The Gold Coast is the proud host of the 21st Commonwealth Games. The city will celebrate the largest sporting event that Australia has seen this decade. Over 6600 athletes will participate from 70 Commonwealth nations and territories. There are 23 sports and seven para-sports included. The games are not just about sport and will also celebrate culture with a festival of Arts events held across the city. This provides many opportunities to tie the Commonwealth Games into your classroom lessons and link to the curriculum.
Background
- The Games are conducted every four years, beginning in 1930 (except for 1942 and 1946 during World War II).
- Melbourne, Brisbane (twice) and Perth have previously acted as Australian hosts.
- Commonwealth nations include India, England, Canada, New Zealand, Scotland, Wales, Malaysia, Jamaica, South Africa, Kenya, Singapore and many other smaller nations.
- There are three new sports introduced this year, including beach volleyball, paratriathlon and women’s Rugby Sevens.
- This is the first time there is an equal number of men’s and women’s events.
- The official motto is ‘Share the dream’.
Lesson ideas
Writing
- Compile a blog, in which students imagine they are at the Opening Ceremony and need to use as many descriptive words as possible to describe it.
- Write a biography of an athlete participating at the Games, using a presentation tool such as Powerpoint.
Music/Dance/Drama
- Create a performance piece based on one of the various cultural events (https://www.gc2018.com/festival2018) playing during the games, such as the Soweto Skeleton Movers (https://tinyurl.com/y7xkpyzg).
- Listen to or learn the national anthems of various participating nations.
Health and Physical Education
- Create a healthy meal plan for an athlete, examining proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, fat and fibre levels that would be most beneficial for peak performance before or after competition. See some sample plans here (http://www.stack.com/a/allyson-felix-diet).
- Create an obstacle course, based on at least five sporting events such as hockey, lawn bowls, squash, table tennis and beach volleyball.
Art
- Look at the medal design by Delvene Cockatoo-Collins (https://www.gc2018.com/medals). Students then design and draw their own medal, which reflects the motto, for the Gold Coast games.
- Explore the icons for the 23 sporting events (https://www.gc2018.com/). Use a computer or iPad® application to design a new set of icons and logos.
Geography
- Use Google Maps™ to pinpoint locations of the sporting events, examining natural and built features of the land and city, and calculate distances between venues.
Mathematics
- Conduct a medal tally check each morning, then create different graphs to represent the data; e.g. pictographs, column chart, pie chart, simple tally marks.
- Measure, or step out, the distances that athletes have to run, swim, walk, jump or throw in a Games event.
STEM project
- Look at the technology behind sports performance, such as cycling or swimming. Students then design and create either an outfit or a wheel that increases speed, or goggles to improve visibility underwater. Students will need to plan and design, use appropriate materials, make the object, conduct testing/time trials, refine their design and then communicate their project back to the class using a digital application or video.
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