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The Weather - Podcast 61

The Weather - Podcast 61

In this week's Premier Skills English podcast, Rich and Jack talk about pre-season tours and what happens when the weather stops you from doing what you want to do. The language focus is on phrases that we use to talk about the weather and we focus on the /p/ and /b/ sounds in our pronunciation section. Our Club of the Week is Manchester City and we have news about our Fantasy Football team. We also have news of a new mini-course for you to join.

How much did you understand?

Vocabulary - The Weather

In the podcast, Rich and Jack used lots of words to describe the weather and how the weather can affect football matches. You can see two examples here: 

There have been lots of storms and heavy rain.

The derby match between City and Utd has been called off.

Manchester Utd fans in China were very disappointed that the Manchester derby had to be called off. 

There were a few more tricky words in the podcast. Can you remember all of them? Try the activity below to see how much you know, then try to find the words in the podcast and listen to how we use the words in context. This can really help with understanding.

Activity 1: In this activity, you have to match the words and phrases to their definitions.
How many words can you remember?

Language - The Weather

Talking about the weather is a very common topic in the UK, we often talk about the weather when we are talking to people we don't know very well or when we are passing neighbours in the street. This type of polite conversation is called 'small talk'. Small talk covers topics such as the weather, the time, holidays and very often football! You can find out more in our lesson about small talk in our English Game series. Here we're going to concentrate on one of these topics; the weather. It can be very useful to know some phrases to start a conversation about the weather. Have a look at these phrases below:

It's a lovely day, isn't it?

We're having horrible weather at the moment, aren't we?

This heat is awful. You can't do anything, can you?

Do you think this rain will ever stop? 

The first question is the most polite. The adjective can be changed to 'awful' or 'horrible' if the weather is not very good. The weather is often not very good in the UK and people love to complain about it! We often use tag questions like in the examples above - this allows us to say a sentence and allow the listener to agree with us. We often complain if the weather is too cold or if it rains too much, but when we do have hot and sunny weather (it does happen sometimes!) we often complain about that, too!

Vocabulary - The Weather

Let's start by looking at some basic words, then we will look at some more difficult phrases in the activity below. Can you describe the weather easily? Have a look at the exercise below, then look out of the window. What's the weather like today?

Activity 2: In this activity, take a look at some weather words and see if you know all of them.
Can you match the weather words?

The weather can often cause problems in football. Look at this Premier League match between Sunderland and Manchester City!

Hot and cold weather

People often say it's hot outside or it's cold outside when they talk about the weather but there are many other phrases to tell people that it is hot or cold. In the activity below, look at these more difficult words and phrases and decide if it means hot or cold.

Activity 3: In this activity, we are looking at more advanced vocabulary. Look at the words and phrases and decide if the word means it is hot or cold.
Is it hot or cold?

Pronunciation - Similar  Sounds

In this week's podcast, we looked at the pronunciation of two consonant sounds. The sounds were /b/ and /p/. These sounds are very similar. The only difference is that the /p/ sound is unvoiced and the /b/ sound is voiced. This means that only air passes through your mouth to make the /p/ sound but for the /b/ sound you use your vocal chords. The sounds /b/ and /p/ can be difficult for some learners. In the podcast, Jack and Rich showed you how to use a piece of paper to know if you're saying the sounds correctly. Have a look at the examples in the table and try saying the words with a piece of paper in front of your mouth! 

Similar Sounds

/p/

/b/

football pitch football
player substitutes bench
professional foul a booking

Finally, try saying this difficult sentence with some /b/ sounds and /p/ sounds. Remember, the paper should move on /p/ and remain still on /b/.

The players ran onto the football pitch and the referee blew his whistle.

Tottenham are travelling a total of 36,158 kilometres on their pre-season tours; including a trip to Australia to play Juventus.

Transcript

If the listening was a bit difficult, you can listen again and read the transcript at the same time.
Read the transcript and listen at the same time.

Welcome 

Rich: Hello my name’s Rich and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Jack: Hi everyone. I’m Jack and every week we talk about football and help you with your English.

Rich: This week we’re going to talk about pre-season tours and the language focus is going to be on language we use to talk about the weather.

Jack. We’ll also have our pronunciation, fantasy football and football phrase sections for y ou later. And we have our second pre-season mini-course for you to complete.

