Olympics ESL Vocabulary & Conversation Starter (Winter Olympics)

Free Student & Teacher ESL Resources

Beginner Olympic English   – The Vancouver 2010 Olympics just finished and many people really enjoyed watching the games.   Here is an easy conversation starter for you.

Jon:         Did you watch the Winter Olympics on TV?

Teri:        Yes, I did.    My favourite event is  figure skating.   What is your favourite event?

Jon:        My favourite event is  skiing.

 *note:  in Canadian English favourite is often spelled with 'ou' - favourite.  However, it is also correct to spell it 'favorite', as spelled in the USA.  

 --------------------------------------

Intermediate/Advanced Olympic English   – The Vancouver 2010 Olympics just finished and many people really enjoyed watching the games.   Here is an easy conversation starter for you.

Evan:      Hi Zoe, what do you think about the bob-sledding event?

Zoe:        I think it is   exciting,   but   dangerous.   Do you like the biathlon?

Evan:      It looks   very hard,   but   boring  to watch.

*When using this sentence pattern, be sure you choose word pairs that work together well.   Opposite words will not work in this pattern usually. For example, something cannot be both, ‘exciitng’ and ‘boring’. 

**add qualifiers:   a qualifier can indicate your opinion on something you say that could be open to challenge by someone else.   The last line said boring (to watch).   This qualification is used in the second sentence because not everyone would agree that biathlon is boring, in every circumstance.   If you are an athlete doing the biathlon maybe it is exciting, but if you are watching it, your opinion is that it is boring.

Qualifiers can also be used as follows:   It is exciting, but   looks  dangerous.

Sign up for our Free Canada-ESL.com mailing list. You will hear before anyone else when we have something new for teaching and/or learning English.