The Women’s World Cup is being held in Australia and New Zealand this summer, so it’s a great opportunity to plan some football-themed activities for your classroom!
The tournament kicks off on 20 July, with the final being held on 20 August. By creating football lesson plans and World Cup activities, you’ll showcase the achievements and talents of female footballers from all over the world, introducing positive female role models to your students. You’ll also be able to explore the history of women’s football, learn about the challenges that women have faced in the sport, and celebrate their achievements on the world stage.
Football-themed activities for young learners
Here are some ideas for World Cup activities to do in your class with younger students:
Jersey design
This creative activity will encourage your younger students’ design skills! Give them a cutout of a jersey shape and ask them to design their own football jerseys for one of the teams participating in the Women’s World Cup. They can choose colours, add symbols or logos and even come up with a team name.
Flag matching activity
Create a competition board with all the names of the participating countries participating in the Women’s World Cup. Print out the national flags of each country, then split your learners into small groups and assign them a handful of flags. They have to match the flags to the country name.
Once they’ve matched all their flags, each group can pick one country to research further. They can research language, cuisine, traditional dress, capital city, population and any interesting facts. Then, they can present their country profile to the class.
Football-themed activities for teenagers/adults
When it comes to creating World Cup lesson plans for older students, you can dive a bit deeper into the social issues associated with women’s football, and encourage your students to do some critical thinking.
Create player profiles
Find out if students know any of the female players representing their countries at the World Cup. Then assign pairs of students to a country and they have to research the top players. Students can prepare player profiles with statistics – they’ll be able to find lots of information on the FIFA website.
Once they have collated all their information, you can create a class poster where students display their profiles, or do it digitally on a collaborative platform.
Do a comparative analysis
This activity looks at the differences between the Women’s World Cup and the men’s tournament. Split your students into two or three groups and ask them to research media coverage of both World Cups, looking at differences in the portrayal of male and female athletes.
Another group could analyse the financial side of the tournaments, comparing the prize money, sponsorship deals and the overall recognition of each World Cup. Then, each group can present their findings to the class.
Hold a debate
Split the class into two groups and assign each group one side of a debatable topic. For example:
- Should female athletes get equal pay?
- Should there be better representation of female athletes in the media?
- Should we encourage more girls to access football training in school?
Give each group time to research facts and figures, then hold a structured debate where students present arguments and counterarguments, giving them an opportunity to explore and discuss. This activity fosters critical thinking and boosts awareness of gender equality issues, as well as giving students a chance to practice speaking in English.
Share your football lesson plans
Incorporating the Women’s World Cup into your English lessons offers lots of benefits for students. By using a global sporting event as a lesson theme, you’re creating an engaging, culturally rich learning environment that promotes critical thinking and cultural learning alongside language development.
What’s more, this theme can promote inclusivity. Students will be learning about the achievements of female athletes on a global stage, inspiring them to challenge gender biases and follow their dreams!
What’s your favourite classroom activity related to football? Share your ideas in the comments!
For more football-related classroom activities, check out this WOBL blog on using football to teach comparatives and superlatives.