Is anyone using the Winter Olympics in Sochi as content for their ESL classes?
I’m an inveterate Olympic junkie – be it summer or winter games – and last night, as I was watching Shaun White NOT win the on the half pipe, I was thinking that if I were teaching now I’d like to include activities about the winter Olympics
There is so much fodder there for discussion and for building reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. . For example, with reference to building reading skills - both prose and document-- I found this great page of medal counts by country http://2010games.nytimes.com/medals/map.html. You could also explore concepts of nationalism and commercialism, while learning vocabulary and structures to discuss sports, clothes, weather, climate, and so on. (For example, either the Washington Post or the New York Times this weekend, I can't remember which, had an article on how few cities will be cold enough in the upcoming decades to host winter Olympics.)
I googled ”Lesson Plans for the Winter Olympics in Sochi” and found this this page from the National Educational Association (NEA):
http://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/57707.htm
Now, the discussion/research/material are for K-12, but I think some of them could be adapted as needed and used with adults.
I drilled down on page and found this written about the issues of commercialism and nationalism during Olympics, comparing the ancient Olympics to the modern:
During this Olympic season, you may hear from announcers, critics, commentators and even athletes that the Olympic games are too commercial, too political, too “professional.” Or that the judging is too nationalistic.
It’s easy to assume that the ancient Olympic Games were different, that ancient Greek athletes were pure in mind and body, that they trained and competed for no other reason than the love of physical exercise, fair competition and to honor their gods.
But is this really true? Well, no.
In fact, politics, nationalism, commercialism and athletics were intimately related in the ancient Olympic Games. We may not realize it, but in today’s games we recreate–with surprising accuracy–the climate and circumstances surrounding the ancient Olympic Games
Wouldn't that quote above start a great discussion, or a web search?This could serve as a vehicle to help students develop College and Career Readiness Standards (CCSR) skills of interacting with texts, supporting opionionfs from texts, and so on.
So, is anybody doing anything with the Olympics?
Please share your thoughts on this.
Miriam