The 2012 London Olympic Games opened with a spectacular opening ceremony. For most of the MyEC members, however, the Games could be more of a chance to learn some English than just a sport meeting.
The Olympics are just taking place in an English-speaking country this time. So, English is everywhere. Chances are you will pick up some idiomatic expressions if you watch the Games on TV or in person in London. When the Queen opened the Games during the ceremony, MyEC members who were watching may have tried to understand what exactly she was saying - "I declare open the Games of London..." Some of the members might have wondered if the word "open" acted as a noun, a verb or an adjective?
Plus, you could pick up some sport English - the names of the sports, words such as "athlete", "medalist", "stadium", etc. And, you could learn how to report a sport event. I suggest you read the sport news which may interest you on the Internet. Keep reading and you'll get used to the writting style often used by sport journalists - pay attention to the titles of sport news.
You could share an event you read or watched with us here, or you may want to discuss a relative topic (say, "Do gold medals really matter?") with MyEC members, then feel free to ask us to join you in the discussion.
Enjoy the Games and learn English!
Comments
Sorry for the famous hurdle athlete Liu Xiang, who failed to complete the competition again in the Olympics!
I've learnd these words or expressions:
sweep
clean sweep
claimed his second successive Olympic gold
at an Olympics
turn the tables
Note: gold = gold medal
Jamaica's Bolt wins men's 100m gold for 2nd time!
The greatest badminton player, Lin Dan, wins the badminton Olympic gold!
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Hi Grace,
I love to watch diving too! You know, China's diving team is called "dream team", which may win all of the eight gold medals - no rival so far!
I am fond of watching diving, especially when athletes are jumping up in the air and then reversing diversely down to the water with just a little spray. What a brilliant sport! Thanks for the interesting topic.
Today, let's talk about "doping" (doping: using drugs to improve performance in a sport)!
I hate to talk about this, but some athletes would risk life and limb to win a medal. Such things happen. I was wondering what could be the goal for an athlete to compete in the Olympics? To win a medal or to enjoy the fun the Olympics have to offer? What are your thoughts on this topic?
Hi Tara,
Thanks for sharing the funny tweet! Is she Germany's chancellor? I'll give it a try:))
Another fun way to learn some interesting English is to follow the twitter feed #London2012. You will find all sorts of interesting tidbits! I challenge you to give it a try and share the most interesting tweet you found. Here's one I found:
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