Edited by Anna Greathead, Sunday, 4 Mar 2018, 16:56
I am not a huge football fan. In fact - I'm not a football fan at all. But I am married to a huge football fan and am mother to two more huge football fans so I have not been able to escape fully from the daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal and annual ebb and flow of the fortunes of Tottenham Hotspur!
When young and newly married I went with my husband to a few live matches. I enjoyed them. There was an exhilarating atmosphere and there was usually the promise of beer and burgers at some point. However - I have not been to an actual match for over 20 years. I rarely watch football on television and I have perfected the glazed look just enough to prevent too much football talk being thrown in my direction. I can't block my ears to the shouts, chants, songs and cheers / groans though!
But yesterday they had tickets to see a match at Wembley (where Tottenham are playing this season whilst their new stadium is being built) and my brother and nephew had to drop out due to illness and snow. We had two spare tickets for one adult and one child so I got to go along!
And whilst watching Spurs beat Huddersfield 2-0 I thought about the participation metaphor of learning! I knew the songs to sing. I knew who a lot of the players were. I knew most of the rules of the game. And crucially I had a couple of experts close by who answered my questions about some of the minutiae. Within an hour I had learned enough of the rules to convincingly join the community of 'Spurs Supporters'. (My bright red coat was problematic it seems... but it was freezing cold and my red coat is toasty warm!)
The participation metaphor - at Wembley
I am not a huge football fan. In fact - I'm not a football fan at all. But I am married to a huge football fan and am mother to two more huge football fans so I have not been able to escape fully from the daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal and annual ebb and flow of the fortunes of Tottenham Hotspur!
When young and newly married I went with my husband to a few live matches. I enjoyed them. There was an exhilarating atmosphere and there was usually the promise of beer and burgers at some point. However - I have not been to an actual match for over 20 years. I rarely watch football on television and I have perfected the glazed look just enough to prevent too much football talk being thrown in my direction. I can't block my ears to the shouts, chants, songs and cheers / groans though!
But yesterday they had tickets to see a match at Wembley (where Tottenham are playing this season whilst their new stadium is being built) and my brother and nephew had to drop out due to illness and snow. We had two spare tickets for one adult and one child so I got to go along!
And whilst watching Spurs beat Huddersfield 2-0 I thought about the participation metaphor of learning! I knew the songs to sing. I knew who a lot of the players were. I knew most of the rules of the game. And crucially I had a couple of experts close by who answered my questions about some of the minutiae. Within an hour I had learned enough of the rules to convincingly join the community of 'Spurs Supporters'. (My bright red coat was problematic it seems... but it was freezing cold and my red coat is toasty warm!)