Question Soccer

Rating

Any, Low prep, Verbal

How to Play

The setup is quick and painless: draw and cut out a soccer ball on construction paper and glue or tape a magnet to the back. Carry it with you wherever you go. Cherish your cute little soccer ball. You may also want to prepare a list of questions or similar challenges, or you can come up with them on the fly. In class, draw a soccer field on the board, with a line of circles down the middle. I generally place three circles on each side of the field, with the last one before the goal in a different color, such as red. You can adjust the number of circles depending on the dynamics of your class; fewer means more frequent scoring.

Divide the class in two: left versus right for example, or boys versus girls; whatever works for you and them. Place the ball in the middle of the board. It doesn't need to start in a circle. Then ask your questions. Keep a sharp eye out for what hands go up first. This is pretty vital. The first student to answer moves the ball one space in the direction of their team's target goal. When the ball is in the final circle, bring out one of your more difficult questions. If the offense team answers, they get a goal! Give them a point, applaud (they will usually clap too), and move the ball to the first circle from the center on the opposite side (to simulate the opposing team gaining possession).

How to Use

The biggest drawback of the game is that if you play it fairly, then as with real soccer, goals can be few and far between. On the other hand, the classes I played it with became very involved in the give-and-take, sometimes breaking into cheers simply for having put the ball on the other side of the field. This can be used as a long warmup, playing to the first goal, or it can take up an entire class. In this case, you'll want to end ties with a shootout.

Notes

There's a lot of room here for customization. For atmosphere, you can have each team pick a country and/or a totem player; Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Zidane, Beckham, and of course any Japanese star are all well-known. You can divide each team into offense and defense, even asking the students to choose goalies and strikers. I also suggest, in classes where a few students are hogging the action, that each team member can only answer once (until everyone has had a turn) except perhaps during goal shoots. In the worst case, you can simply have them answer in turns, with one player from each side standing for each question. I first played this as a half-hour activity with junior-high first-years and the students got very involved; my JTE later asked me to use it as a warmup for other classes.

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