosing one of the 8 sports for everyone to play again (no review flashcards necessary this time!).

Special prize for the winning team