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WARM-UPS

1. SCANDAL: Walk around the class and talk to other students about scandal. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

football / scandal / the World Cup / embarrassing / bribes / match-fixing / hosting bid / politicians / having an affair / intimate relationship / sensitive info / weird guys

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. ROCKED: What could these be rocked by? Make imaginary headlines with your partner(s).  Change partners and talk about them. Change and share again.

	Headline	The story
S. Africa World Cup
Barack Obama
BP
McDonalds
The United Nations
Your government

4. MEDIA: Students A strongly believe a national newspaper should keep quiet about matters that affect whether or not its country can host a World Cup; Students B strongly believe the opposite.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. SHOCKED: Who are you more shocked by when it comes to scandals? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. The most shocking is at the top. Change partners and share your ratings again.

Your teacher Your country’s leader A top sports star Your favourite singer

A religious leader A politician A top business person A movie star

6. EMBARRASSING: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘embarrassing’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	England’s World Cup football captain is in big, big trouble.	T / F
b.	A newspaper published shocking things about England’s soccer boss.	T / F
c.	A newspaper says the soccer boss thinks Russia and Spain will cheat.	T / F
d.	David Beckham will start England’s 2018 hosting bid in two days.	T / F
e.	The soccer boss used to be part of the British government.	T / F
f.	The newspaper said he had a relationship with a former employee.	T / F
g.	The paper said the employee had an affair with the England captain.	T / F
h.	The soccer boss wants more foreign owners to buy English teams.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	rocked	a.	top secret
2	leading	b.	influence
3.	fix	c.	romantic
4.	bribe	d.	ex-
5.	allegations	e.	pay off
6.	former	f.	shocked
7.	intimate	g.	worries
8.	sensitive	h.	strange
9.	concerns	i.	accusations
10.	weird	j.	top

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	rocked by sleaze	a.	relationship
2	made a series	b.	upcoming tournament
3.	The most embarrassing and	c.	referees
4.	fix matches at the	d.	of English football clubs
5.	bribe the	e.	and scandal
6.	help rebuild the FA’s image following	f.	affair
7.	an intimate	g.	a string of sex scandals
8.	a lot of sensitive	h.	of shocking claims
9.	having an	i.	information
10.	the foreign ownership	j.	damaging claim

 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

English football has been rocked by sleaze and ____________ that could affect its bid to ____________ the 2018 World Cup. A leading British newspaper, the Mail on Sunday, has made a series of shocking ____________ about England’s Football Association (FA) chairman Lord Triesman. They are sure to ____________ many in the football world. The most embarrassing and damaging ____________ is that Triesman said Spain and Russia are acting together to fix matches at the upcoming tournament in South Africa. The paper quotes Triesman as saying: "Spain are looking for help...to ____________ the referees". He also believes Russia will pay officials to let Spain win matches, and in return, Spain will ____________ Russia to get the 2018 Finals. The allegations come two days after David Beckham started England’s 2018 hosting ____________.		claim support scandal claims bribe host bid upset
Lord Triesman is a ____________ British politician. His job was to help rebuild the FA’s image following a ____________ of sex scandals. He made the claims to a former employee, Melissa Jacobs, with whom the paper claims he had an ____________. Ms Jacobs supposedly told the paper she had an ____________ relationship with Triesman in 2008. The Mail on Sunday says he told Ms Jacobs a lot of ____________ information about England’s 2018 bid. He also talked about the ex-England captain John Terry’s scandal. The Chelsea defender ____________ the England captaincy after having an affair with his team-mate Wayne Bridge’s ex-girlfriend. In addition, Triesman expressed his ____________ over the foreign ownership of English football clubs and called Gordon Brown a “____________ guy”.		concerns string intimate weird former sensitive affair lost

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

English football has been _________________ and scandal that could affect its bid to host the 2018 World Cup. A leading British newspaper, the Mail on Sunday, has _________________ shocking claims about England’s Football Association (FA) chairman Lord Triesman. They _________________ many in the football world. The most embarrassing and damaging claim is that Triesman said Spain and Russia are acting together _________________ at the upcoming tournament in South Africa. The paper quotes Triesman as saying: "Spain are looking for _________________ the referees". He also believes Russia will pay officials to let Spain win matches, and in return, Spain will support Russia to get the 2018 Finals. The _________________ days after David Beckham started England’s 2018 hosting bid.

Lord Triesman is a former British politician. His job was _________________ FA’s image _________________ of sex scandals. He made the claims to a former employee, Melissa Jacobs, with whom the paper claims he had an affair. Ms Jacobs supposedly told the paper she had an ___________________ with Triesman in 2008. The Mail on Sunday says he told Ms Jacobs a lot of sensitive information about England’s 2018 bid. He also talked about the ex-England captain John Terry’s scandal. The Chelsea _________________ England captaincy after having an affair with his team-mate Wayne Bridge’s ex-girlfriend. In addition, Triesman _________________ concerns over the foreign ownership of English football clubs and called Gordon Brown _________________.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘world’ and ‘cup’.

world

cup

• Share your findings with your partners.

• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

rocked series fix bribe support two days

rebuild whom supposedly captain girlfriend ownership

STUDENT SCANDAL SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about scandal in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

SCANDAL DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘scandal’?
c)	What do you think of this story?
d)	Do you think England should now end its 2018 bid?
e)	How do you think Lord Triesman’s words affect English football?
f)	England’s 2018 bid is in danger because the English paper published this story. Do you think the paper should have stayed quiet?
g)	Do you think match fixing exists in the World Cup?
h)	Do you think England should lose points at the 2010 Finals?
i)	What do you think English people would like to say to Lord Triesman?
j)	Should England host the 2018 World Cup Finals?

