Get Set for the Olympic Truce – Primary

goes global

Get Set

This resource will help your students learn about the Olympic Truce, its origins in Ancient Greece, and how the Olympic Truce is an important part of the London 2012 Games.

The concept of world peace is a tricky one for younger children, but they can all relate to ideas and activities about friendship, understanding each other better and playing fairly.

Just as the children will have found themselves in new situations with people they have never met before, the thousands of athletes that will train together and relax, eat and socialise in the Athletes’ Village will be making new friends from different cultural backgrounds from all over the world.

Spectators – including the children themselves – may find themselves sitting next to someone from another country they have never met before. They may not be cheering for the same country to win, but they will be able to do so without fear of conflict and in a spirit of friendship.

Getting startedHere are some ideas for exploring the history of the Olympic Truce with the children, from the Ancient Games to London 2012.

These ‘Getting started’ stimulus resources are designed to generate discussion and engage the children in thinking about what the Olympic Truce can mean in their own lives and communities – especially the idea of sport bringing the world together in harmony.

You may also want to explore:– Our assembly film explaining the origins of

the Olympic Truce and how the Games fosters respect and friendship by bringing the world together in one place through sport

– A film highlighting activities inspired by the Olympic Truce and ideas for promoting and undertaking similar activities in your school or community

– A contemporary story about fair play at playtimes

– Background information about the Olympic Truce

Two assembly presentations: one for teachers and one for pupils wishing to lead an assembly (or other presentation) for their peers or younger children. Both assemblies can be easily adapted to include your own ideas.

These resources aim to:– Introduce the children to the origins

and thinking behind the Olympic Truce (Getting started)

– Help them to explore the relevance of the Olympic Truce in their own lives (Discussion and debate)

– Encourage them to plan and carry out an activity inspired by the Olympic Truce, promoting friendship and understanding through sport and culture (Get Set to get involved in the Olympic Truce)

For more background information on the Olympic Truce, access our fact file resource

Discussion and debateThe following ideas are designed to get you and the children talking about what they have learned about the Olympic Truce so far, and to help them see the relevance of the ideals of the Olympic Truce in their own lives, particularly in relation to sport, friendship and understanding between people from different countries and cultural backgrounds.

Following up from the films – Can the children tell you what the Olympic

Truce is?– Who can explain how the Olympic Truce

came about?– What can the children remember about the

times when the Olympic Truce has been able to help promote peace and resolve conflict?

– Help the children to explore the idea of sport and the ideals of the Olympic Truce being relevant in their own lives – for example, playing fairly in the playground; in school teams; saying ‘no’ to bullying; or welcoming children from other schools that they are competing against.

– The ‘Taking Sides’ story will help them to explore further what the Olympic Truce can mean to them.

Following up from the ‘Taking Sides’ story– If you read the story ‘Taking Sides’ as your

‘Getting started’ stimulus, the children will recognise the scenario and relate to the feelings of the characters in the story. Invite them to share their opinions about the themes of the story (fair play, prejudice, stereotyping, etc.).

– What do the children think happened next in the story? What might Azzam and Chong have written for their ‘pledge’ homework?

– Where in their own lives, at school or in the wider community, have the children experienced similar scenarios to the one in the story? How have they overcome conflicts, unfairness or a lack of understanding? How about when they have played sport or games with others?

– What advice could the children offer the athletes, arriving from all over the world to take part in the Games, which might help them to get to know each other better and get along with each other? Can the children share experiences they have had when meeting new people? What sorts of things help to break the ice? How do you know you like someone even if you don’t speak their language?

– Imagine an athlete from overseas is eating a meal in the Athletes’ Village dining room by themselves. How could a member of Team GB such as Tom Daley help to make them feel included and welcome?

– Are there any areas of the school or local community where the children feel intimidated or uncomfortable? Use the idea of ‘Truce’, as mentioned in the story, to help the children reflect on what they think they could do to help people feel safer or happier in your school and community.

Following up from the fact file– Having shared some or all of the background

information in the fact file, can the children tell you:– The story behind the first Olympic Truce

and the Ancient Games?– Examples of the Olympic Truce and sport

resolving actual conflicts?– About Truce Walls?

– Remind the children about the Olympic and Paralympic Values and talk about how these relate to the Olympic Truce. For example, in what ways do the children think athletes could show each other respect and friendship on the field of play and in the Athletes’ Village during the Olympic Games?

– If the children were to create a Truce Wall or other artefact to mark London 2012’s role in promoting the ideals of the Olympic Truce, what sorts of things might they like to include – for example, pledges, raps, poems, drawings, quotes, messages of welcome, signatures…?

– How do they think sport can help to promote the ideal of peace, locally and globally? Can they give examples of sporting events bringing people together?

Following up from the assemblyIf you haven’t already used the PowerPoint presentation in an assembly, you could use it to stimulate a class or group discussion focusing on how the London 2012 Games will be bringing the world together in a celebration of sport and culture.

– Can they remember how many different teams are taking part in the Olympic Games? And how many in the Paralympic Games?

– How would they show that sport can bring people together and help them to make new friendships? How can they show respect to teams or children they are competing against?

– Talk about the Athletes’ Village. How do the children think they would feel if they were meeting new people from all over the world? What difficulties might there be to start with, for example different languages and cultures? What sorts of ideas do the children have for understanding how we can overcome these initial obstacles and make new friends with people from different backgrounds?

– If we don’t share a common language, how might we show respect and encourage friendship towards each other?

