The World Cup is a fantastic opportunity to teach the children more about Geography. The stadiums that will be used for the World Cup for example are in the different parts of South Africa. Taking this opportunity, the children can be encouraged to research more about these cities, their features and interesting facts about them. This can be shared with the whole class.
South Africa also has a rich and diverse mix of different cultures with their own languages, traditions and values. The children could also be encouraged to learn more about the different cultures that make up South Africa and learn a little of their language. South Africa does, after all, have 11 official languages and the children could try to learn a simple word like hello, in each of them. This would also give them a broader understanding of just what it means to live in a society where people routinely speak a number of different languages.
No geography lesson about South Africa would be complete without learning something about the wildlife that lives there. The children may well be aware that animals such as elephants and lions live in South Africa, but do they know about the animals that live in the different habitats that make up the country, such as the mountains, coast and deserts?
Unit 17: Global eye
Section 6: What is the African countryside like? How do children in African countries get spectacles?
Objectives
Children should learn:
*about contrasting places
*about the problem of obtaining spectacles in a less economically developed country
*to use globes and atlases
Teachers can take the opportunity of World Cup and deliver Unit 17: Global eye.This will prepare the background of the lesson and will encourage the children to do more research on this topic, as the continent will be a popular topic during this term.
The pictures are from here, here, here and here.
