Using the Olympics as a Teaching Tool

The 2012 Olympics offer a chance not only to learn about the host city, England, but also about the countries who are participating. It presents a unique way to study these countries while getting into the spirit of the games. Students can pick a country, create the flag, learn about the athletes who will represent that country, and present interesting facts about the culture of the people.

Students could also research about past Olympics and present their findings on how many medals and in which event their country did well. Who has hosted before? Who has never hosted? And, why that might be? With over 200 nations expected to participate, many are not well-known. It is a perfect opportunity to search for these nations and learn about their people. Watching the opening ceremonies together gives students a fantastic opportunity to pause and locate a country, perhaps placing a pin as each one is presented.

The Olympic Games present a unique and creative way for teachers to teach their students about their world and how we all come together in the spirit of competition. Finding Olympic teaching materials along with other related teaching resources to support this unit study is very simple. With kits and online worksheets that can be reproduced, you will find many Olympic teaching ideas to support any level of education.