Listening

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Helpful Words and Phrases

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  1. a governing body
    • ex. The governing body of the town approved the construction of a new playground.
  2. a host
    • ex. Tokyo was the host city for the 2020 Olympics.
  3. a step forward
    • ex. The invention of smartphones was a step forward in communication technology.
  4. keep up with (someone/something)
    • ex. The tech company improves its software often to keep up with the latest technology.
  5. a revolution
    • ex. The scientific revolution led to important discoveries in the field of medicine.

Article

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The International Olympic Committee (IOC), the governing body of the Olympic Movement, plans to include e-sport events in future games. This is to attract and retain young audiences. The IOC will ask members to approve a proposal to create a video game Olympics when they meet in Paris in July. After the meeting, the governing body will announce details of the proposal, which includes a possible host city for the event.

The president of the IOC, Thomas Bach, mentioned that including e-sports in the Olympics is a step forward to keep up with the speed of the digital revolution. The new E-sports Olympics will continue from the video game competitions that happened in Singapore last year, which was supported by the IOC. It was a combination of physical Olympic sports games and traditional video games. The IOC said that 75% of those who watched the Singapore events were between the ages of 13 and 34.

Bach said that the money for the video games event wouldn’t affect the funds for traditional Olympic sports. He mentioned there will be separate financial plans to protect the funds given to sports organizations every four years.

This material was based on an article by The Associated Press.

Discussion

Choose a topic and discuss the questions with your tutor.

E-sports Olympics

  • The IOC plans to include e-sports in the Olympics to attract and retain young audiences. Why do you think it’s important for the Olympics to have young audiences (ex. to inspire a future generation of athletes, to keep the Olympics popular)? Discuss.
  • Do you think video games should be included in the Olympics? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • Would you like your country to be the host of the E-sports Olympics? Why or why not? Discuss.

Video Games

  • How much do you like playing video games? Discuss.
  • Do you consider video games as sports? Why or why not? Discuss.
  • The goal of adding e-sports to the Olympics is to attract and retain young audiences. Why do you think the sport of video gaming is attractive to young audiences? Discuss.