How to Incorporate American Football into Language Lessons for ESL Students

Many ESL students come from countries where soccer is a major sport, but American football is unique to the United States. You can easily bridge your students' connections to the sports celebrated in their countries with the popularity of football in the US (especially the popularity of the Superbowl!).

Using a sports-themed lesson engages learners who love following sports teams, have favorite players, or maybe play sports at school. Much of the vocabulary for the Superbowl and American football can be used fro other sports as well (goal, players, team, score, etc.). Therefore, students who are involved in sports in some way can immediately apply their new vocabulary knowledge in a real-world, authentic setting! Immediate application of new language increases the solidification of this knowledge.

You can also easily incorporate speaking

and writing language domains into a lesson about football. For example, you can have students discuss which team is better (if they have one). Alternately, you can have them research the rules of football and write down/discuss what players can and can't do in the game (yay modal verbs!!!). I've included some examples of some activities I've created for the Superbowl below. If you'd like to purchase the product, click the button below.

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