All Around the World

The Olympic rings of blue, black, yellow, red and green on a white background, which make up one of the most recognized symbols in the world, traditionally represent the five different areas of the world involved in the Olympics (North and South America are considered one area, along with Africa, Australia, Asia and Europe). Use an explanation of the Olympic rings to introduce a lesson about the international nature of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Show images of the rings from the Olympic.org website on the interactive whiteboard.

International sporting heroes

Ask the children to work in groups and find one Olympic and one Paralympic champion (1 male and 1 female) from countries beyond the British Isles. Each group then presents their two international sporting heroes to the rest of the class.

Plot the countries from which the champions come on a map of the world on the interactive whiteboard.

Sports We Know and Don’t Know Yet

Cut out the Olympic and Paralympic Sports Cards and place them in separate bags. Add a few extra cards to each bag to ensure each child will have one card from each bag.

Invite the children to choose a sport from each bag. Ask them to find out more about the two sports they have chosen. Ask them to create a fact sheet or leaflet, in a traditional or digital format, to inform other children about their sports.

As a class, choose two new sports to try out in a taster session: one Olympic and one Paralympic. 

Exploring Diversity

People from across the world differ in many ways. So do the people in your classroom. Use the ‘People Bingo’ activity to demonstrate this. Give each child a piece of paper with a number of qualities, characteristics or features arranged on a grid. Ask the children to find others in the class who have these qualities. From your own knowledge of the diversity within your class, make up the list of qualities/characteristics, for example find someone who:

• has been to another school;.
• can speak some words in a language other than English;
• has spent some time in hospital;
• likes food from another country; or
• belongs to a local club or organisation.

The children should mingle, asking each other questions from the sheet. Once a child has found a classmate who has the required characteristic or feature, they should ask them to sign their sheet. Each child should only sign another child’s sheet once. Decide whether to call ‘Bingo’ when a row, column or sheet is completed.

At the end of the activity, taking each box in turn, call out the criteria and ask the children to indicate whether they fulfil them. In this way the children can easily see what they have in common with others and how they are different.

Initiate further discussion by asking:

• Were any questions easier to answer than others? Why/Why not?
• Did you learn anything new about someone? Were you surprised? Why/why not?
• Did you make assumptions about anyone? What did you assume?
• What did you learn by playing People Bingo?
• What advice can you now give to people who are meeting or learning about others for the first time?

Additional Activities

Find out how many different cultures and nationalities are in your school. Welcome those from other cultures by identifying the various parts of the school, such as the office, the hall, the canteen and the toilets, in the languages represented in the school.

Ask those who have come to the school from other countries for permission to place a small photograph of their families on their countries of origin. Some families, for various reasons, may have moved around and do not consider themselves to be from any one country. Ask them to choose a country they would like to represent them.

Examine the role of volunteers in the children’s lives. If they are members of organisations in the local community, check that they know how volunteers help the organisation to provide opportunities for young people. Encourage further discussion by asking:

• What sort of jobs do they do?
• What qualities do they have?
• How much time each week do they commit to the organisation?
• Why do you think they become volunteers?
• Which of the Olympic and Paralympic values do they demonstrate?
• What roles do volunteers play in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

You can find resources at the Games Maker site.