Activities
The Learning Zone includes ten classroom activities for pupils between the ages of 9 and 16. Each activity is generic and can be used with a variety of subjects and learning situations. The focus is on helping pupils to develop an understanding of the achievements of Paralympic athletes and using this to think about their own academic, sporting and social achievements. To make this accessible, the concept of ‘personal best’ is used in a number of the activities.
The ten activities are:
Activity 01 - The Paralympic world
Pupils explore the world of ‘disabled’ athletes and get clear guidance on what Paralympic really means.
Focus on talking.
Activity 02 - Getting in the zone
Pupils use the Sportography records to identify just what Paralympic athletes achieve and how they get their amazing results.
Focus on talking.
Pupils look at the idea of target and goal setting through some inspirational ideas from Paralympic athletes.
Focus on talking and writing.
Activity 04 - The big picture!
This is the first comprehensive activity in the Ability vs. Ability pack. It explores how posters work, then pupils create their own poster which promotes the Paralympic Games.
Focus on writing.
Activity 05 - A day in the life
Pupils create ‘A day in the life’ of a Paralympic athlete using the interview clips and video material as a source. They are taken through the structure of this kind of writing before they create their own piece of work.
Focus on writing.
This activity has a separate teacher guidance sheet (no. 05).
Activity 06 - ‘These are a few of my favourite things’
Do ‘likes and dislikes’ reveal the sort of person you are? This activity explores how we make judgements about people.
Focus on talking and writing.
Activity 07 - ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!’
This activity looks at the competition training schedule of Liz Miller, Paralympic skier. Pupils are then encouraged to think about how they assess their own sports achievements.
Focus on reading and writing.
Activity 08 - Promote the Paralympics
Pupils learn how logos work and then devise their own Paralympic logo for London 2012 using the Athens and Beijing Paralympic logos as a starting point. As with all of the writing-based activities, pupils are given support structures which help them achieve the best possible writing outcomes.
Focus on writing.
Pupils create a press release promoting the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics. This is then used in a TV news format programme interview. Detailed structural support is provided for writing the press release.
Focus on talking and writing.
This activity has a separate teacher guidance sheet (no. 06).
Pupils use the unique FrameGrabber technology to produce their own personal inspirational promotional video for use in school.
Focus on talking and writing.
Some guidance about how to deliver each activity is embedded in the activity itself but teachers will find much more guidance in the Teacher Zone. The support here is not prescriptive but meets the needs of all four UK national curricula. We have provided a wealth of support materials for teachers, ranging from generic approaches to classroom planning through specific teaching methods like modelling writing. All materials focus on a direct approach to teaching that is oral, lively and interactive. There are also links to each of the national curricula.
