Learn French through the Tokyo Olympics 2020 – Activities, Games and Resources

Description

We have chosen the 33 major Olympic sports as the vocabulary for this topic. Many of these sports are subdivided into several events:

• Athletics is the largest Olympic sport, with 48 different medal events.
• There are five aquatic sports: swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, water polo and open water swimming.
• There are three equestrian disciplines: jumping, dressage and eventing.
• Gymnastics is actually three events: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampolining.
• There are four cycling events: BMX, mountain bike, road and track.

The modern pentathlon is a two-day competition. It consists of five events: fencing, show jumping, swimming, pistol shooting and a 3km cross-country run. The modern pentathlon was invented by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. The event was first held at the 1912 Olympic Games.

The triathlon is also a multi-disciplinary event. It consists of a 1,500m swim, a 43km cycle race and a 10km run. The events are held one after the other, with no breaks in between events. In fact, the speed of changing from one event to the next can be crucial. The triathlon has only been an Olympic sport since 2000.

Activities in this book

France at the Olympics/France at the Paralympics – use this information to help pupils improve their cultural understanding of France. Ask questions such as:

• France has hosted the Olympics five times. Can you find Paris, Chamonix, Grenoble and Albertville on a map of France?
• France has hosted the Winter Olympics three times, but Great Britain has never hosted the Winter Olympics. Why do you think this is? (Great Britain has only won 26 medals in total at the Winter Olympics, and none for alpine skiing.)
• French athletes have won the most medals for fencing, followed by cycling. Pupils could research which sports top the medal table for the UK (in terms of number of overall medals, the top five sports are: athletics – 205; cycling – 87; rowing – 68; sailing – 58; boxing – 56). Why are some sports more popular in some countries than in others?
• Only one French athlete was able to make it to the 1904 Olympic Games that were held in St Louis in the middle of the USA. Why do you suppose this is? (difficulty, length of time needed to travel in 1904). In fact, there is some dispute as to whether the one athlete was representing France or the United States! In comparison, there were three competitors from Great Britain at the 1904 Games.
• France’s most successful Olympic Games was in 1900 when they hosted the games. What advantages are there to being the host nation? Learn French through the Tokyo Olympics 2020 © Brilliant Publications Limited 4 See also information on the Olympic flag on page 62. Some famous French athletes page 9 Pupils could research to find out more about these athletes and their sports. Are there any sports which they find surprising?

Flashcards and picture flashcards – use them to play Pairs, Concentration and other games to practise the vocabulary. Reinforce vocabulary by asking pupils to match the pictures to the French words.

Word searches, and crosswords reinforce the spelling of vocabulary.

‘Loto’ cards are provided to reinforce vocabulary.

Sentence-building activities encourage children to speak and write in French.