Podcast 17
Podcast 17
In this week's podcast, Rich and Jack talk about Manchester Utd's Wayne Rooney, who this week became England's all-time leading goalscorer. Rooney now has 50 goals for England and broke a record that had lasted since 1970! Jack and Rich talk about vocabulary connected with records and take a look at how you can use comparative and superlative structures. They also offer some advice on how to become a better listener in English and Rich gives a prediction on the Man Utd - Liverpool match that takes place this weekend.
How much did you understand?
Wayne Rooney celebrating breaking the all-time goalscoring record for England.
We usually use the words more and the most to compare things. We use more to compare two things and the most to say something or someone is the best from a larger group of things/people. Take a look at the examples below and think about how you can use these words.
"...Wayne Rooney has scored more goals than Bobby Charlton."
" ....Wayne Rooney has scored the most goals in an England shirt."
We also use these words with comparative and superlative structures followed by an adjective:
"Wayne Rooney is more prolific than Gary Lineker."
"Wayne Rooney is the most prolific goalscorer in the England team's history."
Wayne Rooney now has 50 goals for England. Bobby Charlton (1958-1970) has 49 goals and Gary Lineker (1984-1992) has 48 goals.
Jack: Hello my name’s Jack and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.
Rich: Hi everyone. I’m Rich and every week we talk about football and help you with your English.
Jack: This week, we’re going to talk about Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, some Premier League records, the language of comparatives and superlatives, and Rich is going to make another Premier League prediction.
Rich: But, before we start: we recently had a comment from Cynthia in China. She found the listening activities in the ‘My Match Day’ section on our website quite difficult.
Jack: Listening in English can be quite difficult so we want to give you three tips to think about when you are listening.
Rich: The first is to think about what you going to listening to before you start listening. If you think about the topic and try to predict some words you might hear, this will help a lot.
Jack: An easy example are the football results. If you hear Manchester Utd 0 Arsenal….. you can predict that the next word will be a number.. probably 5 or 6!
Rich: Very funny, but yes, for example if you are going to listen to a teacher talking about food and cooking it’s a good idea for you to think about what you know about the topic.
Jack: Our second tip for listening to a video is: look at the pictures on the screen to help you. The pictures are usually connected to the topic so can really help you when you first start listening.
Rich: Yes, for example if you’re watching the weather forecast on the TV you can use the pictures to help you understand.
Jack: Yes and a football match’s commentary will often be the same as what you see on the screen.
Rich: Our last tip for listening online to language learning exercises like this podcast or the my match day listening is: read the transcript and listen again. This will help you with parts of the listening you didn’t understand. As you listen more and more often you will need to use the transcript less and less.
Jack: If you’re listening now, why don’t you tell us in the comments section if you think listening to these podcasts is easy or difficult. What do you do to improve your listening skills? Do you have any tips for Cynthia?
Rich: Right, let’s move on to this week’s football. What’s been happening in the Premier League this week, Jack?
Jack: As you know, there weren’t any Premier League matches this week, but there were quite a lot of international matches.
Rich: Yes, and every Premier League club had some players away on international duty.
Jack: This is a phrase we hear a lot: ‘international duty’. Can you explain it to our listeners?
Rich: Well, if you have a duty to do something it means that you have to do it because it’s your responsibility.
Jack: So when a player is chosen by their country they have a responsibility to represent their country and it is called international duty.
Rich: And this week Manchester Utd’s Wayne Rooney has created history while on international duty.
Jack: Yes, he has become England’s all-time top scorer. He’s now scored 50 international goals for England.
Rich: This record had lasted for 45 years!
Jack: It was Bobby Charlton who held the record before and he helped England win the World Cup in 1966 so it’s taken a long, long time to break this record.
Rich: There are a couple of interesting collocations that you used there: hold a record and break a record.
Jack: Yes, we use ‘hold a record’ to talk about the person who has the record so Bobby Charlton was the record holder. He held the record for 45 years.
Rich: And then Wayne Rooney ‘broke the record’: which means to do something better than before. We could also call Rooney a record breaker.
Jack: If we compare Rooney to Charlton we can now say that Wayne Rooney has scored more goals than Bobby Charlton.
Rich: Yes, we use ‘more than’ two compare two or more things. We can also say that Wayne Rooney has scored ‘the most’ goals in an England shirt.
