Football fans

This 7-page intermediate lesson is about football fans – the reasons why people become football fans, the types of football fans, good and bad behaviour of football fans, measures to reduce football hooliganism and a video from the Qatar 2022 World Cup about Japanese fans cleaning up the stadium after the games. You can also check out the lessons “Argentina wins the world cup”, “Qatar 2022: the world cup of controversy”; “Phrasal verbs: World Cup (football)”, “Using sports psychology to improve our everyday lives” and “Financial tips for athletes”.

Vocabulary: after an initial discussion, students work on vocabulary by matching football-related words and expressions to the correct photo (stands, dressing rooms, pitch).
Functional language: Students learn expressions used when talking about the team we support (I’ll cheer for, I am supporting, I am backing, I am rooting for) and use the expressions to talk about the teams they support at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Speaking: Next, students discuss the reasons why people become football fans and put the reasons given in order of importance for them. Then, they look at different types of fans and match them to their description.
Next, students look at different types of behaviours and divide them into good and bad behaviours. Then they discuss which behaviours are common in their country.
Speaking: Students brainstorm different ways to prevent or reduce football hooliganism. After that they are given some ideas and they match key vocabulary (ban, fine, zero-tolerance policy) to the definitions given.
Video: Students watch a video “Why do Japan fans clean after the matches” and complete 2 tasks. After that they discuss the video and the role the World Cup has in terms of cultural exchange and bringing people together. Lastly, students revise the target vocabulary from this lesson by completing a gap-fill exercise.
The conversation cards provide further opportunities for speaking practice and revision of the vocabulary from this lesson.
You can combine it with other lessons about the World Cup as well as other sports-related lessons.