– Talk about the idea that sport pushes past the boundaries of language e.g. shaking hands and fair play are universally understood ‘languages’.

– Imagine an athlete from another country who is training for London 2012 is to visit your school and doesn’t speak English very well. How do the children think they could show friendship and respect? What could they do beforehand to understand your visitor better and make them feel welcome? You could find out about Pre-Games Training Camps – where athletes from overseas will be preparing for London 2012. A map highlighting where athletes are training in the UK can be found on the main ‘Get Set goes global’ website.

– What ideas do the children have for improving friendships and understanding between different groups of people in school and the community where they live?

– Could sport help people to get on better with each other and enjoy themselves more? Ask the children to share any examples or personal experiences of sport ‘building bridges’ between people of their own age. They might like to include examples from home, school, the local community or the wider world.

Get Set to get involved in the Olympic Truce If the children are keen to go further and get involved in planning and carrying out a special activity in school and/or your local community to mark London 2012 and the Olympic Truce, here are some outline ideas which you can develop to suit the interests and abilities of the children (and to support other London 2012-related events you may be planning). These suggestions are designed to help you build on the children’s ideas for getting involved in a special activity which you may have discussed as a follow-up to the assembly, film, story or fact file information.

– Is there one thing the children would most like to do (or create, make, play or write about) that they think could show their understanding of international friendship and the role London 2012 will play in helping to bring the world together in peace, through sport?

– How important to the children is fairness and fair play in sport? They could write mottos or create logos to represent fair play and/or ‘making friends through sport’. Do you have an overseas link school? Could you come up with an ‘international agreement’ with children from your link school?

– Inspire the children to get involved in the excitement of the London 2012 Games and the fact that London will be bringing the world together through sport and culture. What ideas do the children have for making your school more welcoming to visitors? What about visitors who don’t speak English as a first language? What can the children do to communicate with everyone and show respect for different cultures and abilities?

Make a special Truce WallIf the children have been learning about Truce Walls, and talking about the sorts of wall displays or visual art they might like to produce on the theme of sport bringing the world together, you could try out these ideas:

– You could create a ‘Welcome/Peace/Values Wall’ of your own, inviting the children to take the lead in deciding what kind of wall/display they want to create. Support the children in their planning, reflecting back on discussions about the Olympic Truce, what it means to them and what key messages they want to promote through their wall.

This could be an interesting and engaging project for the school council or student voice committee to canvas opinion. Ideas could include:

1. A wall frieze or large-scale wall display showing images, drawings, captions and pledges about friendship and the Games

2. An exhibition of paintings, drawings, collage impressions called ‘Welcome to the Athletes’ Village’

3. A mural created in collaboration with an athlete or artist

4. A welcome wall for visitors to sign under the headline ‘Welcome to our school’

5. You could invite a partner school, either in the UK or overseas to add their contributions in words or pictures to your wall.

– Take photographs of your displays and post them to your Get Set blog.

Find out more information on Truce Walls in our ‘Fact File’ resource.

Creating a safe environment

These ideas will support your anti-bullying and positive behaviour policies:– Ask the children to think about the idea of

a ‘Truce Corner’. What do they think it should be like? Who would go there, and why? For example, a Truce Corner could be an agreed place where the children can go to resolve any conflict, for example between friends or between teacher/lunchtime supervisor and child.

– Do the children think the Truce Corner will need to have any rules? Who will make sure they are adhered to? For example, one rule might be: ‘We promise to listen to each other and to look for a solution which is fair to both of us’.

– Would the children like to plan, create and decorate a message or symbol to display in the Truce Corner?

– They could invite older members of the community to visit the Truce Corner and ask them to share memories and stories about conflict while they were at school. What else might the children like to ask them about, for example, friendships, respecting differences, important lessons they have learned about getting on well with other people, etc? Would the children like to capture these stories and if so, how would they like to present/display them?

– If the organisers of the London 2012 Games invited the children to write a set of ‘rules for spectators’ to promote peace during the Games, what would the children suggest as their top three rules? Encourage them to think about fairness, tolerance, understanding, respect, and so on.

The Olympic Truce and pupil voice Talking about friendship and making the school and community a more peaceful, fairer or more enjoyable place provides a vibrant context for supporting the ‘pupil voice’ aspect of teaching and learning.

An assembly presentation is provided to support the children in leading assemblies and ideas-sharing sessions with their peers or with a younger class. The presentations are designed to give key information and to enable the children to add ideas of their own.

Pupil leaders could also:– Ask each member of the class to nominate

and vote for a person they think would make a good ‘friendship ambassador’ or even a ‘Truce ambassador’. Elected ambassadors could then form a special Olympic Truce team, whose brief is to engage others in the ideals of the Truce and the role London 2012 will play in bringing the world together through sport and culture.

– They could begin by looking at ways in which friendship and conflict resolution could be improved at key points in the school day such as playtimes, during games, in the canteen, getting on the bus, getting changed for PE, etc.

– Invite the children to think about, and discuss with their peers, ideas for including a message of peace or friendship in any literature you may produce for a special event such as National School Sport Week or London 2012 World Sport Day. How would they like to present this message?

– The children may decide to compose a ‘fair play’ oath or pledge that the captain of a school sports team could read out before the match starts.

– You could have a special award ceremony in assembly and present your most active and inspirational pupil ‘Truce leaders’ with a Values certificate. Values certificates can be downloaded from www.london2012.com/getset.