Jack: And we use ‘the most’ to say that this is the greatest number or quantity of something.
Rich: So is Rooney the best striker in English football history? Is he better than Bobby Charlton, Alan Shearer or Gary Lineker who scored 10 goals in World Cup Finals for England?.
Jack: Here we are using adjectives to compare things and there are special comparative and superlative forms we use to do this. ‘Better’ is the comparative form of good which we can use to compare two things, like in these examples: Rooney is better than Charlton. Utd are better than City etc.
Rich: And ‘the best’ is the superlative form of the adjective ‘good’, which we usually use when saying the thing which is top, for example: Chelsea were the best team in the Premier League last season.
Jack: The adjective ‘good’ is irregular and doesn’t follow the rules of most comparative and superlative forms. If you want to learn more about these structures try the exercises we’ve put below the podcast or check out our Learn English website. We’ve put a link on the side of this page. http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/adjectives/comparative-and-superlative-adjectives
Rich: So who do you think is the best ever English striker, Jack?
Jack: I think it’s impossible to say who is the best or this player is better than that player because they played in different times and football has changed so much. But what you can say, is that Rooney is only 29 so he can score many more goals for England. He is the most prolific scorer in English football history and will hold this record for a long, long time and it will be very difficult for anyone to break.
Rich: That’s a very diplomatic answer. I like it.
Jack: Right, let’s move on. Have you got a prediction for us this week?
Rich: Wayne Rooney will be back from international duty and his record breaking week for England to play one of the biggest matches of the season, when Manchester Utd take on Liverpool at Old Trafford. Both teams will be trying to forget their recent results. Liverpool lost 3-0 at home to West Ham in their last match and Man Utd were beaten 2-1 at Swansea. There will be a fantastic atmosphere inside Old Trafford for this match as there is a huge rivalry between these fans. I think Liverpool will finish the match happier but will have to settle for a draw. Final result: Manchester Utd 1-1 Liverpool.
Jack: A draw. Now it’s your turn to be diplomatic!
Rich: Well, I can’t predict a Liverpool win every time!
Jack: If you’ve got a prediction for this match or any other Premier League match this weekend let us know in the comments section below.
Rich: Well that’s all for now. Thanks for listening.
Jack: If you’re listening to this on itunes or elsewhere, come back to Premier Skills English for some language activities, a quiz and lots more. You can find us at www.britishcouncil.org/ .
Rich: Don’t forget if you sign in, you can score points to see if you can get your club, your country and your name to the top of our leaderboard.
Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football.
Quiz
Please login to take this quiz.
Leave a comment
Log in to leave a comment
Komentar
22/08/2022
points
Is Wayne Rooney the greatest ever English striker? For now yes, but Harry Kane should be him in the following years.
Who has scored the most goals in the Premier League? Harry Kane since this week :)
Who has scored the most goals in the history of your country? Thierry Henry if I remember well
Is he your country's best ever player? No, for me it's Zidane but Henry was one of my favorite player for my country.
22/08/2022 09:59
Arsenal
566
Is Wayne Rooney the greatest ever English striker? For now yes, but Harry Kane should be him in the following years.
Who has scored the most goals in the Premier League? Harry Kane since this week :)
Who has scored the most goals in the history of your country? Thierry Henry if I remember well
Is he your country's best ever player? No, for me it's Zidane but Henry was one of my favorite player for my country.
12/01/2021
points
Oh, I forgot about the listening tips. I usually do the number three tip when I listen to this Podcast. Firstly, I listen to the audio without the transcript. Then, I answer the activity exercises to check my understanding. At last, I listen to the audio for the second time and read the transcript at the same time. I think it works for me. The more I practice, the better my listening skill is. I hope.
12/01/2021 10:51
Arsenal
124
Oh, I forgot about the listening tips. I usually do the number three tip when I listen to this Podcast. Firstly, I listen to the audio without the transcript. Then, I answer the activity exercises to check my understanding. At last, I listen to the audio for the second time and read the transcript at the same time. I think it works for me. The more I practice, the better my listening skill is. I hope.
12/01/2021
points
I should have written "lastly" instead of "at last". My bad. Actually, writing a comment is the last step I do in every podcast after repeating the audio. So, it's the "real" final step in every podcast I follow
12/01/2021 14:12
Arsenal
124
I should have written "lastly" instead of "at last". My bad. Actually, writing a comment is the last step I do in every podcast after repeating the audio. So, it's the "real" final step in every podcast I follow
12/01/2021
points
Thanks for all your comments, Najib.
