Of soccer as a cultural barrier breaker

Can we teach culture to teens?
Yes, we can! But, how?
All you need is a lesson plan, a great app and a passion in common. I chose to raise cultural awareness by discussing soccer, part of so many cultures.

I used the app from Cambridge, Cambridge English FC, available here: http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/learning-english/games-social/cambridge-english-fc/

With this app, students can learn vocabulary and grammar by answering English grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation questions to help their team pass the ball, get to the goal, shoot and score.


After playing, they are able to have a conversation about soccer with absolutely anyone in the world! They can learn about cultural differences and similarities, while having fun.

I had this task at hand: the aim of my lesson was to teach teens about politeness: how to agree and disagree. But, since it´s very common in our culture to show more passion and emphasis when we agree or disagree, I decided to bring up cultural differences and how to overcome these differences.
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How could I achieve it?

By bring up the one similarity in every culture: our passion for soccer.

Being a fan of soccer myself, I thought that I could really stir things up with this lesson. The result was much better than I could’ve ever imagined!

Here´s a link to the lesson plan: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OK7GT4sU5WSGBad6b-PtMcbQBS1UcQV7hx01MAIpAgs/edit?usp=sharing

So I start the class with a discussion: our countries’ characteristics and other countries’ characteristics as well. Then we started comparing our customs and behavior. Then I asked what we have in common. They couldn’t come up with anything. But then a late comer showed up wearing a soccer jersey: bingo! Soccer, and sports in general, are present in every culture.

I asked them to discuss what the role of sports is in our society. I wanted them to come to the conclusion that sports can unite us all, regardless of our background.

I pre-taught them functions to politely agree and disagree. Then, I got them to play a “soccer language” app: Cambridge English FC. They could learn about the language used to talk about soccer. They were having fun and learning at the same time. A win-win for us all!

So, to practice their new acquired skill, they had to role-play an interview using their vocabulary and idiomatic expressions that they had learned with the app; I assigned them roles: narrator, commentator and player.

After so much fun, came the cultural difference part: they each got in contact with a soccer fan from a different country. England, Australia, Iran, Syria, Argentina. They had to start a conversation about soccer to find out how much soccer is part of other cultures as well.

The end result: they were so proud that they were able to have a familiar conversation about something they love with a foreigner. They understood that even though they may live in different countries, even different continents, two things can break any cultural barriers and bring people together: language and sports.

And here is a link to more apps and resources from Cambridge http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/learning-english/free-resources/