Rich: Well done to Alex from Ukraine who was the first to complete our first pre-season course last week. Well done to the rest of you who completed it, too. We hope that you found it useful.

Jack: If you haven’t started the course yet, don’t worry. Just go to the fans section at the top of the page and click on courses. You will find last week’s course and all the courses that are available for you on Premier Skills English.

Rich: That’s right - we’re going to try to have a new course for you every week. And, we’ll use this podcast to help you with some parts of the course - so maybe it’s a good idea to start the course now. Can you see the button on the side of the page that says ‘join course’ - click it now, then continue listening!

Jack: We will look at some of the different parts of the course in this podcast. Don’t forget to click on the mark as complete button when you finish each section.

Rich: But remember to come back to the podcast after you complete each section because this is the first section in this week’s course!

Jack: Right, that all sounds good. Let’s get on with the show!

Social

Jack: What’s been happening on the website this week, Rich?

Rich: As I said earlier, we’ve got out first pre-season course up and running. We’ve also got a new article on strikers with some more advanced football language.

Jack: Like what?

Rich: One example in the article is the word goalhanger which is quite difficult. I bet you were a goal hanger at school!

Jack Never!

Rich: We all did it sometimes. It’s when a player stays very close to the other team’s goal to try to score easy goals.

Jack: Ha! Yes, I remember and at school in the playground we never played offside. Sometimes matches would finish 24-25 and we only played for 30 minutes!

Rich: So, if you want to look for some more difficult vocabulary have a look at our strikers article and quiz on the homepage.

Jack: We also had some great comments from new members last week. Pre-season course 1 involved looking at the Manchester Utd page and we had lots of opinions about the Red Devils.

Rich: Bokan Mohamad from Iraq is excited about Ibrahimovic at Manchester Utd and Mostafa Ellafy from Egypt thinks that United will be stronger this season. But Davilillons, an Arsenal fan from Spain, thinks they still need to sign some more players.

Latest News / Language Focus

Jack:  What’s been happening in the Premier League this week, Rich?

Rich: There have been more new signings this week. The biggest is probably Georginio Wijnaldum who Liverpool have signed from Newcastle for about £25 million or maybe Alvaro Negredo, the ex-Man City striker, who Middlesbrough have signed from Valencia in Spain.

Jack: Very exciting. It’s good to see a new team getting a top striker like Negredo.

Rich: Yes, maybe he would be a good buy for the Premier Skills Fantasy Football team, but more about that later. What else has been happening?

Jack: Premier League clubs are preparing for the new season, which involves lots of training and pre-season friendly matches and lots of clubs are on pre-season tours.

Rich: That’s right! I saw last week that Premier League clubs will travel 172 thousand miles on pre-season tours that’s 277 thousand kilometres!

Jack: That’s a lot of miles or kilometres! 

Rich: Premier League clubs are visiting 14 countries during pre-season. Tottenham will fly the furthest when they go to Australia, but the USA is the most popular country to visit. 8 Premier League teams have visited or will visit the US during pre-season.

Jack: I’ve seen that the two Manchester clubs, City and Utd, are in China. But it’s not all going to plan.

Rich: No, it isn’t. There has been horrible weather in China. There have been lots of storms and heavy rain.

Jack: It sounds just like Manchester!

Rich: Yes, I know. Manchester is well-known for a city where it rains a lot but I think the rain in Beijing this week has been a lot heavier.

Jack: Yes, and the derby match between city and utd, I won’t call it a friendly match because it’s difficult for a derby to be a friendly, has been called off.

Rich: Called off?

Jack: Yes, called off is a phrasal verb that means to be cancelled. The match between Manchester City and Manchester Utd has been called off, it’s been cancelled because of the weather.

Rich: This means the match won’t be played again because it was only a friendly. In the Premier League, when a match is called off because of bad weather we say the match is postponed.

Jack: Postponed means cancelled but will happen again in the future on a different day.

Rich: And this is different from delayed. A match can be delayed by a few minutes because of bad weather or because the players haven’t arrived or something. But a match is delayed by a few minutes or maybe hours; when a match is postponed it’s played on a different day.

Jack: And when a match is cancelled it is permanent like the Manchester Derby in Beijing. It’s a pity because it would have been the first ever derby to be played abroad - outside of the UK.

