The first marathon: Students read, watch & listen to the story to find out more about
the history of the race. They then talk about running.
Link to curriculum: Grade 5 – Me & My School: Talking about popular sports.
Difficulty level: Easy/Medium
Time: +/- 20 mins
Option 1 Option 2 Option 3
Data projector Computer lab
Link to the material:
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories/the-first-marathon
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Option 2: Data projector
Preparation:
Click on the following link to open the activity:
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories/the-first-marathon.
Make photocopies of the worksheet below for pairs/groups of students and
remember to cover the answers before copying (Note: A better quality PDF
version can be printed out from:
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/sites/kids/files/attachment/first-marathon-
activity_0.pdf ).
Stage/Time Procedure
Introduction 1. Ask the students whether they like playing sports. Ask them to tell
you the names of some famous Olympic sports and write their
+/- 5 suggestions up on the board. Try to elicit ‘marathon’ from the
students.
mins
2. Tell the students that they are going to learn more about the
history of the marathon and click on the link to project the activity:
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories/the-first-
marathon.
Listening 1. Click on “Start” and ask the class to watch & listen to the story.
+/- 10 2. When the story is finished, hand out the worksheets to pairs/groups
of students. Tell them that they have to read the text and fill in the
mins gaps with the missing words. Do an example as a demonstration if
necessary.
3. After a few minutes tell the students that you are going to play the
story again and they have to check their guesses and complete
their answers. Play the story again.
4. Walk around to monitor and support students. Remind the students
that there is only one word per gap.
5. Once the students have finished, check answers as a whole class
by nominating students to read out the missing words.
Speaking 1. Tell the students that “The marathon is a race of 42kms, and it is
an Olympic event”. Then write the following questions up on the
+/- 5 board:
mins
Do you like running?
How far can you run?
Do you know anybody who has run a marathon?
Do you like watching running races on the television?
2. Model the activity by asking several confident students the
questions. Try to ask back up questions if they give an interesting
www.teachingenglish.edu.vn Page 2
answer.
3. When you are sure that everyone understands, put the students
in pairs and get them to take turns asking each other the
questions.
4. When everyone has finished, get them to change partners and
repeat the activity.
Variation 1. Dependant on the students’ level, you can decide whether or not
to display the text while playing the story.
www.teachingenglish.edu.vn Page 3
Worksheet
www.teachingenglish.edu.vn Page 4
Option 3: Computer lab
Preparation:
Arrange the students in pairs and tell them to open the activity:
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories/the-first-marathon.
Make photocopies of the worksheet below for pairs of students and remember to
cover the answers before copying (Note: A better quality PDF version can be
printed out from:
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/sites/kids/files/attachment/first-marathon-
activity_0.pdf ).
Stage/Time Procedure
Introduction 1. Ask the students whether they like playing sports. Ask them to tell
you the names of some famous Olympic sports and write their
+/- 5 suggestions up on the board. Try to elicit ‘marathon’ from the
students.
mins
2. Tell the students that they are going to learn more about the
history of the marathon and get them to open the activity:
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories/the-first-
marathon.
Listening 1. Tell them to click on “Start” to watch & listen to the story.
+/- 10 2. When the story is finished, hand out the worksheets to pairs of
students. Tell them that they have to read the text and fill in the
mins gaps with the missing words. Do an example as a demonstration if
necessary.
3. After a few minutes tell the students that they are going to play the
story again to check their guesses and complete their answers. Get
them to play the story again.
4. Walk around to monitor and support students. Remind them that
there is only one word per gap.
5. Once the students have finished, check answers as a whole class
by nominating students to read out the missing words.
Speaking 1. Tell the students that “The marathon is a race of 42kms, and it is
an Olympic event”. Write the following questions up on the board:
+/- 5
Do you like running?
mins
How far can you run?
Do you know anybody who has run a marathon?
Do you like watching running races on the television?
2. Model the activity by asking several confident students the
www.teachingenglish.edu.vn Page 5
questions. Try to ask back up questions if they give an interesting
answer.
3. When you are sure that everyone understands, put the students
in pairs and get them to take turns asking each other the
questions.
4. When everyone has finished, get them to change partners and
repeat the activity.
Variation 1. Dependant on the students’ level, you can decide whether or not
to let them display the text while playing the story.
www.teachingenglish.edu.vn Page 6
Worksheet
www.teachingenglish.edu.vn Page 7