The Olympic games - Usain Bolt

Lesson Plan about Usain Bolt and the Olympic Games

1. Write “the Olympic Games” on the board. In pairs try to come up with as many different Olympics sports as you can in 3 minutes.

Olympic sports

Watch this video for pronounciation:

Vocabulary games:   0   1   2    3    4   5   

Favourite sports:   1   

2. Ask your  partner about an athlete from your country who won a medal or did well at the Olympics in Rio.

Spanish medals in Rio 2016.     ---Video              

3. In small groups discuss the following questions: 

   • What characteristics does an athlete need to become an Olympian?    

   • What does an athlete have to do to become an Olympian?    

   • What do you think the life of an Olympian is like?

4. If I say “Usain Bolt” what comes to your mind?: 

• What do you know about him?       

• How many medals did he win in Rio?       

• How many Olympic medals has he won in total?       

• What do you know about his character?       

• What do you know about his childhood?       

• What do you know about his life?

5. You are going to watch a short film titled The Boy Who Learned to Fly, based on the life of Usain Bolt. As you watch the film you should check if any of the facts about his life you discussed are shown in the film, and try to remember as much of the story as they can. Show the film:

6. In pairs you have to retell the story of Usain Bolt’s life to each other. Get the whole class to reconstruct the story in as much detail as possible.

7. You are going to watch the film again; this time you should concentrate on the internal struggle which Usain experienced, and the advice his mother gave him. Show the film again. 

8. Usain experienced internal struggle when he found it difficult to cope with the expectations of his fellow Jamaicans and The Boy Who Learned to Fly feared failure. His mother’s advice was “all worries do is weigh you down”, and “you always go faster when you keep ot light”. Her advice helped him to overcome his fears and the pressure of performance to ultimately become the fastest man in the world. Discuss Usain’s mother’s advice.

weigh [sb] down vtr phrasal sep	figurative (be a burden)	agobiar a alguien loc verb
	All this debt weighs me down, and I can't enjoy myself anymore.
	Todas estas deudas me agobian y me impiden disfrutar de la vida.
		ahogar a alguien, asfixiar a alguienloc verb
	Todas estas deudas me ahogan y me impiden disfrutar de la vida.

Information taken principally from film-english. Improved and rearranged by Alejandro Porras.