Rich: The weather can often cause problems for people and in our activities this week we’re looking at vocabulary to describe the weather and asking you if the weather has ever stopped you doing something you wanted to do.

Club of the Week

Jack: This week’s club of the week is Manchester City. What’s new at City this season?

Rich: Well, as you probably know, the biggest change at City this season is the manager.

Jack: Of course, this season City’s manager will be Pep Guardiola - definitely one of the best managers a team can have.

Rich: Yes, he’s had lots of success at Bayern Munich in the last three seasons but he’s most famous for the Barcelona team that won the Champions League twice and the Spanish League three times.

Jack: And, has he brought in any new players, yet?

Rich: He’s bought the Spanish winger, Nolito but the biggest buy so far is Ilkay Gundogan from Borussia Dortmund. He’s a German international midfielder and I think he will be a big player for City this season.

Jack: We had an interesting comment from Jane Lost from Russia on the Manchester City page. She says that many people say that City have no history as a big club. She then says City’s history is being written now. What do you think? Is the history of a football club important? Rich - You’ve predicted that City will win win the League this season!

Rich: I know. I’m feeling nervous about my prediction.

Jack: Go to the Manchester City page as part of this week’s pre-season course and tell us if you agree with Jane and if you agree with Rich’s prediction.

Pronunciation

Rich: Each week we’re going to help you with your pronunciation. Sometimes we will look at individual sounds, sometimes at words and phrases and sometimes linking sentences together.

Jack: This week, we want to help you with two sounds that are sometimes difficult. The sounds are /p/ and /b/. Some learners find it difficult to notice the difference and pronounce the sounds the same.

Rich: But they are different and  there is one easy way to check.

Jack: What’s that, Rich?

Rich: Well, when you say the sound /p/ like football pitch some air comes out of your mouth. But when you say /b/ like football, or ball no air comes out of your mouth.

Jack: OK, but how do you know if air is coming out or not.

Rich: This is the clever part. Put a piece of paper in front of your mouth and say football pitch. If you are saying it correctly the paper will move when you say the /p/ sound. Then say football, football, football. The paper shouldn’t move.

Jack: Nice. I think it’s a good idea  for practising these sounds but maybe not in public!!

Football Phrase

Rich: Last week’s football phrase was transfer window. There are two transfer windows. One in January and one in the summer. These are the periods of the year when clubs can buy and sell players.

Jack: Well done to Alex from Ukraine, Kwesimanifest from Ghana, Aragorn1986 from Montenegro, AssemJuve from Palestine, Rema from Serbia, Safwan20000 from Saudi Arabia, Haydi from Tunisia and Bokan Mohamad from Iraq. All of you go the correct answer!  

Rich: Have you got  a new phrase for us this week?

Jack: Yes, this week’s football phrase is **** *******. This is a phrase that connects football and something we’ve been speaking about in this week’s podcast and that you can read more about in the lesson - the weather. The phrase is **** *******. The phrase describes a team or a player who hasn’t scored for a long time. You say a player or a team is suffering from a **** *******. The second word is a weather word that is used to describe the weather when it hasn’t rained for a long time.

Rich: Definitely, not a problem we have in the UK most of the time. It’s always raining here.

Fantasy Football

Jack: We’ve started to build our Fantasy Football team on Premier Skills English. We’ve already chosen our strikers.

Rich: As part of this week’s course - Pre-season course 2 go to the discussion on midfielders and help us choose five midfielders for the Premier Skills Fantasy Football squad!

Jack: Remember you can enter your own team in our Premier Skills League on the Premier League website, too!

Rich: Fantastic! Right, well,  that’s all we have time for today!

Jack: Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and the football phrase in the comments below. And remember to join this week’s Premier Skills English course by clicking on Pre-Season Course 2 on the side of this page.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football!

Quiz

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What do you think?

In this week’s podcast, we spoke about the weather and how it can affect football matches.

Are football matches often postponed in your country? Why?

What's the weather like in your country? What weather do you like best?

Has the weather ever stopped you doing something that you wanted to do?

Remember, check out our Fantasy Football Page to find out how you can play Fantasy Football with us on Premier Skills English.

