• Einleitung
• Die Entstehung
• Die Regeln
• Landesgeschichte
• Service
• Schule

Work in groups of four to five, collect information from the Internet or any kind of encyclopaedia. Design posters, present the results of your research and display your posters in your classroom or even on the website of your school.

1. The American West

   Go to www.americanwest.com and find out about the expansion of the American West. Make notes about:
   • key dates
   • frontier trails, e. g. the Oregon Trail
   • different means of transportation: horses, stagecoaches, railroad
   • women of the West
   
   

2. Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show

   Go to www.americanwest.com or use other sources to collect information about Buffalo Bill. You should find out:
   • his real name
   • his various jobs
   • why he was called Buffalo Bill
   • when his Wild West Show started and what it should represent
   • what he thought of rodeo
   • who the stars of the show were
   • how long Buffalo Bill's show toured the United States and Europe
   
   

3. Rodeo

   Look at the photos below, find the proper names for those five events contested at most rodeos. Match them with the short descriptions.
   
   
   In barrel racing, competitors ride horses in a pattern around a course of barrels as fast as possible. Seconds are added to the riders' times for each barrel they knock over. The fastest rider is the winner.
   
   In steer wrestling the contestant, who is on horse-back, tries to corner a running steer and throw it to the ground. The rider slides from the horse, grasps the horns of the steer, and forces the animal to a standstill to fall to the ground.
   
   In the riding events, the contestant tries to remain seated on a bull or bucking horse for a given period of time, usually 8 seconds.
   
   In the calf roping event, the contestant sitting on a trained horse follows a calf and lassoes it by throwing a looped rope around the animal's neck and drawing the loop tight. With the help of the horse, the rider tries to stop the calf. The rider then gets off the horse, ties together any three feet of the calf so that it is helpless. The fastest rider is the winner.
4. Get a copy of a map of the South Western States of the USA, mark the cities where the summer rodeos will take place. Imagine you are a rodeo rider touring from one event to the next. Draw the route and measure the distances between each of the cities on this tour. Compare the distance you would cover to Europe.

Rodeos im Sommer 2002 im Südwesten der USA:

Questions on the programme

1. Why and when did Leigh Ann become a rodeo contestant?
2. How do rodeo contestants spend their lives?
3. Describe the main differences between male and female rodeo riders.
4. How much do rodeo riders earn when they travel from one competition to the next?
5. What kind of organization is the "Women's Professional Rodeo Association"?
6. Describe the course of events during a rodeo?
7. What do you learn about Marlene McRae?
8. What does Marlene say about training her horses? How are the animals treated?
9. Why is the "Greeley Independence Stampede" so important?
10. What does Lee Ann say about what is necessary for a rodeo contestant?