KEY INFORMATION

Recommended age group: 5–14
Time required: 30–45 minutes
Equipment: Paralympic Value of courage presentation.


ACTIVITY IDEA

Use these discussion points and activities to explore the Paralympic Value of courage with your students.

What is courage?

  • Can students think of a situation where they have shown courage? These can be simple things like the first day at school or going to the dentist.
  • Discuss Martine Wright's attitude to life - "I'm one of the lucky ones". What impresses the students about Martine?
  • How can having courage help us to cope in life?
  • Older students may like to discuss moral courage and whether it takes courage to live your life by a set of principles or ideas. How do they resist unhelpful pressure from their peers to do things they really don't want to?

Extension

Go the extra mile

  • Ask students to find out about a Torchbearer with a disability or a Paralympian, other than Martine Wright, and then present a profile of their chosen courageous person to the class.
  • Suggest that students take on a physical challenge that they have never tried before and that they may need to overcome nerves to have a go at e.g. joining a club or volunteering.
  • Think about whole nations or groups of people in history that have displayed great courage e.g. the suffragettes or the Chilean miners trapped underground for almost three months.