We are very happy to receive them and read them.
Rich - The Premier Skills English Team
12/01/2021 14:29
Liverpool
594
Thanks for all your comments, Najib.
We are very happy to receive them and read them.
Rich - The Premier Skills English Team
12/01/2021
points
Alan Shearer has held a record as the most productive player in the Premier League, with 260 goals. That's excellent.
Soetjipto Soentoro scored the most goals in the history of the Indonesia national team (I found it on Wikipedia :))
12/01/2021 10:40
Arsenal
124
Alan Shearer has held a record as the most productive player in the Premier League, with 260 goals. That's excellent.
Soetjipto Soentoro scored the most goals in the history of the Indonesia national team (I found it on Wikipedia :))
12/01/2021
points
Same with Jack. It's hard to say who is the best because those players play in different eras. Holding a record is a huge achievement, but the record holder is not always the best, in my opinion. Many factors make some players show their best in a specific era compared to another era. I love watching tennis, so I give it as an example. When it comes to the GOAT, it's always debatable. Comparing Federer and Nadal is a never-ending discussion. Although they meet quite often in tennis matches for a long time, they live in a little bit different era. The players, the surfaces, etc are different. So, both are great players and their fans should respect each other.
12/01/2021 10:40
Arsenal
124
Same with Jack. It's hard to say who is the best because those players play in different eras. Holding a record is a huge achievement, but the record holder is not always the best, in my opinion. Many factors make some players show their best in a specific era compared to another era. I love watching tennis, so I give it as an example. When it comes to the GOAT, it's always debatable. Comparing Federer and Nadal is a never-ending discussion. Although they meet quite often in tennis matches for a long time, they live in a little bit different era. The players, the surfaces, etc are different. So, both are great players and their fans should respect each other.
04/05/2020
points
Alan Shearer scored 260 Goals in the EPL and he is the top scorer
04/05/2020 23:08
Manchester United
6539
Alan Shearer scored 260 Goals in the EPL and he is the top scorer
04/05/2020
points
I think Rooney is the best striker in English history
04/05/2020 23:07
Manchester United
6539
I think Rooney is the best striker in English history
11/04/2020
points
In my opinion, listening and understanding is the main area of learning a foreign language .It's most important than reading and writing.
To select best player is hard issue. It depends his/her position in formation, harmony among team, being well-disciplined etc.
In my country I think the player of Galatasay team "Metin OKTAY" is the best ever goalscorer. I am also fan of opponent team Beşiktaş-:)
11/04/2020 18:52
Tottenham Hotspur
5560
In my opinion, listening and understanding is the main area of learning a foreign language .It's most important than reading and writing.
To select best player is hard issue. It depends his/her position in formation, harmony among team, being well-disciplined etc.
In my country I think the player of Galatasay team "Metin OKTAY" is the best ever goalscorer. I am also fan of opponent team Beşiktaş-:)
29/09/2017
points
The best striker Wayne Rooney in England and Andriy Shevchenko in Ukraine.I hope the next record breaker will be Andriy Yarmolenko.
29/09/2017 06:57
Arsenal
2337
The best striker Wayne Rooney in England and Andriy Shevchenko in Ukraine.I hope the next record breaker will be Andriy Yarmolenko.
29/01/2017
points
not hard
29/01/2017 17:13
Manchester United
684
not hard
08/08/2016
points
The best ever player i will say is abedi pele
08/08/2016 04:01
Manchester United
4779
The best ever player i will say is abedi pele
08/08/2016
points
Asamoah Gyan has scored the most goals for ghana
08/08/2016 04:00
Manchester United
4779
Asamoah Gyan has scored the most goals for ghana
08/08/2016
points
Allen Shearer has scored the most goals in the premier league
08/08/2016 03:59
Manchester United
4779
Allen Shearer has scored the most goals in the premier league
08/08/2016
points
For now and till a long time to come he remains the greatest
08/08/2016 03:58
Manchester United
4779
For now and till a long time to come he remains the greatest
27/06/2016
points
rooney
tasfaout, no
27/06/2016 15:46
Manchester City
1734
rooney
tasfaout, no
27/06/2016
points
that's it
27/06/2016 15:44
Manchester City
1734
that's it
31/05/2016
points
At the beginning of season, we thought that Leicester City were under stress, but now we know hat they have been under control.
