The Incredible history of the World Cup trophy
Lesson plan overview
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This ESL worksheet explores the fascinating true story of the World Cup trophy, helping students master the passive voice while building crime and mystery-related vocabulary. It is most suitable for B1–B2 level learners and is ideal for lessons on grammar (passive voice), crime vocabulary, speaking fluency, and listening comprehension. Other lessons you might like include “The heist of a century: The Louvre jewellery robbery” and “Unsolved mysteries”, as well as World Cup-related lessons, such as “The stadiums of the 2026 World Cup“, and “World Cup 2026: Economic promise vs economic reality“.
Speaking: Lead-in and Discussion
The lesson begins with a series of discussion questions about the World Cup.
Vocabulary: Crime and Investigation Terms
Students match key crime-related vocabulary such as ransom note, robbery, alibi, and reward with their definitions. They also practise a wider set of verbs connected to crime and investigation (e.g. apprehend, recover, commission, convict, rename), reinforcing meaning through matching and sentence completion activities.
Grammar: Passive Voice Explained
The worksheet provides a clear breakdown of the passive voice, including when and how to use it (present simple, past simple, present perfect, past perfect). Students compare active vs. passive structures and complete form-focused exercises.
Listening: The Incredible Story of the World Cup Trophy
Students watch a video called “The World Cup trophy’s incredible story“. Before watching, students complete extracts from the video with the correct passive voice form of the verbs given. They then watch a video and complete comprehension questions about key events, including the 1966 theft of the Jules Rimet trophy, the ransom demand, the role of a dog named Pickles, and the trophy’s eventual disappearance in 1983.
Speaking: Post-Listening Discussion & Role-Play
Students discuss which part of the story surprised them most, debate unsolved mysteries (who really stole the trophy in 1966?), and evaluate whether rewards were fair. They also rank reasons why the World Cup trophy is considered priceless, then create theories about what happened to the missing trophy.
Grammar Practice: Error Correction
Learners identify and correct common passive voice errors, reinforcing accurate production of past participles and subject-verb agreement.
Speaking: Information Gap – The Museum Heist vs The Trophy Heist
In the final speaking activity, students work in pairs using an information gap. Student A reads about a museum robbery, while Student B reads about a trophy theft. They do not see each other’s stories. Students ask and answer comprehension questions to complete missing information about the crimes, including what was stolen, when and how the theft happened, what evidence was found, and how the cases developed. This activity encourages accurate question formation, active listening, and the use of the passive voice in meaningful communication.
For more speaking practice, use the printable discussion cards included in the supplementary materials.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
Pre-class activities
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In-class activities
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Additional resources
Each video-based lesson plan includes links to additional resources (videos and articles), which are FREE can be found online (in the pre-class activities page. These links aim to extend the learning experience, enabling students to connect classroom knowledge with real-world applications.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
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