Olympic Lesson - ESL Blogs Central

Ask students if they enjoy the Olympics. What is their favorite sport to watch in the winter? Do they know when the next Olympics are?
Have your students go to the Olympic website: www.olympic.org. From there you can click “Olympic games” and choose “Sochi” or just have students follow this link: http://www.olympic.org/sochi-2014-winter-olympics
Here are a few vocabulary words you may want to review beforehand: motto, compete, competition, athlete, torch

Below are questions that students can work with a partner to answer, using the website.

Work with a partner to answer the following items:

When are the 2014 Winter Olympics?
Where are the 2014 Winter Olympics?
How many days until the Olympics begin?
Can you find any information about the host city, Sochi? Share 3 facts you learn.
Name 3 sports that you know are in the winter Olympics.
On the website, find the motto of the Olympics.
The Olympic torch went to a very unusual place; where did it go and when?
Click on the “countries” link and see if your country is participating in the Olympics. Name 5 other countries that you are not familiar with, that are competing.
Which country is the closest to Sochi, Russia? Which is farthest?
There are 12 new sports; can you name 5 of them? (find the article on the opening page)
Click on the “games” link and find how many athletes compete in the winter Olympics and how many compete in the summer games.
Who are some of the athletes to watch, who might be winners in this Olympics? (find link for athletes to watch)
What has been in the news lately that might be a concern for some athletes and fans?

Other ideas for lessons on the Olympics:

1) The top of this website looks uninviting, but scroll down to find good activities and exercises on the Olympic Games. http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1401/140127-sochi-olympics.html

2) Language Arts lesson on the Winter Olympics (designed for Grade 3 reading level)

3) The origin of the Olympic Games. This website from the BBC is designed for elementary-age kids but has fun links and activities