A brief history of the Paralympics

Running Dictation

1. The history of the Paralympic Games can be traced to Sir Ludwig Guttman, a German
neurosurgeon, who recognised the value of recreation and sport in treating people with spinal cord
injuries. In 1948, Guttman organised the first International Wheelchair Games to coincide with the
London Olympic Games at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, England. This unique event
included just a few athletes but was more about enhancing the quality of life for people with spinal
cord injuries than about competition. When a small team of Dutch war veterans travelled to Britain
in 1952 to compete against their British counterparts, the Games officially became the International
Stoke Mandeville Games (ISMG).

2. It was not until 1960 that a conscious attempt to connect the Olympic and Paralympic Games was
made, which was when the first Paralympic Games were held in Rome. There were 400 athletes
from 23 countries who participated and competed in archery, basketball, fencing, javelin, shot-put
and three swimming events. Since then the Olympic and Paralympic Games have been held in
parallel to one another, in other words, held in the same country or city whenever possible.

3. The Paralympic Games has seen phenomenal growth over the last 60 years. The games held in
Seoul in 1988 represented a landmark in the sporting event’s history – it was the first time
Paralympians gained access to all the major Olympic facilities, competing at the same venues used
by the Olympic athletes. In addition to this, television rights were sold allowing a worldwide
audience to view the commitment and skill of the Paralympic competitors.

4. Today the Paralympic Games is one of the largest events in the world with 146 nations sending
3,951 athletes to compete at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games and making it the second largest
sporting event after the Olympic Games. Although Sir Ludwig Guttman died in 1980, his vision for
athletes with a disability clearly continues as the Paralympics now showcases the world’s elite
athletes with a disability. These sporting heroes thrill spectators, young and old, filling the stadiums
and amazing an international television audience of millions. This year, 2012, London is set to be
groundbreaking - 166 nations are sending a total of 4,300 athletes to the games and almost 2.3
million of the 2.5 million available tickets have been sold. Organisers are hoping that it will be the
first ever sell-out.
Quiz – comprehension questions

1) Who was responsible for beginning the Paralympic Games movement?

2) What was this person’s profession?
3) What nationality competed against British athletes at the 1952 International Stoke
Mandeville Games (ISMG)?
4) What year were the Paralympic Games first connected to the Olympic Games?
5) How many athletes competed in the Rome games?
6) What does the term ‘parallel’ mean in this text?
7) Where were the Paralympic Games held in 1988?
8) Why were these Games considered a landmark event?
9) What year did Sir Ludwig Guttman die?
10) How many nations and athletes are expected to participate in London 2012?

Quiz – answers

1) Who was responsible for beginning the Paralympic Games movement? Sir Ludwig Guttman
2) What was this person’s profession? Neurosurgeon
3) What nationality competed against British athletes at the 1952 International Stoke
Mandeville Games (ISMG)? Dutch
4) What year were the Paralympic Games first connected to the Olympic Games? 1960
5) How many athletes competed in the Rome games? 400
6) What does the term ‘parallel’ mean in this text?
That the Olympic and Paralympic Games are held in the same country or city whenever
possible
7) Where were the Paralympic Games held in 1988? Seoul
8) Why were these Games considered a landmark event?
The first time Paralympians gained access to all the major Olympic facilities, competing at
the same venues used by the Olympic athletes
9) What year did Sir Ludwig Guttman die? 1980
10) How many nations and athletes are expected to participate in London 2012? 166 nations
and 4,300 athletes

Lesson plan/Instructions

This is designed to be used in an Upper Intermediate classroom but can be adapted for
Intermediate and Advanced levels by lengthening or shortening the allocated reading times.
You could also remove words from the text to make it harder for higher level learners or give
the questions out before reading to make it easier for lower ability groups.
It concentrates on reading micro-skills such as skimming, scanning and reading for gist, as
well as practising summarising. It is a more energetic way to practise reading in class.
1) Write up/broadcast the following Olympic and Paralympic values, preferably in mixed order, for
the whole class to see:

Friendship (Olympics)
Respect (Olympics)
Courage (Paralympics)
Determination (Paralympics)
Inspiration (Paralympics)
Excellence (Olympics)
Equality (Paralympics)

2) Ask students to divide page into columns, Olympics Paralympics, and discuss with a partner
which values belong to which sporting event and why. Feedback as a whole class and focus on
reasons behind their decisions.

3) Inform students that they are going to learn about the Paralympic Games’ history; brainstorm
what they already know on the whiteboard.

4) Divide them into groups of 4 and ask them to give each person a number (1-4) and a team name.
If it is only possible to have threes, this is fine but one person will read twice, so perhaps ensure this
is the strongest reader.

5) Stick/pin the text around the room, ensuring that there is a copy for each group to read. Explain
that they will do a running dictation e.g. each member of the group will read one paragraph (no. 1s =
paragraph 1, 2s = paragraph 2 etc.) and then return to their group to tell them what information
they have remembered.

6) Outline the rules of the task: each person is timed for 1-1.5 mins, once they leave their reading
they cannot return, readers cannot write anything down, only dictate it to another student to write
down.

7) Once each person has completed their turn, give them another 2 mins to check through what they
have written as a whole group.

8) Read/hand out the quiz questions; these can only be answered using the groups’ compiled text.

9) Swap questions with another group and go through the answers.

10) Students should compare own texts to the original reading and highlight any vocabulary that
they found difficult to understand. Collect words/phrases on the whiteboard for a
plenary/homework extension task.