Write all your answers and comments plus the answer to this week's football phrase in the comments section below.

If you want us to correct your English, just write 'correct me' at the beginning of your comment.

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Comentários

Etto's picture
Etto
15/01/2022
EG
41
points

Usually in Egypt, we don't have severe weather conditions either in winter or summer. In winter, it's a bit cold at night and it rains occasionally, yet, not in torrents.
In summer, it's a scorcher in the morning but usually, football matches are played at night with plenty of water available for the players to drink during scheduled breaks during the matches.


Etto's picture
Etto
15/01/2022 10:14
Egypt
Liverpool
41

Usually in Egypt, we don't have severe weather conditions either in winter or summer. In winter, it's a bit cold at night and it rains occasionally, yet, not in torrents.
In summer, it's a scorcher in the morning but usually, football matches are played at night with plenty of water available for the players to drink during scheduled breaks during the matches.

mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
14/05/2020
TR
6539
points

I think the football phrase for this week is ( goal drought )


mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
14/05/2020 05:07
Turkey
Manchester United
6539

I think the football phrase for this week is ( goal drought )

mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
14/05/2020
TR
6539
points

Once we were playing football and it was snowing but some of our players couldn't continue the games because they couldn't move properly so we stopped the game


mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
14/05/2020 04:55
Turkey
Manchester United
6539

Once we were playing football and it was snowing but some of our players couldn't continue the games because they couldn't move properly so we stopped the game

mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
14/05/2020
TR
6539
points

It's freezing cold in Winter and boiling hot in Summer here in Izmir
I do like the cold weather with breeze. I think it's very good for local football matches with my friends :)


mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
14/05/2020 04:54
Turkey
Manchester United
6539

It's freezing cold in Winter and boiling hot in Summer here in Izmir
I do like the cold weather with breeze. I think it's very good for local football matches with my friends :)

mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
14/05/2020
TR
6539
points

Football matches are rarely postponed in Turkey because the weather is almost nice most of the times :)


mobeckham's picture
mobeckham
14/05/2020 04:52
Turkey
Manchester United
6539

Football matches are rarely postponed in Turkey because the weather is almost nice most of the times :)

sabanoleg
23/10/2017
UA
2337
points

The nature has not a bad weather.


sabanoleg
23/10/2017 08:16
Ukraine
Arsenal
2337

The nature has not a bad weather.

Ahmed Adam Mamado's picture
Ahmed Adam Mamado
17/04/2017
SD
2903
points

correct me

1- Yes, because of fixture clashes like CAF Champions League match and local match in the same day

2 in the West and the South its quiet cold most time of the year, but its often very hot in summer especially in the North. I love the rain, As we don't have springhear

3 No


Ahmed Adam Mamado's picture
Ahmed Adam Mamado
17/04/2017 07:08
Sudan
Liverpool
2903

correct me

1- Yes, because of fixture clashes like CAF Champions League match and local match in the same day

2 in the West and the South its quiet cold most time of the year, but its often very hot in summer especially in the North. I love the rain, As we don't have springhear

3 No

alimiloud's picture
alimiloud
14/08/2016
DZ
160
points

in algeria the football matches are postponed Because of violence in stadiums
in algeria the weather is sunny but meI like the cold weather
the Hot weather does not help me for the practice of my favorit sport (running sport )


alimiloud's picture
alimiloud
14/08/2016 00:23
Algeria
Chelsea
160

in algeria the football matches are postponed Because of violence in stadiums
in algeria the weather is sunny but meI like the cold weather
the Hot weather does not help me for the practice of my favorit sport (running sport )

VladimirPanov's picture
VladimirPanov
08/08/2016
RU
16
points

!CORRECT ME PLEASE!
Hello!
My name is Vladimir. I'm from Moscow, Russia.
I'd want to write a few words about the weather. Well, It's was sweltering on July. The temperature rose to 32 C. Definetly by me it was hard but now in the end of August we can breathe fresh air. Autumn is coming...
Thank you a lot for the podcasts and for all the excercises.
Sincerely Yours Vladimir.


