Olympics- Statistics Pairwork Guessing Game

Olympics statistics pairwork guessing game

Student A

Choose one of the facts below and turn it into a question, e.g. “How many tonnes of steel tubing recycled from old gas pipes were used in the roof of the Olympic Stadium?” If there is more than one number in the sentence, just choose one and make a sentence out of it. After your partner guesses, give them hints until they reach exactly the right answer.

Useful language for giving hints “The real number is      much much much                       higher/ older/ more” much much                          lower/ fewer/ less/ younger”                                                         much/ far/ a lot                                                         quite a lot                                                                   a little/ a bit/ a little bit                                                         a tiny bit

 

1. Two thousand five hundred tonnes of steel tubing recycled from old gas pipes was used in the roof of the London Olympic Stadium.
2. A hundred and sixty thousand tonnes of soil was dug up to be able to build the London Aquatics Centre.
3. Twenty thousand people were based at the London Olympics International Broadcast Centre.
4. Thirteen countries participated in the first modern Olympic Games in eighteen ninety six (Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, France, the UK, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Switzerland, Sweden and the US).
5. Only four countries have participated in every modern Olympic Games since eighteen ninety six (Australia, France, Great Britain and Greece).
6. Three sports have appeared in every modern Olympic Games (athletics, fencing and swimming).
7. Gymnast Larisa Latynina won eighteen medals (over three Olympics).
8. Eighty six nations have never won any Olympic medals.
9. Six athletes have won medals in both the Winter Olympic Games and the Summer Olympic Games.
10. No women competed in the first modern Olympics in eighteen ninety six.
11. The oldest medallist was seventy two years old (when he won a silver medal in shooting).
12. The youngest medallist was twelve (when she won a bronze medal in the two hundred metre breaststroke in nineteen thirty six).
13. The London games included ten thousand five hundred athletes from two hundred and five nations and four thousand Paralympic athletes from a hundred and sixty five nations.
14. There were three hundred and two Olympic events in London.
15. The carrying of the flame in the UK included eight thousand people.
16. There were thirty two London Olympics sports venues with a capacity of seven hundred thousand people.
17. The main Olympic stadium in London had five hundred and thirty two
18. The London Aquatics Centre had more than eight hundred thousand

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Student B

Choose one of the facts below and turn it into a question, e.g. “How many tickets are for sale for the London Olympics?” If there is more than one number in the sentence, just choose one and make a sentence out of it. After your partner guesses, give them hints until they reach exactly the right answer.

Useful language for giving hints “The real number is      much much much                       higher/ older/ more” much much                          lower/ fewer/ less/ younger”                                                         much/ far/ a lot                                                         quite a lot                                                                   a little/ a bit/ a little bit                                                         a tiny bit

 

19. There were nine point six million tickets for sale for the London Olympics.
20. The temperature in the Olympic swimming pool must be twenty seven degrees Celsius.
21. There is only one sport in which men and women compete with each other on equal terms (equestrianism).
22. Over two hundred buildings were knocked down to make room for the Olympic site in London.
23. Ninety eight percent of waste from construction for the London Olympics was reused, recycled or recovered.
24. The Olympics was predicted to cost London taxpayers six hundred and twenty five million pounds.
25. Nine hundred million people watched the London Olympics opening ceremony (on the twenty seventh of July two thousand and twelve).
26. The total workforce for the London Games was two hundred thousand (volunteers and paid workers).
27. A London twenty twelve Olympic gold medal is made up of ninety two point five percent silver and only one point three four percent gold (the rest is copper).
28. A London twenty twelve bronze medal is made from ninety seven percent copper, two point five percent zinc and nought point five percent
29. One million pieces of sports equipment were used during the London Games (including practice equipment).
30. The London Games had a hundred and thirteen sponsors.
31. Twelve million meals were served during the London games (including to spectators).
32. There were a thousand magnetometer search arches (similar to airport metal detectors) at the London Games.
33. The very first Olympics took place in seven hundred and seventy six BC and had one event.
34. It took the Montreal government more than thirty years to pay for the nineteen seventy six games.
35. Sixty percent of visitors to the Sydney Games in the year two thousand said they would definitely or probably revisit Sydney in the next three years.
36. Sixty eight percent of the UK population wanted the Olympics to come to Britain.

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Without looking back at the text yet, try to remember how the following numbers are pronounced.

• 2,500 t
• 160,000 t
• 20,000
• 1896 (year)
• 10,500
• 205
• 4,200
• 165
• 700,000
• 9,600,000
• 98%
• £625m.
• 900,000,000
• 2012
• 27/7/2012
• 1.34%
• 5%
• 113
• 12,000,000
• 1,000
• 776 BC
• 1976 (year)
• 2000 (year)

Compare with the text. (The numbers are in the same order as the text).

Are there any other ways of saying those numbers?

What is the rule about using “and” in large numbers in British English?

Discuss some of these topics, using the statistics from before to support your position if you like.

• Ecological impact of the Olympics.
• Impact of the Olympics on local people.
• Commercialisation of the Olympics (e.g. sponsorship).
• Security problems at the Olympics.
• National and local government spending on sport.
• The size of the Olympics.
• Hosting the Olympics in this city