Before introducing new words to the students, it's always good to start class with a hello. A longer and more complicated greeting conversation would be even better, with the teacher asking, "How are you?" so that the students respond, "I'm fine, thank you."
Introduce Sports Terms
The teacher should begin the introduction of the new material so that the students first get familiar with the word "sports." The teacher says, for example: "Today we will learn about sports. Sports. (Repeat after me.) Sports. Ready, go." And the class responds, "Sports."
- With the expectation that the students have never studied sports in English, bringing out the visual aides – large, individual pictures of the sports, laminated and magnet-backed, with the English spellings – will be a good way to explain.
The teacher is advised to introduce the words basketball, baseball, soccer, football, volleyball, dodgeball, tennis, table tennis, and martial arts. Depending on the students' native (sports) culture, this set can easily be expanded. A good set of words can easily reach 11, which is a suitably challenging amount of words for any class.
- As a class, students should repeat after the teacher, mimicking native pronunciation.
- A good way to introduce the sports is in sets of 3, holding up the cards one-by-one for the students to see, and afterward placing them on the board.
- After every 3 words, the teacher should review each previously introduced word, grabbing one at random and asking the class, "What's this?" at least once for each word.
"Do You Like (This Sport)?"
At this point, it is expected that students can understand and produce "What (in this category) do you like?" – "I like (this)." conversations. (See ESL Basic Vegetables Lesson.)
- The teacher should be able to point to the sports on the board and and have volunteer students respond appropriately to the question, "What sport do you like?"
- After 2 or 3 students respond appropriately, saying "I like (a sport)," the teacher can introduce the more grammatically complicated question, "Do you like (this sport)?"
- First, the students should be able to pronounce the question. Prompting them to first repeat, for example "Do you like basketball?" perhaps the best way to explain the grammar is by translating the question into the students' native language.
- The two appropriate responses, "Yes, I do," and "No, I don't," should be translated and explained in a similar manner.
- The students repeat "Yes, I do," and "No, I don't," with a nod or a shake of the head, as appropriate. The two responses lend themselves well to a chant: "Yes, I do. No, I don't. Yes, I do. No, I don't." The teacher establishes a rhythm, and the students chant along.
Conversation Practice
- The teacher chooses a sport from the board and asks the class, "Do you like baseball?" for example.
- Students raise their hands, and one volunteer is chosen.
- The student volunteer stands, and the class asks together, "Do you like baseball?"
- The volunteer answers honestly "Yes, I do," or "No, I don't."
- The class repeats the volunteer's response.
- The student receives the card after answering appropriately, and the distribution process continues through the remaining sports.
Ideally, the students should say "Thank you," upon receiving cards.
Once all the cards have been distributed, the students holding the cards are given 5 seconds to pass them to students who have not yet had a chance to speak.
- The new card holders are then invited to the front of the class, for an interview.
- The first student holds up her card – soccer, for example – and the class asks, "Do you like soccer?"
- The card holder responds honestly, "Yes, I do," or "No, I don't," and the class repeats.
- The process continues through the remaining cards.
The cards change hands one more time, and this time the card holders, one by one, interview the class. "Do you like (this sport I'm holding up)?"
The class is encouraged to respond at the same time, but individually based on their personal preferences. They should be loud and emphatic if they really like or dislike a certain sport.
Survey Game
- The class is rewarded for participation and concentration with the announcement of a game.
- The teacher tells the students to select their favorite sport from among the sports on the board.
- The rules of the game are explained. The teacher chooses a sport from the board, saying, "I like... dodgeball."
- The teacher chooses 7 students, asking them each, "Do you like dodgeball?" for example. The teacher keeps track of the students' answers, holding up a finger on his right hand for every "Yes, I do," and holding up a finger on his left hand for every, "No, I don't."
- After getting 7 answers, the teacher returns to the board and records, under the dodgeball card, a combination of circles and x's, one circle for each "Yes," and one x for each "No."
- The teacher then prompts the students to choose their favorite sport from among those on the board, ask 7 of their classmates, "Do you like (my favorite sport)?" and the results of their survey in terms of circles and x's on the board beneath the individual sports' pictures.
- Once all students are seated, the teacher will tally up the circles, and announce the most popular sport in the class, the one with the most circles beneath it.
If time remains, the survey game can be repeated with a different category (vegetables, colors, etc.).
Class ends with the teacher telling the students goodbye, and having the class return the goodbye.
The teacher should then be able to leave the classroom with the satisfaction of thoroughly teaching the students very useful words using simple games that can be fun for both elementary school students and teachers alike. The sports vocabulary is an excellent base to build from, to be used and expanded upon in subsequent lessons.
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