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Paired Texts > Soccer Speaks Many Languages

by Dianna Geers

2008

We've identified these texts as great options for text pairings based on similar themes, literary devices, topic, or writing style. Supplement your lesson with one or more of these options and challenge students to compare and contrast the texts. To assign a paired text, click on the text to go to its page and click the "Assign Text" button there.

5th Grade Non-Fiction 670L
Diary of a Teenage Refugee
  • Amira
  • 2013

This account comes from a 16-year-old Syrian girl named Amira and details the past three years of her life in a refugee camp in the neighboring country of Lebanon.

Pair “Diary of a Teenage Refugee” with “Soccer Speaks Many Languages” to provide students with another person’s experience as a refugee. How do Amira’s experiences living in a refugee camp compare to Innocent’s experiences? How do you think playing a sport or game with the other children at the refugee camp could improve Amira’s time at the camp?

6th Grade Memoir 960L
Names/Nombres
  • Julia Alvarez
  • 1985

In Julia Alvarez’s short story “Names/Nombres,” the author explores the various names she has received over the years.

Pair “Names/Nombres” with “Soccer Speaks Many Languages” and ask students to compare Julia and Innocent’s experiences moving to a new country. What obstacles did they encounter moving to the United States at young ages? How did Julia and Innocent adjust to living in the United States?

5th Grade Short Story 720L
Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push
  • Walter Dean Myers
  • 2007

In Walter Dean Myers’ short story “Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push,” a boy must change his approach to basketball when he loses the ability to walk.

Pair “Sometimes a Dream Needs a Push” with “Soccer Speaks Many Languages” and ask students to discuss how sports play an important role in the two texts. Why are sports meaningful to Chris and Innocent in each text? How do sports help Chris and Innocent adjust to changes in their lives?

5th Grade Non-Fiction 830L
Free at Last: A Kurdish Family in America
  • Karen O’Connor
  • 2004

In Karen O’Connor’s “Free at Last: A Kurdish Family in America,” O’Connor talks to a Kurdish family about their experiences as refugees.

Pair “Soccer Speaks Many Languages” with “Free at Last: A Kurdish Family in America” and ask students to discuss how life in a refugee camp is described in the two texts. What additional obstacles do refugees encounter as they try to find a safe home? How do the two refugee families make the best of their situation and life in America?

5th Grade Short Story 680L
Gren’s Ghost
  • Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick
  • 2015

In Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick’s short story “Gren’s Ghost,” a boy agrees to meet his classmate at a castle, unsure of what to expect.

Pair “Soccer Speaks Many Languages” with “Gren’s Ghost” and ask students to discuss how friendships form. How does soccer help bring people together from different backgrounds in “Soccer Speaks Many Languages”? How does this compare to Finn and Gren’s ability to find common ground? How do both texts explore the benefits of friends or companions?

4th Grade Informational Text 800L
These Pumpkins Sure Can Kick!
  • Patricia Cuff
  • 2016

In the informational text “These Pumpkins Sure Can Kick!” Patricia Cuff discusses the establishment of the first girls’ soccer team in Katutura, a small city in Namibia, Africa.  

Pair “Soccer Speaks Many Languages” with “These Pumpkins Sure Can Kick!” to provide students with another text about kids benefiting from playing soccer. How did playing soccer help Innocent Ndayizeye while he was in a refugee camp and later in America? How did the Pumpkins’ soccer team help create positive change in Namibia? How do students think players benefit mentally and physically from soccer?