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"Alley-Oop" - Rodrigue Beaubois of the Dallas Mavericks

"Alley-Oop" - Rodrigue Beaubois of the Dallas Mavericks English, baby! Video Lesson

Date: Apr 30 2010

Themes: Celebrity, Sports

Grammar: Gerunds vs. Infinitives

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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In his first year out of the French-speaking Caribbean island, Guadeloupe, Rodrigue “Roddy” Beaubois has proved that he can score in the NBA. He’s good at long, three-point shots and has solid moves around the basket. He even scored 40 points in one game!

Some of Roddy’s most spectacular moments in his first season with the Dallas Mavericks involved the alley-oop, one of the most exciting plays in basketball. An alley-oop takes teamwork and involves a long pass, a high jump and a slam dunk, but Roddy will tell you more.

3. Watch - Watch the video without reading the dialog.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Jason

Rodrigue

Rodrigue

Jason:  Welcome to English, baby! I’m Jason here with Rodrigue Beaubois of the Dallas Mavericks. How are you?

Rodrigue:  I’m good, and you?

Jason:  Good! This is your rookie year, and you’ve thrown down a lot of amazing alley-oops this year. Could you tell us what an alley-oop is, for all the people learning English out there?

Rodrigue:  Someone is supposed to throw the ball in the air, the guy is supposed to take it, jumping, and just put the ball in. The purpose to just throw the ball in the air is so you can just dunk it, or lay it in, you know.

Jason:  And I’ve heard that the phrase “alley-oop” comes from a French phrase used by acrobats, something like “allez hop”, is that right?

Rodrigue:  I think it’s “allez hop” I guess, I don’t know!

Jason:  What does that mean?

Rodrigue:  Okay, “allez” is “let’s” but the last, I can’t really, I don’t know.

Jason:  Does it mean, like, “let’s go” or something like that?

Rodrigue:  Close, I guess.

Jason:  So how much English did you know when you got to the US, and how much has it improved over your first year here?

Rodrigue:  For sure I’ve improved a little bit, but, yeah, I’ve got a lot to learn because my English wasn’t good when I first came here so I still need to learn but it’s better every day.

Jason:  Thanks a lot Rodrigue, can I get you to give me a high five and say “English, baby!”?

Rodrigue:  English, baby!

 

Grammar Point

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Lesson MP3

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Discussion

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As Roddy explains, an alley-oop is when one player throws a long pass to another player, who jumps into the air, catches the ball and slam dunks it without touching the ground. It’s a move that requires teamwork and communication, and one that Roddy is likely to participate in on any given night.

The alley-oop is a pretty acrobatic play, especially for the player who finishes it. It makes sense then, that the term “alley-oop” comes from a phrase used by French acrobats, “allez hop.” Roddy, whose native language is French, says that the meaning of this phrase is close to “let’s go” but is a little hard to translate.

Is there a phrase in your language that’s similar to “let’s go?” What play would you like to see Roddy pull off this year in the NBA Playoffs?

 

Comments

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thanhchuong

United States

 In Vietnam ''let's go'' can be translated as '' chung ta di nhe ''.

04:01 AM May 20 2010 |

rameschanassuppakarn@yahoo.com

Thailand

   In Thai ''let's go'' can be translated as '' pai pai ''.

01:26 PM May 10 2010 |

maria_b

maria_bSuper Member!

Brazil

RODDY is one of my faves

 love to see him in the game

he cute too :)

02:24 AM May 06 2010 |

airjordanall

China

 Wholesale Purses, Wholesale Sandals ..ordans,nike air
dunk,nike air dunks,Nike shox,Nike shocks,Nike shox tl,Nike shox
nz,Nike shox r4,Nike shox ride,Nike shox turbo air jordan

02:09 AM May 05 2010 |

alcide

Italy

here in veneto we say (let's go)" dai movemose"

06:42 AM May 04 2010 |

Ahshan

Ahshan

China

i like to see NBA

11:08 PM May 03 2010 |

romerson brice

Haiti

hiii i how are you

09:26 PM May 03 2010 |

yeorche

Mexico

you can say   "...vamos" "..animo" ".. muevete" if you want more encourage  ..  " ..vamos cabron" good translation rosendo 

06:57 PM May 01 2010 |

rosendo

rosendo

Mexico

here in mexico we say "Vamos Cabron"

saludos.

01:13 AM May 01 2010 |

shalun

shalun

Russian Federation

In Russian this is famous "Поехали" (poehali). For example Gagarin said so before the first spaceflight.

And another analogue is "Вперед" (vperiod). It's closer to "go ahead".

08:23 PM Apr 30 2010 |

mionfabian

mionfabian

Brazil

in portuguese we say vamos mesmo rsrs…

but we have another ways like:

bora!! bora!!  -  Vai  – Anda      kkkkkkkk

does it sounds strange?? ;)

08:15 PM Apr 30 2010 |

Risk

Costa Rica

here in our country we say" vamos" similar to let's go and it's used to express motivation or encouragement ,now back with the news I hope that the  Boston Celtics   can win the eastern conference and then the finals this year  they have a good team with Garnett,the three point shooter Ray allen,Pierce andWallace, the team might win their 18 title  if they succeed beating the lakers  .

03:54 AM Apr 30 2010 |

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