KEY INFORMATION

Recommended age group: 7–11
Time required: four 45–60 minute sessions
Equipment: presentations and video player.


ACTIVITY IDEA

Use the video above and presentations and activity sheets below as stimulus to discuss and develop students understanding of the Values over a series of lessons. Each of the optional activity ideas below build on a different presentation to help young people to recognise the Values in sport and their own lives, and discuss how they can further put the Values into action in the future.

Know your Values

  1. Watch the video above. Ask students to identify the Olympic and Paralympic Values and discuss what each of the Values mean. Encourage the students to write down their own definition of each Value and share their ideas with a partner or small group. Ask students to keep their Values definitions safe, ready to return to at the end of the class to see how they might update or refine their ideas.
  2. Read the short story about BMX rider Shanaze Reade as a class, or in smaller groups. What qualities do you think she showed when she took part in the Olympic Games?
  3. The two final slides can be printed as activity sheets. Ask students to consider the images and scenarios and decide which Values they best represent. Once they have completed the task, students should compare and contrast there suggestions with a partner/ small group. Did everything pick the same Values?
  4. In pairs ask students to write their own scenario showing an example of positive behaviour, either reflecting a given Value or to give to another pair to decide which Values it best represents.
  5. As a homework task, ask students to select one of the Olympic or Paralympic Values and find or draw their own image to represent it and write a sentence or short paragraph to explain their choice.

Community

  1. Explain that at each Games, the Olympic and Paralympic community is not just made of the teams in the athletes' village. Organisers, supporters and volunteers are all an essential part of any Olympic or Paralympic Games. Around 70,000 volunteers were needed to help run both the Rio 2016 and London 2012 Games. They helped in lots of different ways, whether guiding spectators, assisting officials, or leading athletes out to the race. Look at the pictures in the presentation. What Values do students think the Rio 2016 and London 2012 volunteers show?
  2. Read Sam’s story and ask students to think of five values words that the story showed. The might be Olympic and Paralympic Values, or words with similar meaning.
  3. Building on the story and language used, develop students’ literacy by exploring synonyms of the Values using a dictionary or thesaurus. Use these to create a Values word wall.

Healthy, active lifestyles

  1. Use the presentation to consider different Olympic and Paralympic sports and the Values that athletes might show. You can use specific examples and athlete stories, or think more generally about the skills and character demonstrated in the sports.
  2. Encourage students to share what sports and physical activities they do and explain why they enjoy them. Draw out personal, social and emotional benefits as well as physical ones.
  3. Get active by asking students to mime athletes performing different sports, with their ‘audience’ guessing the answer. Students then combine and refine their mimes, working together to create an active sequence based on movements from the sports.

Make a pledge

  1. Read the Olympic and Paralympic oaths presentation, finding out more about how athletes pledge to uphold the Values at each Games. You can also watch our video of the Olympic Oath at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
  2. Students should then make their own pledge, using the Make a Pledge activity sheet stating how they will use the Values in their own lives.

EXTENSION

  • Ask students to consider how pledges are made and upheld in society more generally, for example, in law or as part of a faith.
  • Establish a time period for students to work on their pledges. At the end of the period ask students to return to their pledge and assess how far they have come. What do they still need to do to meet their pledge? Alternatively, if they have completed their goal what will they pledge next to continue living the Values?