Is the English Language Institute typically sports-oriented?
This area of English language instruction actually has a name: It’s called “English for specific purposes.” In the past, we’ve trained a group of Saudi policemen who were gonna go into the Allegheny [County] police academy. We’ve had Japanese nurses. Every year we run a specific course for people that are interested in international politics and administration. Why basketball now? I think you probably noticed that Argentina beat the Dream Team in the Olympics. Serbia Montenegro is a major force. So there are a larger and larger number of players coming into the NBA from these different countries. Some of these players don’t know English very well. And that is a disadvantage, because one of the things that’s very important on a basketball court is that the players communicate with one another. So although the players may know a word, vaguely, what it means — they may not pronounce it exactly the same, or they may not be used to using it on court. The Chinese players would sometimes eit
