U.S. player Sloane Stephens serving in training for Wimbledon 2021.

Wimbledon 2021 Videos

Posted by Speakeasy News > Monday 28 June 2021 > Webpicks


The summer holidays are approaching, and it's time for tennis with the Wimbledon tournament. These short videos will make an entertaining end-of-term activity.

Wimbledon is a British tradition, even for people who are not sports fans. But that doesn't mean they have to take themselves too seriously, as this short trailer shows. A nice opportunity to check comprehension when the words heard don't necessarily match the pictures, like "It's looking like a glorious day," followed by shots of a man watching a match in his garden in the pouring rain.

The next two videos are designed for (native-speaking) children and feature a ball called Bounce and a blade of grass called Blade. The first on is about the history of the tournament.

Students from A2 should be able to pick out information such as how old the tournament is (144 years old – it started In 1877), and the fact that Centre Court, one of the most famous stadia in the world, has a sliding roof. Also, how many matches the singles champions have to play to arrive including the final (7). In the second one, around the Wimbledon traditions, they can learn about strawberries and cream and why the players where white (to hide sweat.)

Champions
There are a couple of 1”30 portraits of famous players. who have overcome difficulties to become champions: Novak Djokovic, and the Williams’ sisters. The narration is slow and clear, and the onscreen images really help comprehension. Pupils even from A1+ should be able to get the gist of the Djokovic one.

The one about Venus and Serena is slightly more difficult grammatically but it's a great support for work on numbers and comparatives.