English Contemporary Issues: Ideas for 12/08/2011 C.I. class:Sports from teacher Abbie

Dear C.I. class!

Last Thursday, we talked a lot about the different learning styles, and how they affect learners, and finally we discussed whether high school entrance should be test-score based. Thanks everyone for your participation!!

This Thursday, 12/8, our topic is Sports.

I look forward to all of your presentations!

Here's a brain storm on the topic... in some cases I'm including links to interesting articles, but don't feel you have to read them all; just choose the ones that interest you!

* Sports and Ethics!:

Here's an article about soccer and ethics: "Is it okay to cheat in football?" (Here, "football" means "soccer!!" :D ) http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/singer64/English

This article asks whether the only ethical rule in sports is "win at all costs."

* Sports and Money

Related to our discussions of Occupy Wall Street and capitalism, here's an interesting article comparing soccer to politics and economy! (In this article, again, the term "English football" means "soccer!") It's about "an unsustainable system where the rich win and the poor go to the wall;" you can also find it in the Taipei Times under the title "Soccer reveals rampant capitalism." (The term "go to the wall" means "fail.")

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/18/premier-league-rampant-capitalism

* Paralympics and Sports for the Disabled:

The Paralympics are Olympic style games for athletes with a disability. See http://www.paralympic.org/Paralympic_Games/ for more details on the paralympics.

Here's a story about a wheelchair bound woman who competed internationally in hand cycling, until a cycling accident caused her to regain the use of her legs. She has been an outstanding Paralympic athlete, and now she wants to go to the Olympics.

Here's a shorter article about this athlete:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/former-dutch-paralympian-joins-top-pro-cycling-team-after-recovering-use-of-her-legs/2011/11/25/gIQAGzHAwN_story.html

And here's a longer article about her:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/8917621/Accident-jolts-paralympic-cyclist-back-to-her-feet.html

* Sports and the Brain

Sport training makes you think faster: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/how-sports-may-focus-the-brain/

Sports (watching or playing!) can enhance language skills...!

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/09/02/sports-can-improve-brain-function/2863.html

* Introduce an Unusual Sport...

... such as Kabaddi, a 4000 year old game from India!:

http://www.topendsports.com/sport/unusual/kabaddi.htm

In recent headlines: "Kabaddi World Cup Hit by Doping"