American cyclist Lance Armstrong has entered cycling’s record books by winning the Tour de France for the seventh straight time. It is perhaps the greatest sporting achievement ever. There are few sporting events more difficult than the Tour. It has 21 days of painful mountain climbs and covers over 2,000 kilometres. Armstrong beat his rivals with the same determination that also saw him overcome life-threatening cancer. He retired from his sport after the race to spend some well earned time with his family.

The start of the final day’s racing had a familiar look about it. Armstrong was wearing the famous yellow jersey. His aim was to finish the race and stay away from any crashes that might harm his chances of victory. There was a near miss when he entered Paris - his teammates fell off their bikes but Armstrong managed to avoid them. Race organizers finished the race early and declared Armstrong as the winner. Jim Ochowizc, head of the USA cycling team, said Armstrong’s “drive and determination to be the best” made him a great cyclist.

WARM-UPS

1. BICYCLE HISTORY: In pairs / groups, talk about your history with the bicycle. Can you remember the first time you rode a bike? How important are bicycles to you now? What are your happiest or most painful memories on a bicycle? Do you have a bicycle now?

2. QUICK DEBATE: Students A think Lance Armstrong is the greatest sporting hero ever. Students B think someone else is the greatest sporting hero ever. Change partners often.

3. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words are most interesting and which are most boring.

Cycling / record books / Tour de France / determination / rivals / cancer / retirement / yellow jersey / family time / the best

Have a chat about the topics you liked. For more conversation, change topics and partners frequently.

4. BICYCLE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with bicycles. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

5. MY DETERMINATION: Write down three things you are determined to do in your life. In pairs / groups, talk about those things. Give each other advice on how you can achieve the things you are determined to do.

6. TOUGH SPORTS: Is the Tour de France the toughest sporting event? Which of these events do you think are hard and why? In which of these events would you like to be champion?

1. Tour de France
2. A triathlon
3. Round the world yacht race
4. A 15-day sumo tournament (six times a year)
5. A 5-day game of cricket
6. The soccer World Cup
7. A game of ice hockey
8. A US Master’s golf tournament
9. Other

Change partners and compare what you talked about.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	A French cyclist has won his seventh cycling race.	T / F
b.	A seventh victory is perhaps the greatest sporting achievement ever.	T / F
c.	Armstrong also overcame cancer.	T / F
d.	Armstrong will now spend some time with his teammates.	T / F
e.	Armstrong started the day wearing a red, white and blue jersey.	T / F
f.	Armstrong fell off his bike in the rain on slippery roads in Paris.	T / F
g.	Race organizers called an early finish to the race.	T / F
h.	The head of the USA cycling team said Armstrong dives a car well.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

a.	winning	feat
b.	straight	will
c.	achievement	last
d.	overcome	hurt
e.	well earned	beat
f.	final	capturing
g.	aim	miss
h.	harm	deserved
i.	avoid	consecutive
j.	determination	target

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

a.	entered cycling’s record	his chances of victory
b.	for the seventh	time with his family
c.	the greatest sporting	look about it
d.	that also saw him overcome	miss
e.	spend some well earned	books
f.	had a familiar	determination to be the best
g.	wearing the famous	achievement ever
h.	harm	yellow jersey
i.	a near	life-threatening cancer
j.	Armstrong’s drive and	straight time

WHILE READING / LISTENING

SPOT THE MISTAKES: Half of the words in bold in each paragraph are right and half are wrong. Circle the incorrect words and replace them with words that fit.

Armstrong wins 7th Tour de France

American cyclist Lance Armstrong has exited cycling’s CD books by winning the Tour de France for the seventh straight time. It is perhaps the greatest sporting achievement never. There are few sporting events more difficult than the Tour. It has 21 days of painful mountain climbs and covers over 2,000 kilometres. Armstrong beat his rivals with the same determination that also saw him overcome life-threatening cancer. He retired from his sport after the race to spend some well earned clock with his family.

The start of the final day’s racing had a familiar look about it. Armstrong was wearing the famous yellow jersey. His aim was to finish the race and stay away from any crashes that might charm his chances of victory. There was a near miss when he entered Paris - his teammates fell on their bikes but Armstrong managed to hit them. Race organizers finished the race early and declared Armstrong as the winner. Jim Ochowizc, body of the USA cycling team, said Armstrong’s “drive and determination to be the best” made him a great cyclist.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘record’ and ‘book’.

• Share your findings with your partners.
• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. SPOT THE MISTAKES: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. STUDENT “DETERMINATION” SURVEY: In pairs / groups, write down questions about determination.

