Chapter The Most Popular Sports in the World arated CONTENT What are the most popular sports in the world? READING SKILLS Scanning Taking notes VOCABULARY SKILLS Understanding synonyms Tauri e ae Ce eee Ce) play sports.” Se ULE UE UCL 2a)| Before You Read Reading Skill: Scanning page 93 ‘A. Study the pictures and answer the questions below. Vreiey dacan field hockey football tennis volleyball Questions 1. Which of the sports above do you play? Which do you like to watch? 2. Cricket is very popular in India. Many people there play or watch this sport. Is cricket popular in your country? 3. Every sport has rules. For example, a football player can’t touch the ball with his or her hands. Do you know the rules of tennis? What is one rule in your favorite sport? 4. Most football games last for about 90 minutes. Do you know how long a basketball game usually lasts? Can a tennis game last longer than three hours? 5. Football and field hockey are similar in some ways. For example, both sports use a ball, and both are outdoor sports. Think of two other sports. How are they similar? B. Read the sentences below and circle True or False in the My Guesses column, Then look quickly over the article on page 3 for the same information and circle the answer from the reading. ead Pees My Guesses | the Reading 1, Footballs the most popular sport in the world. 2. The most popular sport in india is tennis. 3, Table tennis is popular in China. 4. Basketball is one of the five most popular sports in the world, 2 Chapter 1 | The Most Popular Sports in the WorldReading Passage The Most Popular Sports in the World 1 10 25 30 © Word Count: 333; Reading Time: Words per Minute: What are the five most popular sports in the world? Some of the answers may surprise you! 1, Football (“soccer” in the U.S.) is the world’s most popular sport. Today, about 3.5 billion' people watch or play football. Football is popular in Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, North America. .almost everywhere! Fun fact: In a professional football game, players run about five miles (eight km). 2. The world’s number two sport is cricket. Cricket is originally? from the UK, but today it is also popular in Australia, New Zealand, some African countries, and some Caribbean countries. In India and Pakistan, cricket is more popular than football. About three billion people around the world watch or play cricket each year. Fun fact: Four hundred million people—40 percent of India’s population—watch important cricket games on TV. 3. Field hockey is number three. Approximately two billion people play or watch field hockey, mostly in Asia, Europe, Australia, and Africa. In the United States, field hockey is mainly for high school girls. Fun fact: Field hockey is a very old sport. In Egypt, 4,000-year-old drasvings show people playing field hockey. Of course, the rules of the game are different today. 4, Next is tennis. Today there are roughly one billion players and spectators’ of tennis around the world. Tennis is originally from France, but today it is very popular in the United States, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Fun fact: The longest tennis game lasted eleven hours and five minutes! 5. Table tennis (ping-pong) is popular around the world, with about 900 million players and spectators. Today, table tennis is especially popular in China, Korea, and Singapore. Fun fact: In table tennis, the ball can go more than 100 mph (160 km/h). ‘There are many popular sports around the world, but these are the top five. What is similar about all of these sports? They're fun, they're fast, and they use a ball. Is that why the expression “have a ball” means “have a lot of fun?” Maybe! (oinutes) # (Word Count/Reading Time) "bition 1,000,000,000 3 spectators people who watch 2 originally from the beginning AUDI@. ‘DOWNLOAD, OD maps pages 103-107 Culture and Language Notes page 85| Understanding the Text Reading Skill: Taking Notes page 94 A. Read the article on page 3 to complete the chart below. Mees (players and spectators) Deer cag 5 {football popular almost everywhere players run a lot B. Comprehension. Read each sentence and check (Y) True or False. ‘True False 1. Football, the first sport in the reading, is the most popular QO 0 sport in the world. 2. A professional football player needs to bea good runner. =O 3, Field hockey is more popular than cricket. GG) 4, In most countries, field hockey is a sport for high school girls. QO 5. Tennis isn’t popular in Asia, oH G 6, Table tennis and field hockey are popular mainly in Europe. OO 7 A tennis game can start in the morning and end in a the evening. 8. Players use a ball in all of the five most popular sports. a (PAB what do you think? Work with your classmates to answer the questions below. 1. Why do you think cricket is the most popular sport in India and Pakistan? 2. What do you think is the 6th most popular sport in the world? Why? 3. Which of the fun facts on page 3 is the most interesting to you? Why? 4, Why do most sports have a lot of rules? 5, How did the writer organize the information in the reading? Why do you think the writer did it this way? 4 Chapter 1 | The Most Popular Sports in the WorldD. Vocabulary. Choose the correct words to complete each paragraph. approximately especially mainly percent players _ popular Sports are very (1)____at my university. Roughly 20 (2)__ of the students at my school play a sport regularly. That is (3)__ 800 students. Ice hockey is (4), popular this year. Ten years ago, ice hockey was (5). a sport for men, but today more and more hockey (6), are women. professional about rules Football and field hockey are different in some ways and (7) in other ways. One important difference is that football is a popular spectator sport, but field hockey isn't. That is probably why there are few co) field hockey players. Many of the (9). for football and field hockey are also very different. For example, field hockey players can't touch the ball with their feet, but football players can, In both sports, however, the players need to be good runners. After all, the sizes of a football field and a hockey field are (10) the same. E, Understanding Synonyms. For each boldfaced word below, find a synonym in the reading on page 3. Then use the synonym to complete the sentence. (More than one answer may be possible.) Synonyms are words that are similar in meaning. For example, the words approximately, roughly, and about have similar meanings. Writers often use a synonym because they don't want to use the same word again and again. 1. There are approximately two billion field hockey players and spectators and____ one billion tennis players. 2. A tennis game usually goes on for about three hours, but sometimes a game for much longer than that. 3. In the United States, field hockey is mostly for girls, but wrestling is for boys. 4. ‘The top five sports around the world are alike in many ways and have qualities.Discussion & Writing 1, What do you think are the five most popular sports in your country? Work with a partner to list the sports from 1 to 5. Then compare lists with your classmates. 2. What sports do students play at your school? Write about these sports ina chart like the one below. Example SS = Not very popular Roughly | It’s not a big spectator sport ten percent of the students | Not many students watch att my school play this sport. | the games. 3. Choose a sport to research. Look on the Internet for information to complete the chart below. Then tell your classmates three interesting things you learned. Web Search! PB badminton baseball ice hockey rugby Pei PO a ee esc eee) Words to Remember Mini-Dictionary NOUNS VERBS ADJECTIVES —: ADVERBS page 108 fun last different game important percent | popular player professional | mostly rule ) similar top 6 Chapter | The Most Popular Sports in the World