As many of you may know, The 2016 Summer Olympic Games will
take place in August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This event creates a unique
teachable moment for students on many levels.
First, The Olympics represents a fantastic geography lesson. Students can learn about the culture and customs of the host country- Brazil. A
major country economically in South America, learning about Brazil creates a
long list of possibilities. Map projects, Internet searches, videos, music, etc. are all classroom experiences that are available.
There will be over
10,000 athletes participating from 206 nations in the Olympics this summer and that
too lends itself to discussions and visuals about who will be there . The games
will last 17 days beginning on August 5th.
Beyond the social studies lesson, the Olympics games offer
an excellent opportunity to discuss fair play and good sportsmanship- something
that can carry over onto the playing fields of every school.
Teachers looking for websites to start research to get students
motivated might try:
www.rio2016.com and
www.Olympics.org.
Currently there are two Olympic themed motion pictures in theatres
that can be recommended for students. One is “Race”- the story of Jesse Owens,
US Olympic track star and his quest in the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympic games.
The other film, a little less serious is “Eddie the Eagle,” the whimsical true
story of a British house painter who enters the Calgary Winter Games as a ski
jumper.
Don’t miss this opportunity to take your students higher and
further.
C.2016 J. Margolis
No comments:
Post a Comment