VladimirPanov's picture
VladimirPanov
08/08/2016 15:05
Russia
Manchester City
16

!CORRECT ME PLEASE!
Hello!
My name is Vladimir. I'm from Moscow, Russia.
I'd want to write a few words about the weather. Well, It's was sweltering on July. The temperature rose to 32 C. Definetly by me it was hard but now in the end of August we can breathe fresh air. Autumn is coming...
Thank you a lot for the podcasts and for all the excercises.
Sincerely Yours Vladimir.

Rich's picture
Rich
08/08/2016
ES
594
points

Hi Vladimir

Thanks for your message and welcome to Premier Skills English!

It sounds hot in Moscow! Your English is fantastic but you one area to work on is prepositions. Have a look at your message below and look at the corrections. We have a podcast about prepositions that might help: http://premierskillsenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/listen/podcasts/po...

Well, It's was sweltering on in July. The temperature rose to 32 C. Definitely by for me it was hard but now in at the end of August we can breathe fresh air. Autumn is coming...
Thank you a lot for the podcasts and for all the exercises.

Hope that helps.

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team


Rich's picture
Rich
08/08/2016 15:24
Spain
Liverpool
594

Hi Vladimir

Thanks for your message and welcome to Premier Skills English!

It sounds hot in Moscow! Your English is fantastic but you one area to work on is prepositions. Have a look at your message below and look at the corrections. We have a podcast about prepositions that might help: http://premierskillsenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/listen/podcasts/po...

Well, It's was sweltering on in July. The temperature rose to 32 C. Definitely by for me it was hard but now in at the end of August we can breathe fresh air. Autumn is coming...
Thank you a lot for the podcasts and for all the exercises.

Hope that helps.

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team

VladimirPanov's picture
VladimirPanov
08/08/2016
RU
16
points

Thanks and nice to meet you!


VladimirPanov's picture
VladimirPanov
08/08/2016 15:31
Russia
Manchester City
16

Thanks and nice to meet you!

VladimirPanov's picture
VladimirPanov
08/08/2016
RU
16
points

Thank you Rich and nice to meet you!


VladimirPanov's picture
VladimirPanov
08/08/2016 15:28
Russia
Manchester City
16

Thank you Rich and nice to meet you!

davilillons
04/08/2016
ES
951
points

You don't imagine the heat that we have in my city. 40º degrees!! It's scorching and sweltering. Correct me


davilillons
04/08/2016 18:28
Spain
Arsenal
951

You don't imagine the heat that we have in my city. 40º degrees!! It's scorching and sweltering. Correct me

Rich's picture
Rich
04/08/2016
ES
594
points

This is great English, Davilillons! The only thing that you really need to remember is that we say 'You can't imagine....'


Rich's picture
Rich
04/08/2016 21:55
Spain
Liverpool
594

This is great English, Davilillons! The only thing that you really need to remember is that we say 'You can't imagine....'

TatkaNatka's picture
TatkaNatka
04/08/2016
RU
243
points

Rich,Jack where is the article about strikers with some advanced football language? I'm lost))


TatkaNatka's picture
TatkaNatka
04/08/2016 17:50
Russia
Arsenal
243

Rich,Jack where is the article about strikers with some advanced football language? I'm lost))

admin's picture
admin
04/08/2016
GB
560
points

Hi TatkaNatka

We're going to put these pages together in the vocabulary section soon, but for now, you can only find it on the Fantasy Football discussion page. Here's the direct link: http://premierskillsenglish.britishcouncil.org/course-stages/strikers

Thanks

Jack


admin's picture
admin
04/08/2016 19:18
United Kingdom
Arsenal
560

Hi TatkaNatka

We're going to put these pages together in the vocabulary section soon, but for now, you can only find it on the Fantasy Football discussion page. Here's the direct link: http://premierskillsenglish.britishcouncil.org/course-stages/strikers

Thanks

Jack

TatkaNatka's picture
TatkaNatka
04/08/2016
RU
243
points

People in my city discuss the weather every day because this august is very hot and we are tired of the weather. There is no rain for a long time. Footballers from my school prefer to play the match when the weather is a little bit rainy and cool. if it is hot the head is difficult to think and the legs don't want to run. Poor footballers they often play when the weather is hot and the matches are not postponed in such weather. Weather is always unpredictable in my city. But this august has started with extreme high temperature and people is allowed to swim everywhere even in the fountains. Unfortunately I couldn't answer the football phrase - a transfer window. I coudn't guess the second word but I remember this definition was from one of the previous podcast.


