Winter Learning Journey: Day 6, Activity 2

Activity 2: The opening ceremonies for every Olympic Games must include formal speeches, a parade of athletes, songs and dances that showcase the culture of the host country. Follow this link to watch the highlights of opening ceremonies for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England.

In the opening ceremony for the London Olympics there were a number of famous English people including the Queen, the Spice Girls, David Bowie, U2, the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney. Imagine that we were going to host the Olympics here in New Zealand in 2024 and you were invited to be on the committee that decides who is invited to participate in the opening ceremonies. As a member of the group you must choose one of the following people to be in the opening ceremony: Richie McCaw (rugby player), Lorde (singer), Kane Williamson (cricket player), Maria Tutaia (netball player), John Key (prime minister of New Zealand) or Shaun Johnson (league player). On your blog, tell us who you think is the best person to choose and explain why you think that they are the best choice!

Personally I would choose Richie McCaw. This is because Richie McCaw is someone very special to New Zealand. I feel like if Richie McCaw presented New Zealand then who would do it very well and he would make New Zealand very proud.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 6, Activity 1

Activity 1: For all Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, the athletes from each country must wear a special uniform. The uniforms change each year. Look at the 3 pictures posted below. They are pictures of the uniforms that our New Zealand Olympic teams wore in 2012, 2008 and 2004. For this activity, you are asked to rank the uniforms from best (#1) to worst (#3). On your blog post your rankings and provide a brief explanation of why you ranked the uniforms in that order.

1. New Zealand Team Uniform – London Olympics 2012

2. New Zealand Team Uniform – Beijing Olympics 2008

3. New Zealand Olympic Team Uniform – Athens Olympics 2004

The #1 uniform for me was the uniform from 2012. I say this because it was nice to see that the girls got to wear dresses and the men looked respectably dressed. It also looked a lot tidier than the other 2. My #2 uniform is the 2004 uniforms. This is because I like that they put the fern on their uniform, but they also don’t look as tidy as the 2012 one. My #3 uniform is the 2008. This is because this one didn’t look as good as the 2 other ones. It just looked very plain.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 5, Activity 3 (Bonus)

Bonus:  Jesse Owens was a black American athlete who participated in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. He is considered to be one of the bravest and most inspirational Olympic athletes because he competed at a time when the leader of Germany (Adolf Hitler) did not want black men competing at the Olympic Games. Here is a picture of Jesse from the 1930s.

Can you think of someone in your own life that inspires you? On your blog, tell us who your inspirational person is and why they inspire you.

An inspirational person in my life is my Aunty. She inspires me because when things got hard for her, she wasn’t a person to give up. She also looked at the bright side and figure out a plan. She never ever only thought about herself, she also thought about other people.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 5, Activity 2

Activity 2:  In 1936, a 13 year old girl named Marjorie Gestring became the youngest person to ever win an Olympic gold medal. She won the gold medal in the springboard diving competition. Imagine that you were alive in 1936 and you had the chance to interview her. On your blog, post five questions that you would like to ask the Olympic champion (if you had the chance to meet her!).

1. How does it feel to be the youngest person to ever win a Olympic Gold Medal?
2. How did you go from being a normal 13 year-old girl, to coming to the Olympics?
3. How did you first become interested in Springboard diving?
4. How has this changed your life?
5. What is your next step in life?

Winter Learning Journey: Day 5, Activity 1

Activity 1: Some Olympic athletes become famous not because they win but because they have an amazing attitude and great determination. They are sometimes called ‘underdogs.’ One of the most famous ‘underdogs’ in Olympic history was a man named Michael Edwards. He was a ski jumper from England who competed in the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada. Although he came last in the event, he never gave up. Recently, a movie has been made about his life. It is called “Eddie the Eagle.”  For this activity, watch the trailer for Eddie the Eagle and then post a summary of the movie on your blog. What is the movie about?

This movie is about a boy named Eddie. All he ever wanted to do was become an Athlete and go to the Olympics. But it seemed like every single person in his life had no faith in him and always told him that he was never going to make it. But after meeting an ex-athlete that can help him, he starts to get better and become more confident in himself.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 4, Activity 3 (Bonus)

Bonus:  The New Zealand Olympic Team has created a video called #Be The Inspiration. They have posted it on the homepage of their website (on the left hand side). Watch the Be the Inspiration video and then post a critique of the video on your blog. In your critique tell us what you liked about the video and what you didn’t like. It is very common for movie reviewers to use stars to indicate how much they liked a movie. A rating of * = very bad movie, ** = bad movie, *** = okay movie, **** = good movie, and ***** = very good movie. At the end of your critique, please provide a rating for the Be The Inspiration movie.

What I really liked about this video was how they showed New Zealand’s settings and beautiful land. I also liked how they also used our Maori cultured. But I just didn’t like that they didn't use some of the athletes that are going to Rio in the video. I think that, that could’ve been good. Overall I rate this **** = good movie.

Winter Learning Journey: Day 4, Activity 2

Activity 2: Let’s imagine that you were able to meet one of the following three athletes competing for New Zealand at the Rio Olympics:

1. Lauren Boyle: Lauren is a swimmer from Auckland. She typically competes in the 400m and 800m freestyle races and, in the 2012, finished in 4th place at the London Olympics (just one spot away from winning a medal)! This will be Lauren’s third trip to an Olympic Games. She is the most successful swimmer in New Zealand sporting history. To learn more about Lauren you can read her biography at: http://www.olympic.org.nz/athletes/lauren-boyle/

2. Stuart Farquhar: Stuart competes in the athletics (javelin throwing) competition at the Olympics. He currently lives in Hamilton but was born and raised in Te Aroha. He has competed for New Zealand at four previous Olympics games. His best ever throw was 86.31 m. That’s a long way! To learn more about Stuart, please read his short biography at: http://www.olympic.org.nz/athletes/stuart-farquhar/

3. Andrea Kilday: Andrea competes in the sport of Taekwondo. This will be her first ever trip to an Olympic games but she recently won a gold medal at a large international competition in Papua New Guinea. Andrea was born in Christchurch and moved to Auckland in 2005 to train at the Sejong Taekwondo Club with her coach Jin Keun Oh. To read more about Andrea, visit her webpage at: http://www.olympic.org.nz/athletes/andrea-kilday/

In your blog tell us which one of these three athletes you would choose to meet and why.

I would like to meet Andrea Kilday. This is because I have always been fond of Taekwondo and I would like to ask her questions about her experience and how she feels about Taekwondo.