Winter Olympics

I have just realised that the Winter Olympics start in 4 days! We only have two Spanish lessons left this half term with my groups and when we are back after the break the Olympics will have ended. I wouldn't like to miss the opportunity so I am thinking about changing my lesson plans a "bit" and incorporating the Olympics into them.

Vocabulary games:

 

 

We will learn the names of 6 winter sports and play games with the words.

Hot/cold: Because most of the words are long and challenging, we need to repeat them many times. I will take props in: ski goggles, a hockey ball (closest thing  I've got to a puck), a ballerina dress (figure skaters!) etc. A pupil will hide one in the classroom while somebody else goes out. The class has to repeat the word: whispering to start and getting louder the closer the pupil is to the hidden object. An all time favourite!

Charades: A volunteer acts out a sport and the children have to guess what it is. The person who gets it right can come out next. This can be played as pair work, too.

Statues: Two volunteers come out. One is the statue, the other one is the sculptor. The sculptor has to make a statue out of his partner by moving his arms and legs into the correct position. Of course the sculpture must be performing one of the winter sports from the list. The class has to guess the sport.

Dramatic sentences: Who is quicker? Myself or a pupil say a sentence with the new sports vocab and two volunteers in front of the class have to act out the sentences repeating them with the correct emotions on their faces!

"Me encanta el patinaje de velocidad." (We expect very excited pupils speed skating.)

 "Me gusta el esquí alpino". (We expect happy pupils skiing.)

 "No me gusta el hockey sobre hielo. (We expect grumpy pupils playing hockey.)

 Play dough sentences: I will print out the previous PPT slide and hand them out to pairs along with play dough. They each have to make a play dough figure with a sport, the partner has to guess which one it is and say the word in a sentence. A previous play dough sport picture is here:-) "Hago gimnasia."

 Spanish speaking countries in the Games:

(The map online is here.)

 

A great chance to remind the kids of the Spanish speaking countries! I have "Spanish speaking countries" laminated sheets and get them out when we discuss these countries in other topics. When I looked at the all time winter olympics medal table , I realised that Spain is the only Spanish speaking country mentioned, no countries from South America or Central America have ever won a medal! We will have to encourage all these countries so we will design them a trophy or a medal! The kids will work in pairs and design these, I have lots of crepe paper strips they can use to decorate the trophies or medals with the colours of their chosen countries from the list. They will have to write their countries on them, the six new vocab words, and also wish them luck with

"¡Suerte!" To illustrate this I have found an old football trophy in my files.

 

(Update 6/2/14: we did the medals! The template is here, on the familicrafts website.)
 

 

Design a uniform for the teams:

This will be an alternative to the previously mentioned activity: in pairs the pupils will have to design a uniform for a Spanish speaking country. They will have a clothes vocab list or dictionaries and they will have to label the clothes. My daughter could pass for a Mexican speed skater if she didn't have the dummy in! (The photo was taken in 2012 at the Summer Olympics in London, we supported Hungary:-)

 

 

(Update 6/2/14: we did the uniforms, as well:-)

 Anything you would add? Feel free to leave a comment! Thanks! Erzsi