Towards the Olympics - 2008 / 2012
Summary
The Towards the Olympics project promotes sport, learning and the Olympic ideals in schools in England and China. In a ground-breaking initiative in international sports education, links have been established between English sports and language colleges and schools in Beijing, using video recordings and online communities to establish regular contact. This will include student exchange trips, a youth sports festival in Beijing in summer 2007, and will culminate with possible visits to the Beijing Olympics.
32 English secondary schools are taking part in the project, and are linking with more than 40 schools in China and Hong Kong. Students will work together to create online resources in Chinese and English about the Olympics, sports and everyday life in their country. As well as promoting cultural understanding, this will give students excellent opportunities to practice the languages they are learning (English or Mandarin) within an exciting international context. Teachers will also be able to contribute to these online resources.
The 2008 Beijing games are the immediate focus (students in Beijing will give Hong Kong and English students regular updates on the preparations), but the project will also look forward to the 2012 games in London. Schools in other countries will hopefully form links with English schools, using the Olympics as a catalyst for students to interact and find out more about each other's cultures.
iNet
iNet (International Networking for Educational Transformation) is the international arm of the SSAT that supports international affiliates in achieving excellent educational outcomes for all students. It facilitates the sharing of ideas, experience and best practice as well as helping to develop partnerships with other schools around the globe. iNet has existing networks in Australia, Chile, South Africa and The USA, and is creating new networks in China, Holland, New Zealand, Northern Ireland and Wales.
Project objectives
To promote international understanding about the impact of sport on the lives of young people in different cultures;
To promote the social values of wider participation in sport;
To enable exchange visits during the Chinese Olympic Year, 2008;
To motivate students in China and England to learn English and Chinese respectively;
To enable teachers to exchange ideas on the development of sports education in schools;
To develop a range of electronic learning resources in English and Chinese to aid the teaching of sport and sports studies.
Sponsorship opportunities
In China the project is sponsored by the Li Ning Company, one of the largest sports and leisurewear companies in China.
Involvement in this project will give phenomenal publicity in conjunction with both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Companies will have the opportunity to align themselves with a project for young people that promotes physical wellbeing and the quest for excellence in sporting performance, and take advantage of a range of national and international marketing and publicity opportunities.
For further details of how your company could sponsor Towards the Olympics, please contact Kathryn Davies, on +44 (0) 7802 0860 or kathryn.davies@ssatrust.org.uk.
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