TatkaNatka's picture
TatkaNatka
04/08/2016 17:39
Russia
Arsenal
243

People in my city discuss the weather every day because this august is very hot and we are tired of the weather. There is no rain for a long time. Footballers from my school prefer to play the match when the weather is a little bit rainy and cool. if it is hot the head is difficult to think and the legs don't want to run. Poor footballers they often play when the weather is hot and the matches are not postponed in such weather. Weather is always unpredictable in my city. But this august has started with extreme high temperature and people is allowed to swim everywhere even in the fountains. Unfortunately I couldn't answer the football phrase - a transfer window. I coudn't guess the second word but I remember this definition was from one of the previous podcast.

haydi's picture
haydi
03/08/2016
TN
3189
points

‘The weather’, it’s the most important subject we’re talking about these times, because since some months weather has become unpredictable. Our weather was so beautiful in all seasons, and we can distinguish between them. Last winter, it was so hot and spring wasn’t so pretty, and now the summer is sometimes too windy or extremely hot for such a Mediterranean country!
Although we’re Muslims, so criticizing weather is forbidden (it’s like discussing God which is totally banned), many facebook admins make a lot of jokes about weather and mix them to politics under the idea of ‘free expression’. I don’t like some jokes like: the summer refuses to quit without the permission of president, or ‘say to the winter that the spring is waiting’, etc.
The other big problem that our agriculture is still traditional, so the harvest depends on quantity of rain; but when it rains, even not cats and dogs like in the UK, it causes loads of problem, especially in the capital Tunis, due to the bad infrastructure. It’s same for the football matches, when it is raining, even a little, some pitches become like swimming pools. So matches are postponed or even called off.
Last winter, it was so hot and so dry. Consequently, water storage decreases so much, and now we have many problems in water feedings. We hope that this autumn will give us some rain, if not it will be a lot of droughts.


haydi's picture
haydi
03/08/2016 19:03
Tunisia
Newcastle United
3189

‘The weather’, it’s the most important subject we’re talking about these times, because since some months weather has become unpredictable. Our weather was so beautiful in all seasons, and we can distinguish between them. Last winter, it was so hot and spring wasn’t so pretty, and now the summer is sometimes too windy or extremely hot for such a Mediterranean country!
Although we’re Muslims, so criticizing weather is forbidden (it’s like discussing God which is totally banned), many facebook admins make a lot of jokes about weather and mix them to politics under the idea of ‘free expression’. I don’t like some jokes like: the summer refuses to quit without the permission of president, or ‘say to the winter that the spring is waiting’, etc.
The other big problem that our agriculture is still traditional, so the harvest depends on quantity of rain; but when it rains, even not cats and dogs like in the UK, it causes loads of problem, especially in the capital Tunis, due to the bad infrastructure. It’s same for the football matches, when it is raining, even a little, some pitches become like swimming pools. So matches are postponed or even called off.
Last winter, it was so hot and so dry. Consequently, water storage decreases so much, and now we have many problems in water feedings. We hope that this autumn will give us some rain, if not it will be a lot of droughts.

Rich's picture
Rich
04/08/2016
ES
594
points

Hi Haydi

Thanks for this great post. It's really interesting to hear how people talk about the weather in different countries and, even if you don't like it, it's fascinating to hear how the weather is used to actually discuss different issues. I wonder if this is the case in other countries, too? I hope it rains in Tunisia this Autumn so there won't be any droughts.

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team


Rich's picture
Rich
04/08/2016 08:56
Spain
Liverpool
594

Hi Haydi

Thanks for this great post. It's really interesting to hear how people talk about the weather in different countries and, even if you don't like it, it's fascinating to hear how the weather is used to actually discuss different issues. I wonder if this is the case in other countries, too? I hope it rains in Tunisia this Autumn so there won't be any droughts.

