Athletes are travelling to Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, this week.
They are going there for an event held every two years: The Arctic Winter Games. The Games run from March 6 to 11.
The athletes are from nine regions including Canada’s three territories (Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories), as well as Alaska and Russia.
They will compete in 15 sports, some of them specific to the northern regions of the world. Athletes will compete in skiing, badminton, biathlon, hockey, snowboarding, table tennis, volleyball and wrestling. They will also compete in “Dene games” including stick pull, pole push, finger pull and snowsnake.*
Unlike other big sporting events like the Olympics, there is no fee to attend the Arctic Games–tickets are free.
The slogan (in this case, a slogan is a short sentence that captures the feeling or intention of the games) for the Arctic Games is “Join–Feel–Jump.” “Our slogan is based on our values (community, curiosity and courage),” the website for the Arctic Games says, “join for community, feel for curiosity and jump for courage.”
“We are part of the Arctic community and are curious about each other’s similarities, differences and what we can learn from each other,” the website says.
There are normally about 17,000 residents of Nuuk. During the Arctic Games, about 2,000 people are gathering on the island. That is a big jump in the number of people who must be fed and housed for the week, mostly with supplies that have to be either flown in by plane or shipped by barge. There are no roads between communities in Greenland, according to CBC News. “The city’s main hotel is fully booked. Athletes will fill public schools, sleeping in classrooms,” CBC reported.
Greenland is a remote island–the largest island in the world–and much of its surface is made up of glaciers. Greenland is “self-governed,” which means it makes its own laws, but it is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Most of Greenland’s population of about 57,700 are Inuit.
Related links
*Many people who do not live in the north may be unfamiliar with these games. You can read about them, and learn the rules, at this excellent Dene Games website: http://denegames.ca/introduction/index.html.
The website for the Arctic Winter Games: http://awg2016.org/en.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
The Arctic Winter Games aim “to (include) as many participants as possible… and (to provide) a cultural opportunity for fellowship (among) the participants and host communities.” How do organized international sporting events bring people together?
Reading Prompt: Extending Understanding
How are the Arctic Winter Games similar to and different from the Olympic winter games?
Feel free to use a T-chart to help show your comparison.
Primary
Extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge and experience, to other famil- iar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Junior
Extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Intermediate
Extend understanding of texts, including increasingly complex or difficult texts, by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Language Feature: SLOGAN
Today’s article explains that a slogan is, “a short sentence that captures the feeling or intention. Businesses often use print their slogans on advertisements or announce them at the end of their commercials.
What slogans do you know? Why do companies spend time developing and advertising their slogans?
