A Languages and Science Project Notes for teachers are available below each slide in the notes area Olympics 2012 This project is based on a similar project around the world cup and could be adapted to many sporting events. A Languages and Science Project Jo Rhys-Jones, June 2011

The 2012 Olympic Games will be held in This is one of the many ‘unofficial’ logos – it is very hard to get copyright permission to use the ‘real’ logo, which is also somewhat controversial – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics London (and around the UK) http://www.olympic.org/london-2012-summer-olympics

205 nations are expected to take part in 26 sports: la natation le tir à l’arc l’athlétisme le badminton le basketball la boxe le canoë-kayak le cyclisme l’équitation l’escrime le foot la gymnastique le handball le hockey le judo le pentathlon l’aviron la voile le tir le tennis de table le taekwondo le tennis le triathlon le volley la haltérophilie le catch How many can the children work out? How will they work out the ones they cannot guess? (elicit their suggestions for bilingual dictionaries, internet, mobile translation etc.) Why do they think some of these words are in red and others in blue? Answer = gender of the noun; some are masculine words and some are feminine words, this is nothing to do with the gender of the people playing the sport so it needs to be discussed to make sure everyone understands. Point out we are just as ‘odd’ in English with some sports being singular (football – also referred to as the beautiful sport) and others plural (gymnastiques)

Here they are in English: Aquatics Archery Athletics Badminton Basketball Boxing Canoe and Kayak Cycling Equestrian Fencing Football Gymnastics Handball Hockey Judo Modern Pentathlon Rowing Sailing Shooting Table Tennis Taekwondo Tennis Triathlon Volleyball Weightlifting Wrestling You can find the full details, including which sports are played at the para-olympic games at http://projectbritain.com/olympics/sports.html

l’Afrique l’Amérique l’Europe l’Asie l’Océanie Image by (Felipe Menegaz) licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Can the children identify these continents? What do they notice, if anything about the colour coding (ANSWER: It’s the same as the olympic rings) See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Olympic_Committee for details of the countries involved See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_symbols for details of the design and significance of the olympic rings logo l’Afrique l’Amérique l’Europe l’Asie l’Océanie Link to interactive map of the 205 nation members of the Olympic committee: http://www.olympic.org/national-olympic-committees

And we are going to learn about it in French!

In French we will learn.. Numbers – to record times & distances Countries – who is taking part? Colours - for each nations flags Foods – that keep athletes healthy Exercises – that keep athletes fit

Your first medal challenge: Each person in the class will be given a different nation to support. Great Britain will be supported by your class teacher. Now find and draw the national flag for the country you will start with.

Your next medal challenge When is your nation’s first event? What sport is it? What language is spoken in your chosen country? How do you say ‘hello’ in that language?

How do the medals work? If an athlete from your adopted nation wins a gold, silver or bronze medal in any event, you get 3, 2 or 1 points. By completing a ‘medal challenge’ (such as the previous slides) you can get extra points for your nation. Your class will need to keep a chart to track each nations medals/points.

la tête la main les cheveux l’épaule le bras le dos la jambe le coude le pied les cheveux l’épaule le dos le coude le genou This is an example of the sort of resources that will be used in the project

Mauvais pour la santé: Bon pour la santé: This is an example of the sort of resources that will be used in the project