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team

haydi's picture
haydi
02/08/2016
TN
3189
points

Jack, Rich, you make me laugh at the trick of /p/ and /b/ pronunciation! What a strategic method to check up!
By the way, in Arabic, we have no /p/ sound, for that the majority of Arabs pronounce it /b/, except the Tunisians, Algerians and Moroccans, may be because we have already many French words in our spoken accents, including words with /p/ sound.
I remember that bad joke told by my English teacher in secondary school about ‘park’ and ‘bark’.


haydi's picture
haydi
02/08/2016 20:59
Tunisia
Newcastle United
3189

Jack, Rich, you make me laugh at the trick of /p/ and /b/ pronunciation! What a strategic method to check up!
By the way, in Arabic, we have no /p/ sound, for that the majority of Arabs pronounce it /b/, except the Tunisians, Algerians and Moroccans, may be because we have already many French words in our spoken accents, including words with /p/ sound.
I remember that bad joke told by my English teacher in secondary school about ‘park’ and ‘bark’.

haydi's picture
haydi
02/08/2016
TN
3189
points

This week’s phrase is ‘period of drought’?
[From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia: In sports, a ‘drought’ refers to instances in which an individual or team has gone through a lengthy period of time without accomplishing some goal. For a team, this usually refers to an extended period of time without making the playoffs or winning a championship. Droughts occur for a variety of reasons, from chronic mismanagement to bad luck. Some droughts are also popularly attributed to a curse.]


haydi's picture
haydi
02/08/2016 20:58
Tunisia
Newcastle United
3189

This week’s phrase is ‘period of drought’?
[From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia: In sports, a ‘drought’ refers to instances in which an individual or team has gone through a lengthy period of time without accomplishing some goal. For a team, this usually refers to an extended period of time without making the playoffs or winning a championship. Droughts occur for a variety of reasons, from chronic mismanagement to bad luck. Some droughts are also popularly attributed to a curse.]

Rich's picture
Rich
02/08/2016
ES
594
points

Drought is right but 'period of drought' is not the right phrase sad


Rich's picture
Rich
02/08/2016 21:17
Spain
Liverpool
594

Drought is right but 'period of drought' is not the right phrase sad

haydi's picture
haydi
02/08/2016
TN
3189
points

so it's ''**** *******"?


haydi's picture
haydi
02/08/2016 21:29
Tunisia
Newcastle United
3189

so it's ''**** *******"?

Rich's picture
Rich
02/08/2016
ES
594
points

That's right, well done!


Rich's picture
Rich
02/08/2016 21:37
Spain
Liverpool
594

That's right, well done!

haydi's picture
haydi
02/08/2016
TN
3189
points

Finallay! It seems that the courses are quit difficult, I need to focus to complete them!


haydi's picture
haydi
02/08/2016 21:41
Tunisia
Newcastle United
3189

Finallay! It seems that the courses are quit difficult, I need to focus to complete them!

aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
01/08/2016
ME
3557
points

Yes, few times I couldn't go to the University due to the hard snow that covered everything for a week. We had to work really hard even to free some space in front of the house and from the roof.


aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
01/08/2016 14:10
Montenegro
Arsenal
3557

Yes, few times I couldn't go to the University due to the hard snow that covered everything for a week. We had to work really hard even to free some space in front of the house and from the roof.

aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
01/08/2016
ME
3557
points

The weather in my country can vary a lot. In the hottest summer days the temperature can be 40-43 C and in the winter it can be - 20. I prefer both summer and winter.


aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
01/08/2016 14:07
Montenegro
Arsenal
3557

The weather in my country can vary a lot. In the hottest summer days the temperature can be 40-43 C and in the winter it can be - 20. I prefer both summer and winter.

aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
01/08/2016
ME
3557
points

Football matches are often postponed in MNE during the winter due to the bad weather and poor condition of the pitches.


aragorn1986's picture
aragorn1986
01/08/2016 14:05
Montenegro
Arsenal
3557

Football matches are often postponed in MNE during the winter due to the bad weather and poor condition of the pitches.

Hassan_raja447
31/07/2016
PK
837
points

Football phrase is **** *******.


Hassan_raja447
31/07/2016 05:03
Pakistan
Liverpool
837

Football phrase is **** *******.