31/05/2016 14:15
Newcastle United
3189
At the beginning of season, we thought that Leicester City were under stress, but now we know hat they have been under control.
31/05/2016
points
I think that listening to this podcast is quite easy; you speak slowly, loudly and pronounce all letters clearly.
Yes, I have some tips for Cynthia, it’s an advice from an English teacher at British Council Tunisia. He thinks that listening to English songs and reading lyrics at same time could improve our skills in hearing. He also gave me the same advice than yours: watching news on TV and looking at highlights on the screen.
A final tip, listening daily to something English (podcast, video, news, songs…) for 20 minutes has a big impact to improve our skills.
31/05/2016 14:14
Newcastle United
3189
I think that listening to this podcast is quite easy; you speak slowly, loudly and pronounce all letters clearly.
Yes, I have some tips for Cynthia, it’s an advice from an English teacher at British Council Tunisia. He thinks that listening to English songs and reading lyrics at same time could improve our skills in hearing. He also gave me the same advice than yours: watching news on TV and looking at highlights on the screen.
A final tip, listening daily to something English (podcast, video, news, songs…) for 20 minutes has a big impact to improve our skills.
06/03/2016
points
No,I don't.I think he is Alan Shearer.
Alan Shearer has scored the most goals in the Premier League.
Hakan Sukur has scored the most goals,which is 247,in my country.He is not best ever player,he is one the best football player.
06/03/2016 20:30
Leicester City
1761
No,I don't.I think he is Alan Shearer.
Alan Shearer has scored the most goals in the Premier League.
Hakan Sukur has scored the most goals,which is 247,in my country.He is not best ever player,he is one the best football player.
04/01/2016
points
No,i think the best eve English striker is Alan Sherar. Alan Sherar has scored the most goals in the premier league.
04/01/2016 18:39
Liverpool
3705
No,i think the best eve English striker is Alan Sherar. Alan Sherar has scored the most goals in the premier league.
29/11/2015
points
Wayne Rooney still is going to be the best player in England.
Wayne Rooney has scored the most goals in the Premier League
In my country are two player that are retired from the football. Is Alban Bushi and Erion Bogdani both with 15 goal.
29/11/2015 13:37
Arsenal
128
Wayne Rooney still is going to be the best player in England.
Wayne Rooney has scored the most goals in the Premier League
In my country are two player that are retired from the football. Is Alban Bushi and Erion Bogdani both with 15 goal.
16/11/2015
points
Rooney is best striker for England
16/11/2015 15:58
Arsenal
2320
Rooney is best striker for England
01/11/2015
points
Sure. he does.
01/11/2015 00:15
Chelsea
1339
Sure. he does.
28/10/2015
points
Rooney the greatest? No, Messi and Ronaldo to my mind are the most prolific. By the way tastes differ.....Listening for me isn't very easy prossess but Cynthia's advises and transcript helped me a lot.I want to be more confident listener. So the more practice the better results like in football))))
28/10/2015 16:48
Chelsea
279
Rooney the greatest? No, Messi and Ronaldo to my mind are the most prolific. By the way tastes differ.....Listening for me isn't very easy prossess but Cynthia's advises and transcript helped me a lot.I want to be more confident listener. So the more practice the better results like in football))))
21/10/2015
points
I don't think he is the greatest ever, not yet. Alan Shearer. If you ask me, my country's best player ever is Dejan Savicevic.
21/10/2015 17:20
Arsenal
3557
I don't think he is the greatest ever, not yet. Alan Shearer. If you ask me, my country's best player ever is Dejan Savicevic.
01/10/2015
points
Rooney is the best striker in the English National team.
Lalmas is our best ever player since the birth of our Nation.
01/10/2015 21:52
Manchester City
3988
Rooney is the best striker in the English National team.
Lalmas is our best ever player since the birth of our Nation.
23/09/2015
points
Wayne Rooney doesn't play very well this season in Premier League and he doesn't score yet.
23/09/2015 13:23
West Ham United
538
Wayne Rooney doesn't play very well this season in Premier League and he doesn't score yet.
