Teaching Ideas: Europe’s Top 10 – Nationality Adjectives

Teaching Ideas

In September, Europe gets back to World cup qualifiers. This post takes a look at the top ten teams in Europe (FIFA ranking). As you read the post, look at the names of countries and the nationality adjectives. Or try the online listening quiz to check your knowledge.

The World Cup will take place next year in South Africa, Across the world countries are trying to qualify. In Europe, 53 teams are chasing 13 qualifying places. Leta€™s take a look at the top 10 teams in Europe according to FIFAa€™s ranking. Spain, the European champions, are ranked number two in the world. They are also doing well in their qualifying group. They are top and havena€™t lost yet. Greece will be happy to have jumped up to 11th in the world, and they are also doing well in qualifying. They are equal with Switzerland in their group, but ahead on goal difference. The game in September between the Greeks and the Swiss, who are 13th in the world, should be interesting.

The other teams in our top ten list should be OK. France, Croatia and Russia are in second places in their groups – The French team are ranked 9th, one ahead of Croatia but three behind Russia. The Russians are in the same group as Germany, who were in the semi-finals in the last World Cup. The Germans are on top of their group and look comfortable. Joining Spain as teams that have not lost a game in qualifying and are top of their groups are England and the Dutch. Both these teams are almost in South Africa now. The Netherlands are ranked 3rd by FIFA and England 7th. Finally, there is Italy, who have won the World Cup four times and are ranked 4th. They are leading their group ahead of Ireland and should stay top.

Focus on language

In this post there are several country names and nationality adjectives (nationality adjectives are often the same as nationality nouns – used with people from the country).

For example: Europe and Europeans, France and French

Test yourself and:
Download the Nationality Adjectives Part 2 Worksheet pdf.