The Olympic Games is over and that means it’s time to get back to work! A big welcome to lots of students and teachers who have signed up recently to receive posts from English for University. Com. I’ll be posting regularly, about once a week, and pointing out useful resources for international students who want to improve their Academic English skills. Regular readers will know that I also comment and link to news stories to help non-native English speakers come to grips with current affairs and British culture. That brings me to the Olympic Games and I have to say that the British are feeling pretty happy with themselves at the moment. There is a big ‘feel good factor’ in the UK about the Olympics because they have been a huge success both in terms of their organisation and in terms of British sport (third in the medal table!). There has been a big debate about the Opening Ceremony and the effect of the Olympic Games on the country. At the end of the day we will be asking: was it worth the money? £9 billion is a big bill! Will the feel good factor last? Did the Opening Ceremony reflect our multicultural country and our values well? There’s an interesting news story in The Guardian reporting a survey that tells us that 55% of Britons think the Games are ‘well worth the investment’. The Olympic Games is a good topic to discuss in class and this article has lots of good vocabulary and phrases for presenting survey results such as:
a survey has revealed that…
the findings appear to support…
by a two to one margin the respondents agree that…
by a narrow margin…
only 32% of respondents say…
If I was a student of Academic English I would be adding these phrases to my notebook! Read the article, improve your reading skills and vocabulary with the The Guardian article here.
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