The World Cup

Introduction

The World Cup is one of the most significant sporting events in the world. Every four years, several national teams from around the globe gather together in a chosen country to compete for the most crucial prize in football history: the trophy, which will crown the strongest national team.

In today's class, you are going to dive into the history of this international event and this year's World Cup.

Task

For the activity, you will need to read and watch the following:

First, you are going to read about the history of the World Cup, since it first began up to this year: https://www.footballhistory.org/world-cup/index.html

Then, you are going to watch the video: 

Lastly, you are going to read about Qatar being the host of the World Cup 2022: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/19/sports/soccer/world-cup-qatar-2022.html

If you wish, you can take notes of what you consider to be important in the above items; that could help you with the activity you are going to do next.

Process

ACTIVITY:

After reading the texts and watching the video, answer the following questions:

  1. Do you have the habit of watching football? If yes, what is the difference between watching a game of your childhood team to watching your country's national team play? If not, do you watch the World Cup games? Why? (0,5)
     
  2. In your opinion, why is the World Cup such an important event, being watched even by non-football fans? (0,5)
     
  3. As said in the video: Wars have stopped because the World Cup was on and both sides wanted to watch football. In your words, explain why you think football had this power of influence. (0,5)
     
  4. Why do you think the World Cup 2022 is "distinct"? (0,5)
     
  5. In the second text, it's mentioned that Platini wanted the 2022 tournament to go "anywhere but Qatar" and that "what happened to change his mind over lunch with a late-arriving Sarkozy and the two Qataris remains, more than a decade later, resolutely obscure and fiercely contested". What do you think made him change his mind? Why? (0,5)
Evaluation

ASSESSMENT:

You will be assessed according to your answers and grammar use – 2,5 points (0,5 for each question answered)

Conclusion

That was it for today! I hope you enjoyed getting to know more about the World Cup, and hopefully, you managed to take advantage by practicing your reading, listening, and writing skills :)