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STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	How should English football now clean up its image?
c)	What should the English Football Association do to apologize to Spain and Russia?
d)	Why do you think Lord Triesman made these claims?
e)	What three adjectives would you use to describe this story? Why?
f)	What’s the biggest scandal you’ve ever heard of?
g)	Do you think soccer would be boring without sex and sleaze scandals?
h)	What do you think of the English Premier League?
i)	What’s wrong with foreign companies owning English football clubs?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Melissa Jacobs?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

English football has been (1) ____ by sleaze and scandal that could affect its bid to host the 2018 World Cup. A leading British newspaper, the Mail on Sunday, has made a (2) ____ of shocking claims about England’s Football Association (FA) chairman Lord Triesman. They are sure to upset many in the football world. The most embarrassing and (3) ____ claim is that Triesman said Spain and Russia are acting together to (4) ____ matches at the upcoming tournament in South Africa. The paper quotes Triesman as saying: "Spain are looking for help...to (5) ____ the referees". He also believes Russia will pay officials to let Spain win matches, and in (6) ____, Spain will support Russia to get the 2018 Finals. The allegations come two days after David Beckham started England’s 2018 hosting bid.

Lord Triesman is a former British politician. His job was to help rebuild the FA’s image following a (7) ____ of sex scandals. He made the claims to a former employee, Melissa Jacobs, with whom the paper claims he (8) ____ an affair. Ms Jacobs supposedly told the paper she had an (9) ____ relationship with Triesman in 2008. The Mail on Sunday says he told Ms Jacobs a lot of sensitive information about England’s 2018 bid. He also talked about the ex-England captain John Terry’s scandal. The Chelsea defender (10) ____ the England captaincy after having an affair with his team-mate Wayne Bridge’s ex-girlfriend. In (11) ____, Triesman expressed his concerns over the foreign (12) ____ of English football clubs and called Gordon Brown a “weird guy”.

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	stoned	(b)	pebble	(c)	boulder	(d)	rocked
2.	(a)	series	(b)	serial	(c)	cereal	(d)	serious
3.	(a)	damages	(b)	damaging	(c)	damage	(d)	damaged
4.	(a)	mix	(b)	clicks	(c)	fix	(d)	picks
5.	(a)	bribes	(b)	bribed	(c)	bribe	(d)	bribery
6.	(a)	one way	(b)	return	(c)	round trip	(d)	going
7.	(a)	thread	(b)	twine	(c)	rope	(d)	string
8.	(a)	had	(b)	did	(c)	was	(d)	became
9.	(a)	animation	(b)	intimate	(c)	imitate	(d)	intimidate
10.	(a)	fouled	(b)	scored	(c)	red carded	(d)	lost
11.	(a)	plus	(b)	add	(c)	addition	(d)	minus
12.	(a)	ownership	(b)	owns	(c)	owned	(d)	own

WRITING

Write about football for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

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HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about this scandal. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. FOOTBALL: Make a poster about football. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. OWN GOAL: Write a magazine article about the own goal scored by Lord Triesman. Include imaginary interviews with Lord Triesman and an angry English football fan.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to Lord Triesman. Ask him three questions about this scandal. Tell him three things he should do for the British, Spanish and Russian people. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

F

b.

T

c.

T

d.

F

e.

T

f.

T

g.

F

h.

F

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	rocked	a.	shocked
2	leading	b.	top
3.	fix	c.	influence
4.	bribe	d.	pay off
5.	allegations	e.	accusations
6.	former	f.	ex-
7.	intimate	g.	romantic
8.	sensitive	h.	top secret
9.	concerns	i.	worries
10.	weird	j.	strange

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	rocked by sleaze	a.	and scandal
2	made a series	b.	of shocking claims
3.	The most embarrassing and	c.	damaging claim
4.	fix matches at the	d.	upcoming tournament
5.	bribe the	e.	referees
6.	help rebuild the FA’s image following	f.	a string of sex scandals
7.	an intimate	g.	relationship
8.	a lot of sensitive	h.	information
9.	having an	i.	affair
10.	the foreign ownership	j.	of English football clubs

GAP FILL:

English soccer boss in World Cup scandal

English football has been rocked by sleaze and scandal that could affect its bid to host the 2018 World Cup. A leading British newspaper, the Mail on Sunday, has made a series of shocking claims about England’s Football Association (FA) chairman Lord Triesman. They are sure to upset many in the football world. The most embarrassing and damaging claim is that Triesman said Spain and Russia are acting together to fix matches at the upcoming tournament in South Africa. The paper quotes Triesman as saying: "Spain are looking for help...to bribe the referees". He also believes Russia will pay officials to let Spain win matches, and in return, Spain will support Russia to get the 2018 Finals. The allegations come two days after David Beckham started England’s 2018 hosting bid.

Lord Triesman is a former British politician. His job was to help rebuild the FA’s image following a string of sex scandals. He made the claims to a former employee, Melissa Jacobs, with whom the paper claims he had an affair. Ms Jacobs supposedly told the paper she had an intimate relationship with Triesman in 2008. The Mail on Sunday says he told Ms Jacobs a lot of sensitive information about England’s 2018 bid. He also talked about the ex-England captain John Terry’s scandal. The Chelsea defender lost the England captaincy after having an affair with his team-mate Wayne Bridge’s ex-girlfriend. In addition, Triesman expressed his concerns over the foreign ownership of English football clubs and called Gordon Brown a “weird guy”.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - a

3 - b

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - d

8 - a

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

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