Topical Talk

Sports and the Olympic Games

Get students aged 10+ talking about the Olympics and other sports stories hitting the headlines. Download our free lessons to develop critical-thinking and communication skills.

Ready-to-teach lessons

In 2024, athletes from around the world came together in Paris to compete in the Summer Olympics. Explore the impact of big sports events and discuss whether doping should be allowed.

Our Olympics and sports resources help students engage in inspiring discussions about the news and develop essential critical-thinking, oracy and communication skills, media literacy and cultural capital.

These lessons are produced by experienced teachers, with support from The Economist's senior editors and fact-checkers. That means you can trust our resources to give an accurate and balanced picture for your students to unpick. Learn more.

Collage of pages from the “How fair are the Olympics?” teaching resource showing the cover and lesson plan

Each lesson contains:

  • Ready-to-use, clear teacher instructions and an accessible, student-friendly PowerPoint
  • Printable, engaging resources with instructions on how to present them
  • Keywords and definitions to break down new or challenging vocabulary
  • Icon sharing opinions and oracy

    Oracy-focused activities on sports and the Olympic Games

  • Icon globe

    Bitesized, reliable information on issues in the news

  • Star icon

    Innovative ways to develop critical-thinking and communication skills

Resources