• Ask other classmates your questions and note down their answers.
• Go back to your original partner / group and compare your findings.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

6. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall exactly how these were used in the text:

entered straight ever climbs overcome earned

familiar aim victory miss avoid determination

DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1. What did you think when you first read this headline?
2. Did the headline make you want to read the article?
3. What do you think of Lance Armstrong’s victory?
4. Are you interested in the Tour de France?
5. Do you like cycling?
6. Do you think Lance Armstrong’s seventh victory is the greatest sporting achievement ever?
7. What lessons can we learn from Lance Armstrong?
8. What’s your greatest sporting achievement?
9. What’s your greatest achievement?
10. What’s the toughest thing you’ve ever done?

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

1. Did you like reading this article?
2. What did you think about what you read?
3. What is the toughest sport in the world?
4. Who do you think is the greatest ever sportsman and woman?
5. In what sport would you like to be a champion and why?
6. What kind of bike crashes have you had in your life?
7. When was the last time you had a near miss?
8. Are you determined to be the best in anything?
9. Do you like yellow jerseys, T-shirts, pants etc?
10. Did you like this discussion?

AFTER DISCUSSION: Join another partner / group and tell them what you talked about.

1. What question would you like to ask about this topic?
2. What was the most interesting thing you heard?
3. Was there a question you didn’t like?
4. Was there something you totally disagreed with?
5. What did you like talking about?
6. Do you want to know how anyone else answered the questions?
7. Which was the most difficult question?

SPEAKING

CHAMPION: Imagine you are a world champion. Decide on your sport. Talk to your partner(s) about your sporting achievements. Use these hints to help you:

As a child

First success

Medals

Training

Most difficult times

Greatest moment

Determination

Motivation

The future

Other

Change partners often and share what you heard from your earlier partner(s).

Discuss which of the people you spoke to is the greatest champion and why.

LISTENING

Listen and fill in the spaces.

Armstrong wins 7th Tour de France

American cyclist Lance Armstrong has ________ cycling’s record books by winning the Tour de France for the seventh ________ time. It is perhaps the greatest sporting achievement ever. There are ________ sporting events more difficult than the Tour. It has 21 days of painful mountain ________ and covers over 2,000 kilometres. Armstrong beat his rivals with the same determination that also saw him ________ life-threatening cancer. He retired from his sport after the race to spend some well ________ time with his family.

The start of the final day’s racing had a ________ look about it. Armstrong was wearing the famous yellow jersey. His ________ was to finish the race and stay away from any crashes that might harm his chances of victory. There was a near ________ when he entered Paris - his teammates fell off their bikes but Armstrong managed to ________ them. Race organizers finished the race early and declared Armstrong as the winner. Jim Ochowizc, ________ of the USA cycling team, said Armstrong’s “drive and determination to be the best” made him a great ________.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Lance Armstrong. Share your findings with your class in the next lesson.

3. CHAMPIONS: Make a poster about people who are champions in different areas. Highlight the things that make them true champions. Show your posters to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all think about similar things?

4. LETTER TO LANCE ARMSTRONG: Write a letter to seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Tell him what you think of his victory. Tell him also what you have learned from his victory. Read your letter to your classmates in your next lesson. Did you all write about similar things?

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a. F

b. T

c. T

d. F

e. F

f. F

g. T

h. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

a.	winning	capturing
b.	straight	consecutive
c.	achievement	feat
d.	overcome	beat
e.	well earned	deserved
f.	final	last
g.	aim	target
h.	harm	hurt
i.	avoid	miss
j.	determination	will

PHRASE MATCH:

a.	entered cycling’s record	books
b.	for the seventh	straight time
c.	the greatest sporting	achievement ever
d.	that also saw him overcome	life-threatening cancer
e.	spend some well earned	time with his family
f.	had a familiar	look about it
g.	wearing the famous	yellow jersey
h.	harm	his chances of victory
i.	a near	miss
j.	Armstrong’s drive and	determination to be the best

SPOT THE MISTAKES:

Armstrong wins 7th Tour de France

American cyclist Lance Armstrong has entered cycling’s record books by winning the Tour de France for the seventh straight time. It is perhaps the greatest sporting achievement ever. There are few sporting events more difficult than the Tour. It has 21 days of painful mountain climbs and covers over 2,000 kilometres. Armstrong beat his rivals with the same determination that also saw him overcome life-threatening cancer. He retired from his sport after the race to spend some well earned time with his family.

The start of the final day’s racing had a familiar look about it. Armstrong was wearing the famous yellow jersey. His aim was to finish the race and stay away from any crashes that might harm his chances of victory. There was a near miss when he entered Paris - his teammates fell off their bikes but Armstrong managed to avoid them. Race organizers finished the race early and declared Armstrong as the winner. Jim Ochowizc, head of the USA cycling team, said Armstrong’s “drive and determination to be the best” made him a great cyclist.

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