On 20 November, the FIFA World Cup tournament kicks off in Qatar. Around five billion football fans around the world are expected to watch live on TV as the best men’s teams battle it out for football’s ultimate prize. This resources pack includes an article from The Week Junior magazine, along with a sheet of activities designed to get children thinking, talking and writing about what the story means to them.
Oracy
Oh look, it’s another international sporting competition to capture our collective attention! The question is, are there just too many of them? Doesn’t it devalue sport to have so many ‘must see’ tournaments? Or do you love having lots of sporting excitement to look forward to? With all the bad news in the world, isn’t it great to have something positive to focus on? In any case, isn’t it a good way of promoting sport and making us more healthy? What do you think?
Writing skills
Describe an ordinary aspect of your day, such as shopping with a parent or walking to school, in the style of a football commentary.
OR
Advertising people like to have pithy slogans to promote or support ideas. For quite a few years, we have had “It’s coming home” to sum up our hopes for international footballing success. However, as men’s football still hasn’t “come home”, we might need a new one. Think up three to five options of your own.
Investigate
Compile a league table of countries that have taken part in men’s football World Cup finals. Award two points for a win and no points for a defeat and arrange the table from most points to least. Challenge: add up the number of goals scored and goals conceded (not including penalty shoot-outs) for each team.
Find the entire series of Topical Tuesday resources to download in our Topical Tuesdays collection.
What is The Week Junior?
The Week Junior magazine looks at current affairs and helps children make sense of the world, provides context and clarity to complex issues, improves general knowledge and encourages discussion and debate.
To find out more about The Week Junior and to download its free resources, please go to The Week Junior website.