21/09/2015
points
No , I don't see Rooney is the greatest ever English striker , instead of he broke the record but he hasn't won any competition with England .
Alan shearer scored the most goals in epl.
21/09/2015 04:30
Chelsea
1814
No , I don't see Rooney is the greatest ever English striker , instead of he broke the record but he hasn't won any competition with England .
Alan shearer scored the most goals in epl.
21/09/2015
points
Who has scored the most goals in the history of your country? Is he your country's best ever play
21/09/2015 01:14
Chelsea
160
Who has scored the most goals in the history of your country? Is he your country's best ever play
18/09/2015
points
hello im hachani mostapha from algeria and im a huge fan of your page you are quys help me a lot for my english and its a great adea when you mix it with football and i have a question for you guys when i watch tv i heard sometimes the world __soccer __ what is means does it means football thank you
18/09/2015 16:03
Tottenham Hotspur
241
hello im hachani mostapha from algeria and im a huge fan of your page you are quys help me a lot for my english and its a great adea when you mix it with football and i have a question for you guys when i watch tv i heard sometimes the world __soccer __ what is means does it means football thank you
13/09/2015
points
i don't see Bobby Charlton so i can't compare between them, but Rooney is an awesome player, and he is my favorite striker right now.
Hosam Hassan has scored the most goals in Egypt. no, he isn't , my favorite player is Mohamed Abotrika
13/09/2015 14:03
Manchester United
8
i don't see Bobby Charlton so i can't compare between them, but Rooney is an awesome player, and he is my favorite striker right now.
Hosam Hassan has scored the most goals in Egypt. no, he isn't , my favorite player is Mohamed Abotrika
12/09/2015
points
It was a very pleasant podcast. Easy to hear and understand what is talked.
12/09/2015 15:49
Chelsea
44
It was a very pleasant podcast. Easy to hear and understand what is talked.
12/09/2015
points
Referring to the questions, I'm really proud of the fact that the former England's all-time top scorer and his record breaker are both strongly related to Man Utd. I admit Wayne Rooney is a great striker but I still think Bobby Charlton is better than him. The most important thing that determines my opinion is the fact that Bobby is among these who managed to win the World Cup considered to be the most important and desired trophy in football. Alan Shearer scored impressive 260 goals in the Premier League and this is of course the current record. Poland's all-time top scorer is Włodzimierz Lubański with 48 goals. However, to my mind Poland's best ever player is Zbigniew Boniek. My prediction for the match is a draw as well. I hope for a good game and lots of goals so I predict 2-2.
12/09/2015 01:18
Manchester United
146
Referring to the questions, I'm really proud of the fact that the former England's all-time top scorer and his record breaker are both strongly related to Man Utd. I admit Wayne Rooney is a great striker but I still think Bobby Charlton is better than him. The most important thing that determines my opinion is the fact that Bobby is among these who managed to win the World Cup considered to be the most important and desired trophy in football. Alan Shearer scored impressive 260 goals in the Premier League and this is of course the current record. Poland's all-time top scorer is Włodzimierz Lubański with 48 goals. However, to my mind Poland's best ever player is Zbigniew Boniek. My prediction for the match is a draw as well. I hope for a good game and lots of goals so I predict 2-2.
12/09/2015
points
For me listening to these podcasts is quite easy, I don't have any problems with understanding you since your pronunciation is very clear. I sometimes have to look some single words up in the dictionary, for example in this podcast I didn't know the meaning of 'prolific'. My way of improving listening skills is watching English/American TV series or movies with English subtiltes and it helped me a lot not only with my listening but also speaking skills as movies/TV series are great sources of various phrases used in everyday English. My advice is to treat listening as an entertainment. Also doing any listening exercises as often as possible would instantly make you feel more confident in this aspect of English.
12/09/2015 00:44
Manchester United
146
For me listening to these podcasts is quite easy, I don't have any problems with understanding you since your pronunciation is very clear. I sometimes have to look some single words up in the dictionary, for example in this podcast I didn't know the meaning of 'prolific'. My way of improving listening skills is watching English/American TV series or movies with English subtiltes and it helped me a lot not only with my listening but also speaking skills as movies/TV series are great sources of various phrases used in everyday English. My advice is to treat listening as an entertainment. Also doing any listening exercises as often as possible would instantly make you feel more confident in this aspect of English.