Cheerleading is a competitive sport, physical using activity, organized sometimes routines, a usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate in competitions The athlete involved is called a cheerleader Cheerleading originated in the United States, and remains a predominantly American activity, with an estimated 1.5 million participants in all-star cheerleading The growing presentation of the sport to a global audience has been led by the 1997 start of broadcasts of cheerleading competition by ESPN International and the worldwide release of the 2000 film Bring it On Due in part to this recent exposure, there are now an estimated 100,000 participants scattered around the rest of the world in countries including Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom Answer the questions about the text: What’s cheerleading? _ _ What components does it contain? _ Where did cheerleading originate? _ How and when has the growing presentation of the sport to a global audience been led? _ What’s the estimated number of participants in the world? _ Besides the US, where are there cheerleaders? _ Is cheerleading a popular activity in your country? _ Have you seen any movies about cheerleading? Do you think cheerleading more related to the US culture than any kind of sport? Why (not)? _ 10 Would you (or someone you know) like to be a cheerleader? Why? _ _ American students are really concerned about popularity Do you think that being a cheerleader has something to with popularity? Why is it so important to be a cheerleader for American students? _ What are some activities related to popularity among the students in your community? In what ways you think cheerleading is important for a game? How you think the game score can be influenced by the cheerleaders? Do cheerleaders really cheer the fans watching the game? _ Here there’s a list of movies about cheerleading: Bring It On (2000); Bring It On Again (2004); Bring It On: All Or Nothing (2006); Bring It On: In It To Win It (2007); Fired Up! (2009); Man Of The House (2005); Sugar & Spice (2001) Try to watch at least one of them After watching, answer the questions below: What movie(s) did you watch? _ Did you like it? Why (not)? _ What did you learn about cheerleading from the movie? _ _ What’s the cheerleaders’ primary motivation? Why you think so? _ _ Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerleading http://www.sportsinmovies.com/cheerleading-movies.asp http://youtube.com Related videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXRWQa9tQLw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mulAt6bUfWg&feature=fvst http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yX3w8MW_0Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrgeig1Gn2w&feature=fvw