Football Fever

When football fanatics dominate your class, throw them a ball.

As I mentioned towards the start of the year, football is a way of life in Marseille. All residents are passionately invested in the beautiful game and show loyal support to their home team, especially when it comes to sworn enemies PSG.

How to turn this adoration of football into a useful means of coaching the children in English?

With exams looming soon, the teachers of the school had further impressed the necessity of oral work, so as the children could talk on any subject for a couple of minutes.

Often simple ideas are the best when instructing a class of semi-invested teenagers. Therefore, I went to a local shop, bought a ball, and wrote words or questions across it.

Taking it into school and lifting it out of my bag was like lifting a trophy in front of the children. 

“We’re getting to play football, Mr Jackson?”

I explained that I was going to pass the ball around, and they had to answer the question, or talk about the topic under their right thumb when they caught it for a minute.

At first, they seemed horrified by this idea. “But what questions?”, “We haven’t had time to prepare!” “Is this part of a test?” were a few of the sudden interjections. 

However, having soothed many of their concerns, I was able to start the ball rolling, by demonstrating how I would respond to “What did you do last weekend?”

The children ended up warming quickly to the activity, even if they were unsure of vocabulary. The added distraction of the ball being passed from person to person as if a hot potato was amusing and took away from the pressure of speaking unaided for a minute.

I was both impressed at their efforts and contented by my energies to introduce the game, as at the start of the year, had I been met with such a wall of confusion and worry, I might have let the idea go altogether. However, the exercise demonstrated my own development in both leading the class, and understanding the learners themselves.

Play time can still be class time.