English is my business: Learning opportunities with 2012 London Olympics

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Learning opportunities with 2012 London Olympics

The Summer Olympics are about to begin, which means a great teaching opportunity for English teachers, especially because it's taking place in London.

And besides all the language aspects it's also a great chance to teach some cultural aspects of England.

I kind of anticipated it asking my students from elementary school to do some research on different aspects of the British culture and present the results to their classmates.

The main aim of this activity was to provide some background information, so they could be more interested in all the input they are going to be exposed to, and consequently, get more motivated towards English learning.

I also asked my students to "like" the London 2012 official page on Facebook in order to receive "authentic" input that may interest them and that could possibly make learning easier and more enjoyable, since all the texts are really short and come together with breathtaking pictures, such as this one bellow.

There's also the Paralympic Games, which can be a kick-start to important discussions about inclusion.

Hope you all have a nice experience with the Olympics! Cheers!

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(if you have any nice idea about learning with the Olympics, please leave a comment)