KARUNA SHINSHO, CNN ANCHOR: Beijing, Toronto and Paris have emerged as favorites to stage the 2008 Summer Olympics. The International Olympic Committee released a report endorsing the bids from the three cities. The host city will be named on July 13th. Beijing's bid for the games is sparking a keen interest among its residents in learning English. Dennis Dillon reports.</s>DENNIS DILLON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Across Beijing, English language classrooms are filling up. People are trying to learn to speak English in anticipation of the city winning the bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want to learn English so I can make more friends.</s>DILLON: Officials in Beijing hope if the residents learn English, it will help boost Beijing's chances of staging the Olympic Games. Paris, Osaka, Toronto and also pushing to host the Olympics. Beijing's bid for the games has become something of a national crusade, and people here seem more than willing to learn some English phrases. This taxi driver learns as he works.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to Beijing.</s>DILLON: He's listening to Beijing's people radio station, where the "Learning to Speak English" program is one of the most popular shows. The host says she hopes it will help people communicate with visitors to the Olympics.</s>ZHOU MIN, RADIO HOST: If the Games is held in Beijing, and there will be a lot of people from around the world come to Beijing, and for Chinese people, Beijingers have more opportunities to communicate with them.</s>DILLON: An estimated 600,000 people in Beijing have taken up English in the past few months. Now they may not all become fluent, but at least they will know some key phrases.</s>UNIDENTIFIED PERSONS: Fried chicken.</s>DILLON: Denise Dillon, CNN.
Beijing's Bid for Games Sparking Keen Interest Among Its Residents in Learning English