Resources on the London Olympics

Today's Interactive GOOGLE DOODLE on the Olympics: Hurdles

With the world’s eyes still on London, why not take advantage of so much data and resources available and use them for our classes? 

These 2012 Olympics will be one of the biggest and best sporting events. Having this in mind and the fact that sport is one of the topics in our curricula, have a look, for example, at stuff provided by the British Council:

London 2012, the facts and figures:

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-for-the-games/london/read/london-2012-facts-and-figures

To practise and revisit vocab, check

http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/vocabulary-exercises/sporting-events  and

http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/vocabulary-exercises/olympic-sports  - english for the games / Olympic sports – wordsearches + hangman

Whatever sports you are following at the Olympics, don't forget all the great worksheets you can download at their English for the Games page. Check them all out here:

http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-for-the-games/Sports/worksheets

The Get Set London 2012 is the official site for educators and it also contains a set of resources for different age groups  at http://getset.london2012.com/en/resources.

In spite of the Portuguese medal drought, let’s be optimistic and believe that in a near future our Portuguese athletes will get more governmental support and bring home some medals. To practise the future tense or simply for the fun of using English, go to http://london2012.sochi2014.com/en/  and ask sts to write a message on a virtual placard held by virtual fans in a virtual Olympic stadium. There is no need for registration and then they can share the link with friends on Facebook, Twitter or VK (another social network) and with us, teachers, even as an advertisement.

Here, the official site for the London Olympics, one can even follow the medals and their distribution country by country, which can become a nice exercise in Geography asking sts to locate those countries in the map (Google already presents us the maps here) and then doing some research or even practise adjective degrees. 

For some History on the Olympic Games and its evolution, have a look at The Olympic Museum at http://assets.olympic.org/virtualexhibitions/expo-heroes-en.html

As a stepping stone for a much more serious debate, why not read ASTERIX AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES (here you can read / download the ebook)  whose story satirizes performance enhancing drug usage in sports? Should they be accepted in sports? Pros / Cons, consequences, doping in sport... are only some examples for dividing the class into two groups and leading a class debate.

Any suggestions?

Ashes of Dreams

An Olympic Poem by Gary Allen, the Cockney Bard
Enjoy! (you can find the text below)


Ashes of dreams - The Cockney Bard



The trials and tribulations of a human being.
The exhaustion and exuberation of pulling defeat from the flames of fire.
The pain, the anguish of loss, the barren self.
The drive and enthusiasm to be all that you can.
The fickle hours, those endless hours to achieve a goal.
Running with ecstasy, falling with optimism's flawed dream.
The hope filled challenge of the Olympian to achieve first prize.
Becoming God like in a supreme test of will, determination and courage.
Challenging the body and spirit to reach unprecedented heights.
The exhausted, elated, pain ridden, defeated, deflated,
emotional being, the athlete, driven by their quest to succeed.
In a search for perfection, resurrecting the eternal flame
from the ashes of dreams.

Copyright 2012 G. Allen (The Cockney Bard)

Sport At Heart

Another video to get into the Olympic spirit, this time the official London 2012 Olympics film "Sport At Heart" in which many sports are shown (How many? Which ones? What is /are your favourite sports?) as well as celebrities (Who are they? Why are they famous / What are they famous for?). Even the music is great! (Who sings it? What could you understand from the lyrics?)