Found in translation

National Olympic Games websites provide an excellent source of authentic material for language learners.

What are they?

Including medal and qualifier charts with longer news articles about the Olympic flame journey and Olympic security, the official French, German, Spanish and Italian London 2012 websites all offer great resources. They help learners develop language confidence, pick up new vocabulary and better understand the complexities of grammar.

How to use them

Pupils will already have some knowledge of the festivities, customs and sports of this year’s Games, making them more confident as they tackle the websites.

Set clear learning objectives. Split the class into groups, giving each one a focus area - perhaps a particular news article or sporting event. Then use question sheets to guide their research. Pupils could then present their Olympic findings to the class. Or get them to research a national sports personality using one of the websites as a starting point. Pupils could then create fact files to be displayed on classroom walls.

The websites can be found at:

- Germany: www.dosb.de (this also includes a number of news videos, great for practising listening skills, and photographs to stimulate spontaneous discussion)

- Italy: www.olimpiadilondra2012.org

- Spain: www.juegosyolimpicos.com

- France: fr.london2012.comfr.