I love the World Cup - the football, the fans, the drama, the tears, the heroes, the villains and even the bad acting, it's such an amazing spectacle.

World Cup Projects

And from a teaching perspective it is also a great opportunity to broaden students' horizons by encouraging them to learn about people and cultures around the world. Over the past month students at the school at which I teach, have been working in groups doing projects about the nations involved in this year's World Cup.

The students have really got involved in this and the continual presence of the World Cup in the news and on the internet has really helped stimulate the students' interests in these diverse cultures. The students have created some great projects and some of the facts the students have come up with have been fascinating - did you know that Bangkok has twice the population of Uruguay?

World Cup Football Festival

Along with stimulating project based learning the World Cup is also a great excuse for a football tournament, and that is exactly what has been happening at Varee Chiangmai School over the past couple of weeks. As you can see from the pictures below the event was thoroughly enjoyed by students and teachers alike.

Opening Ceremony

The event started with a parade and an opening ceremony with students getting into the spirit of things by dressing up as mascots, carnival dancers, cheer leaders and even Christ the Redeemer - there is one thing that schools in Thailand know how to do and that is put on a good show!

The Football - Day 1

With the opening ceremony out of the way it was time for the football with teams of boys and girls all eager to compete. The lower primary students took part in penalty competitions while the upper primary students played 7-a-side.

Each class represented a different country and by the end of day the overall winner was... England! - that's probably about right.. a primary school tournament is about the best this current England team could manage!

The Football - Day 2

On the second day it was down to business with a tournament for lower mathayom in the morning and upper mathayom in the afternoon. These matches were exciting and captivating with the some of the teenagers showing some great skills.

Teacher's Matches

Once the students had finished their tournament there was a teachers match which was a lot of fun and a great way for teachers from different departments to bond - the students also loved seeing their teachers missing shots, falling over and running out of breathe in the afternoon heat. It was pretty easy to spot the PE teachers from the regular subject teachers by the end of the match!

More fun... less tears

With less tears, less dives, no injured superstars and no prima donnas changing hairstyles before each match, this was football the way it's supposed to be - friendly, competitive and great fun ! I can't wait for 2018! Daniel