Life (A2)
1. Read about the competitions. Which do you think is a fight, a match and a race?
Ross McDermott and Andrew Owen travel round the United States going to different festivals and write about their experiences on the blog The American Festivals Project. Many of these festivals are also competitions.
The Idiotarod (A)
The ldiotarod is an annual race in New York City. Each team must have five people and a shopping cart. They can decorate their carts but they can’t change the wheels. All the teams have
to start and finish at the same place but they don’t have to run on the same roads. The teams can choose their route but the members of each team must arrive at the finish line together. And they mustn’t finish without the cart!
Mud Bowl football is similar to normal American football. The match is shorter but there are two teams and a referee. The winner is the team with the most goals at the end of sixty minutes. The only real difference is that the players
have to play in half a metre of mud!
Mud Bowl Championship (B)
Combine Harvester Fight (C)
Combine harvesters are normally on farms but, for one day every summer, in the small town of Hillsdale in Michigan, farmers compete against each other for a prize of $1,500. For three hours, the giant machines have to fight until only one combine harvester is still moving.
Match the sentences (1-8) with the competitions (A-C).
2. Complete the description of the competetion
Listening
Listen to a description of another race: Woolly Worm Race.
Listen again and answer the questions
- How often is the competition?
- How old do you have to be to enter?
- Do you have to bring your own woolly worm?
- Can you touch your worm during the race?
- What is the prize for the winner?
Transcript
Well, here we are in a place called Banner Elk. Yes, I’d never heard of it either. Anyway,
it’s in the mountains of North Carolina, USA and it is cold! But that doesn’t stop hundreds of competitors coming here every October for the town’s annual Woolly Worm Race. The rules for the competition are easy. Anyone of any age can enter but you must have a woolly worm. You can bring your own or you can buy one before the race. Each race has twenty people and twenty woolly worms. You have to put your worm on a piece of string at the start. Then they’re off! The only rule is that you mustn’t touch your worm during the race. During the day, there are lots of races and if your woolly worm beats the others in the race, you take part in the grand final in the afternoon. And the prize money is one thousand dollars! Well worth it I’d say …
Listening
1. Read the quotes with the photos. Do you think winning is always important in sport? Why? Why not?
2. Listen and complete
Transcript
1
Learning to win and lose is important in a child’s education because it teaches you about life. So I think competitive sports in schools are good for teaching children. They’re also good for their physical health, because when children try to win, they work harder and get more exercise. The other good thing about competitive sports is that you learn to work well in teams when you play in matches. Competitions are a great lesson in teamwork.
2
Some children aren’t good at sport, so when school sports are competitive, they always lose. That’s really bad for the child. The fact is that not all children are the same and some children don’t like doing sport. I think schools in my country should be more like the schools in Finland. They get good results but they aren’t competitive and they don’t have competitive sports either. So when a child can’t do a sport very well, that’s ok as long as they do their best and try hard at everything they do.
3
We have a sports day at my school and the children love it. Yes, winning is nice for a child, but the whole day is also a lot of fun. So overall] don’t think there’s a problem with having competitive sports in school – the problem is with some of the mothers and fathers. Some parents hate losing and they get very competitive. When there’s a race or a match some of them shout at their kids. They think it’s the Olympic Games or something!
After Listening
Look at these opinions for and against competitive sports in schools. Which are the opinions for (F) and which are the opinions against (A)?
- Winning and losing teaches students about life.
- A lot of schools with good results don’t have competitive sports.
- Children get more exercise when they try to win.
- Winning isn’t important as long as you do your best.
- Children learn to work well in teams when they play in matches.
- Students learn to work hard with competitive sports.
- Some parents don’t like losing and get angry with their children.
- All children are different and some aren’t good at sport.
- Competitive sports are fun.
Listen again. Match the opinions with the Speakers.