Bilingual Homeschooling: World Cup Language Learning!

Using the World Cup to learn about geography:

1. Start by going to the FIFA website and check out the Destination link: www.fifa.com/worldcup/destination/index.html. Note that there are additional language options on the top right!
   • TIP: Look at each of the host cities.  Talk about the South African landscape: Is it different from yours?  The same?  What does it look like?  What is the weather like?
   • TIP: Look at photos of each of the stadiums where the games will be played. Talk about the architecture, where the stadium is located, how many people can fit in each.
2. Go to the teams page (www.fifa.com/worldcup/teams/index.html) and get to know more about each of the teams playing in the World Cup.  Talk about the different countries represented (take the opportunity to talk about continents vs countries), look at and discuss the different flags and whatever else you find interesting.  Click on a few of the countries of interest and talk about them in more detail.
3. Teach the names of the countries in your language. Make special effort to say the name of each country out loud in your language and ask your child to repeat after you.  Do this a few times.  Write down the names in your language as well.  Use each country in a sentence or find other ways to incorporate the names of the countries into the conversation to help your child learn them.
4. If you have an atlas in your language, open it (or go to your favorite online atlas in your language) and locate the countries together with your child.  Some ideas of what you can do while looking at the atlas:
   • TIP: Find South Africa in the atlas and talk about how far each team had to travel to get there.
   • TIP: Talk a bit about things unique to each country in the FIFA list: language, terrain, foods, climate, products manufactured, etc.
   • TIP: Talk with your child about friends or people in the community that you know from each of the countries.
5. Find a list of world flags online (this site shows the flag and also talks a bit about its meaning: www.worldflags101.com) or do this via the Destination link on the FIFA site (see above).  Locate the flag for each country in the World Cup.  See if you and your child can memorize which flag goes with which country.  Use this as an opportunity to talk about colors, shapes, what flags are and why we have them, etc.
6. Look at when the matches will take place: www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/index.html (note: there is a PDF on the right side of the page if you want to print it out.)  Get out your calendar and write down when the matches you are interested in will take place.  Even if you won’t be watching each, you can keep track of the results.  Use this as a chance to talk about the days of the week, dates, months, how many matches each has to win to move on, etc. in your language!
7. Visit some of your favorite online news sources in your language with your child. Talk about the top stories and read bits of the articles in your language.  It can be exciting for a child to see news about the World Cup in the minority language – it gives it a special aura of authenticity!
8. Call/Skype with your family in your home country and give your child the chance to talk about all of the information he/she has learned!  It is a great way to get the conversation going.  You might even want to have some discussion question/topics ready to get the conversation started and to keep it going.
   
   

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