11C Strange sports

Ice-breaker

- What's the strangest sport you have ever seen or taken part in?
- Think of a sport from Spain that isn't well-known abroad. What are the rules? What equipment do you use? What's interesting about the sport?



Cultural notes: strange sports

• Wife-carrying competitions started in Finland, and the world championships are held annually in the Finnish town of Sonkarjärvi. First prize is the weight of your wife in beer. In the race, wives may be carried piggyback, fireman's carry (over the shoulder), or Estonian-style (the wife hangs upside-down with her legs around the husband's shoulders, holding onto his waist).
• Bossaball was invented in Spain by two Canadians. Basically, it's volleyball to music on a trampoline. There are three to five players in a team and the Spanish and Brazilians have the best players at the moment.
• Octopush is underwater hockey played with a diving maks and a snorkel. It was invented in Engliand in 1954.

Picture gallery
Weird sports around the world




Further listening practice

Listening game: Can you identify the sport?
My favourite sport
A healthy lifestyle. (Check out the vocabulary and post-listening exercises)




Grammar corner: causative
This grammar item is called the causative because you cause something to happen. The meaning is very similar to a passive sentence:
I had my car cleaned.
My car was cleaned.