Johanna Schicker’s Weblog

As becoming a teacher for sports and english I am really interested in combining these two subjects. At first sight, it seems a bit strange to teach sports bilingual but I think it’s possible…. 

IDEA(S):

Last friday students in Hessen got their reports and many schools  took the advantage of having a project week. With regard to the current situation and events in the USA I would like to implement a project week with the topic of  “THE USA”. The project will last from Monday till Thurday with a final presentation on Friday evening. The whole school (upper school, class 11-13) will deal with Amrica, e.g.

• The politics and economics classes could work on the election of Obama, his aims and his influence and power at home and abroad. –> Using the internet for research, especially the bbc homepage which offers also audio files including original speeches or reports about Obama and the election. Furthermore, students could be asked to present their results as a powerpointpresentation or even as a blog.

• The history classes could evaluate the national story/past of the USA, find out something about the background of several. holidays like Thanksgiving, Independence Day, Halloween etc. –> They could use the same media as the politican group but in addition it would be interesting to get in touch with american students via e-m@il in order to receive “credible” descriptions about the way Americans do celebrate e.g.Thanksgiving etc.

• Musicians could deal with the American national anthem or about famous american singers and songs. –> This group could not only originate a choir who sings American songs but also create a music video or even a musical….

• The scientists could deal with famous american scientists and their inventions like e.g. the photocopier and the photosynthesis. –> Again, the internet would be the appropriate tool for their research. But the students could also create models of the inventions or look for an animation which describes the process of a photosynthesis…

• As you can see, there are various possibilities to deal with America in many different ways…

IMPLEMENTATION:

In the following I will now concentrate on my idea to involve english into sports lessons. Regarding the project week and the famous Super bowl, which took place last weekend, students could work on American Sports, focusing on football. At first, they would have to find out something about the sport itself – the main idea, historical background and the development of the game, the rules and the importance of football in America. Then, the teacher could begin with some exercises in order to get familiarized with the ball and the game in general. Later on, the students could use  forums and special websites which includes special animation with the right technique and motion (Bewegungsabläufe) in order to have some kind of  “assistance” to learn how to play the game. The aim is to have a football competition between the sports classes on Friday. Girls who don’t like to participate within the Football sports would have the opportunity to function as cheerleaders. They could look for youtube videos or other movies in order to create a “dance” for the game on Friday.

On Friday evening we will have the “presenting day” where parents, friends and other people can visit the school and have a look at the resulst of the project week. .. for example watch the football games between the sport groups. As a special event, there will be a live broadcast of the American Superbowl with typical american foot, mainly chips and coke 😉

CONCLUSION:

Surely, it wouldn’t be easy to consist of speaking only english during the whole project work, but nevertheless the students have to deal with english sources and information which will definitely help to ameliorate their language skills. Furthermore, they will get to know a lot about the american country and its culture which is in some kind much more important than being a expert of vocabulary and grammar rules . . . For students, the English language could even have a new  importance and become a much more interesting subject as before.