Sports- Brainstorming & Discussion
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Brainstorming kinds of sports and then speaking about them
Lesson Plan Content:
Sports vocabulary brainstorming and discussion
Brainstorm as many sports as you can onto a mind map with categories and sub-categories.
Use these categories to expand and organise your brainstorming:
Air sports
Animal sports
Athletics/ Track and field
Ball sports
Bicycle sports
Climbing
Cue sports
Gun sports
Martial arts
Mental sports
Motor sports
Water sports
Winter sports
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Compare with the list below.
Air sports
Ballooning Gliding Hang gliding
Kite fighting Skydiving Skysurfing
Animal sports
Bullfighting Camel racing Cockfighting
Dressage Fox hunting Greyhound racing
Horse racing Hunting Pigeon racing
Polo Rodeo Sheepdog trials
Show jumping Sled dog racing
Athletics/ Track and field
Biathlon Cross country running Discus
Hammer throwing Heptathlon High jump
Hurdles Javelin Marathon
Pentathlon Pole vault Race walking
Relay Shot put Sprinting
Steeplechase Triathlon Triple jump
Ball sports
(Field) hockey Australian Rules football Baseball
Basketball Beach volleyball Boules/ Pétanque
Bowling (= ten pin bowling)/ skittles Crazy golf
Cricket Croquet/ Gate ball Dodgeball
Football (= Association football = Soccer) Football tennis
Futsal/ Five-a-side football Golf Handball
Lacrosse Lawn bowling/ Bowls Netball
Pitch and putt Roller hockey Rounders
Rugby Softball Squash
Table tennis (= ping pong)
Bicycle sports
BMX Keirin Mountain biking
Track cycling Tour de France Unicycling
Climbing
Abseiling Bouldering Free climbing
Mountaineering
Cue sports
Billiards Pool Snooker
Gun sports
Clay pigeon shooting Target shooting
Martial arts
Aikido Archery Arm wrestling
Boxing Fencing Graeco-Roman wrestling
Judo Karate Kendo
Kung fu Laser quest MMA (= mixed martial arts)
Paintball Sumo wrestling Tai Chi
Taekwondo Thai boxing/ Muay Thai
Mental sports
Bridge Chess
Motor sports
Drag racing F1 (= Formula 1) Go-kart racing
NASCAR Rally
Water sports
Angling (= fishing) Backstroke Breaststroke
Butterfly Canoeing Diving
Freestyle/ Crawl Kayaking Kite surfing
Lifesaving Open water swimming Rafting
Rowing Sailing Scuba diving
Surfing Synchronised swimming Wakeboarding
Water polo Water-skiing Windsurfing
Winter sports
Bobsleigh Ice hockey Luge
Nordic skiing/ cross country skiing Ski jumping
Skiing Snowboarding Speed skating
Misc.
Aerobics Ballroom dancing Baton twirling
Bungee jumping Competitive eating Darts
Geo-caching Gymnastics Hiking
Juggling Orienteering Skateboarding
Skipping Three-legged race Trampoline
Tug of war Ultimate Frisbee Weightlifting
Yoga Yo-yo
Did you think of any words or categories which aren’t above?
Are there any sports above which you don’t know?
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Language tasks
Find at least four things from the list above or your own list:
- Only done indoors
- Types of swimming
- Sports that go with the verb “play”
- Sports that go with the verb “go”
- Sports that go with the verb “do”
- Three syllables
- Stressed on the first syllable
Speaking tasks
Work together to choose at least five things from the list above and your own list that match each of these categories:
- Not really sports
- Not in the Olympics but should be
- In the Olympics but shouldn’t be
- Likely to become more popular in the future.
- Likely to become less popular in the future
- Likely to disappear this century
- Shouldn’t be played in schools
- Good ways of getting fit
- Should be available for everyone to watch on free terrestrial TV
- Not shown on terrestrial TV but should be
- Shouldn’t be on terrestrial TV
- Should be very tightly controlled or banned.
- Embarrassing to be seen doing.
- Only suitable for older/ younger people
- Only suitable for males/ females
- Too violent
- Relaxing
- Likely to lead to injury
- Boring
- Pointless
- Too complicated
- Candidates for the national sport of this country
Brainstorm language that you could have used above into these categories:
Giving opinions
Agreeing
Disagreeing
Use phrases like those to compare your ideas with another group.
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