Sports Lingo

Talk about sports, take a look at this great site called Sports Cliché, which helps non-native English speakers to get to understand the language of sports that is often used in the sports world.

The site is very easy to use. The expressions are easy to read. As a suggestions of how to use them in class, one idea is to bring some of the clichés (don’t forgot to make sure all students understand the meaning of cliché) to class and discuss what they mean with the class; another idea is to get the students to think of some sports related clichés used in their own country and language, which could be used as a warm-up activity to introduce a lesson that talks about sports. Let me try a few famous sentences in Brazil:

Vai que é tua, Taffarel! (this one is old, from the 2002 World Cup.)

Pedala, Robinho!

O importante é competir.

Em time que está ganhando, não se mexe.

Well, sports lingo is really not my strong suit. But I am sure the teacher and his or her students will get to remember lots of others.

Kiwi English

I was looking for some specific material on “Kiwi English’, as I have a couple of students who intend to travel to New Zealand in the near future. So, I found this nice glossary of Kiwi English & Phrases.

At BackpackerBoard, an interactive guide to backpacking in New Zealand, there is an interesting topic in the forum section that is about New Zealand Lingo, too. It is quite interesting because you will be able to read about the expressions and what people think about them.

In this link you can find lots of information about NZ, like a map of the country, geography and weather, population, government and others. And there is also the Radio New Zealand, for those who want to get used to the Kiwi accent.

Whatever

Suggested reading:

Magazine Article “How to respond to Whatev-ah” on BBC News Magazine:

Parents and teachers are concerned about the constant use of ‘whatever’ as a challenging answer, expressing apathy and total disinterestedness. Uttered by a majority of alienated teenagers, it seems to be an easy way to run away from a more serious conversation with the parents or teachers, or to get away with something they have done.

“It’s a catch-all response which can mean many things, commonly “I don’t care”, but also “this is the end of the conversation” or “say what you want, I’ve got no position on this subject”. (Tom Geoghegan, BBC News Magazine).

Answering “whatever” is not the same as answering back. I would risk saying that a teen who answers ‘whatever’ might have learned it ‘at home’- I’ll explain: I believe our society’s new parents are too easygoing and friendly with their children. Come on. We all know some (or a lot of) parents who allow their children to do something simply to avoid an argument, because they are way too tired to get into the stress of a family discussion. “Whatever” is just like that. People too tired, lazy or unworried who just say whatever because they are not willing to get into a serious, boring discussion with their teachers or parents, or worst of all, a generation who cannot think and argument to defend their point of view.