ESL 2012 London Olympic Resources

The Olympic games are half over and I have hardly written a thing. I'm sorry about that. I've been too busy enjoying them to write much.

Yes, there have been politics and scandals, but if you look beyond that and focus on the Olympic spirit and the effort that athletes from around the world are putting into these games, it's worth watching. 

Watching those flags go up to the sound of a national anthem certainly does tend to bring out strong sense of nationalism and pride in one's country. 

We should ALL be proud of countries, and the athletes who made it to the Olympics even if they don't win a medal. They are still the best in their sport in our country. 

Earlier I said I would post some useful resources for you. This is not a complete list, but here goes: 

I am going to divide them into categories so that you can pick and choose the kind of thing you want to do.

General Sites for Schedules, Results, Sports, Participating Countries 

• The International Olympics Organization
• Olympic Organization Sports 

• The 2012 Olympic Games Official London Olympics website, You can find information about athletes, sports, London , minute to minute updates on all the events, video and photo highlights of specific events, schedules   
•  

News and  Daily Highlights

• The 2012 Olympics on the BBC 
• CNN Olympic Coverage
• 2012Olympic Coverage at the Guardian  Very complete coverage that is easier to read than American English newspapers and has more information on all countries, not just focused on U.S
• 2012 Olympics at the Telegraph  Very  complete coverage that includes many videos. Much more international and less biased than American channels
• New York Times Olympics  

Olympic Values and Symbols

• Olympic and para Olympic values
• Olympic logo 
• Olympic Truce
• The Olympic Flame and Torch Relay pdf 

History of the Olympics

• Modern Olympics
• Ancient Olympics 
• BBC Animation of the Ancient Olympic Games  

Past Olympics 

• Best of the Olympics :Many videos the Olympic organization has on their websites about the best moments in Olympic history.
• Olympic heroes slide show
• Olympics Timeline from the beginning until now 
• History Channel: A series of videos about different aspects of the Olympics

SPORTS:

• Olympic Sports Source Olympic Museum  
• Sports Vocabulary + quiz   
• Sports Idioms + Quiz  
• More Sports Idioms +Quiz
• Olympic Sports + Quiz
  
•  Sports vocabulary sorting categories  

  

 FUN STUDENT BASED MATERIAL 

• BBC Newsround: Fun Quizzes and easy to read information
•  2012 Olympic Material from English Club   includes readings, sports vocabulary, idioms vocabulary and quizzes  
• The  Olympics from EFL Classroom 2  
• Olympic Activities from Enchanted Learning
• What is this Sport? British Council for Kids
• 2012 Olympics quiz 
• Olympics Trivia Challenge
• Ancient Olympics Quiz 
• Activity Village Summer Olympics 
• Go for the Gold from Scholastic
• Project Britain: Culture, Traditions and Olympics
• Guide to the Para Olympics which take place after the Olympics 

  How much do you  know about the ancient Olympics?

• Olympics Trivia Quiz  ( a little harder - open ended)

How much do you know about the modern Olympics? 

• 2012 Olympics Quiz (   open ended)

LONDON

• London Landmarks 
• Everyone's London  

Reading and Issue Oriented Material with Some Video   

• Breaking News English: An Olympic Reading and Listening   
• The Olympics: Reading and Comprehension Questions from English Club   
• Olympic Worksheets and Activities 
• English for the Games from the British Council  
•  History of the Marathon from British Council
• Tibet and the Olympics  ( A short reading with sound from Voice of America) 
• Short Cuts to the Gold : Nine Cheats in Olympic History 
• The Strangest Even ts at the Olympics 
• Catching Olympic drug cheats CNN article, graphics explaining the process, several videos
  

 ENJOY!!!!