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
30/07/2016
GH
4779
points

The weather stopped me from attending school sometime back
It rained heavily for 6 hours continuous


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
30/07/2016 15:52
Ghana
Manchester United
4779

The weather stopped me from attending school sometime back
It rained heavily for 6 hours continuous

elghoul's picture
elghoul
28/07/2016
DZ
3988
points

It is scorching these last july days here in Algiers.
Football matches can be postponed for weather conditions or security reasons.
In lower divisions and football competition for youngsters it happened last year that matches had been called off and lost for home teams because the health squad was not there in the stadium at the fixed time.
Manchester City has the ambition to take on a historical step with Guardiola. I don't know if Nasri is well viewed for this goal.


elghoul's picture
elghoul
28/07/2016 17:03
Algeria
Manchester City
3988

It is scorching these last july days here in Algiers.
Football matches can be postponed for weather conditions or security reasons.
In lower divisions and football competition for youngsters it happened last year that matches had been called off and lost for home teams because the health squad was not there in the stadium at the fixed time.
Manchester City has the ambition to take on a historical step with Guardiola. I don't know if Nasri is well viewed for this goal.

assemjuve's picture
assemjuve
28/07/2016
PS
3705
points

Can you give me please some help so i can know the phrase of this week, i can not get it.


assemjuve's picture
assemjuve
28/07/2016 17:03
Palestinian Territory
Liverpool
3705

Can you give me please some help so i can know the phrase of this week, i can not get it.

Rich's picture
Rich
28/07/2016
ES
594
points

Hi AssemJuve

OK, but I'm not going to make it easy for you! The phrase is a topic near the end of this article: http://www.bbc.com.b.tldw.me/sport/football/34371024

Let me know if you find it. Good luck!

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team


Rich's picture
Rich
28/07/2016 22:31
Spain
Liverpool
594

Hi AssemJuve

OK, but I'm not going to make it easy for you! The phrase is a topic near the end of this article: http://www.bbc.com.b.tldw.me/sport/football/34371024

Let me know if you find it. Good luck!

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team

assemjuve's picture
assemjuve
28/07/2016
PS
3705
points

Once a time i planned with my friends to go and play basketball but a sand storm happened and we could not play.


assemjuve's picture
assemjuve
28/07/2016 17:02
Palestinian Territory
Liverpool
3705

Once a time i planned with my friends to go and play basketball but a sand storm happened and we could not play.

assemjuve's picture
assemjuve
28/07/2016
PS
3705
points

The weather in my country is often hot, the best weather that i like is the moderate weather.


assemjuve's picture
assemjuve
28/07/2016 17:00
Palestinian Territory
Liverpool
3705

The weather in my country is often hot, the best weather that i like is the moderate weather.

assemjuve's picture
assemjuve
28/07/2016
PS
3705
points

Sometimes they are postponed because of sand storms.or because of dust.


assemjuve's picture
assemjuve
28/07/2016 16:59
Palestinian Territory
Liverpool
3705

Sometimes they are postponed because of sand storms.or because of dust.

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/07/2016
GH
4779
points

If a match gets postponed it could be because of bad weather or some riot in the stadium by a section of fans which seldomly happendix though.


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/07/2016 15:18
Ghana
Manchester United
4779

If a match gets postponed it could be because of bad weather or some riot in the stadium by a section of fans which seldomly happendix though.

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/07/2016
GH
4779
points

Good one there Rich
That's my preschool rhyme


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/07/2016 15:17
Ghana
Manchester United
4779

Good one there Rich
That's my preschool rhyme

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/07/2016
GH
4779
points

Hi Rich
It's an example which involves words picked from the table containing similar sounds.


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/07/2016 14:32
Ghana
Manchester United
4779

Hi Rich
It's an example which involves words picked from the table containing similar sounds.

Rich's picture
Rich
28/07/2016
ES
594
points

smiley I get it now!! Sorry about that! This is a classic for the /p/ sound:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.


Rich's picture
Rich
28/07/2016 15:04
Spain
Liverpool
594

smiley I get it now!! Sorry about that! This is a classic for the /p/ sound:

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

haydi's picture
haydi
02/08/2016
TN
3189
points

emmm, it must be toasty! I like peppers and pickles!


haydi's picture
haydi
02/08/2016 21:06
Tunisia
Newcastle United
3189

emmm, it must be toasty! I like peppers and pickles!

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/07/2016
GH
4779
points

Football matches are not often postponed in my country


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/07/2016 14:30
Ghana
Manchester United
4779

Football matches are not often postponed in my country

Abdullah 2017's picture
Abdullah 2017
28/07/2016
EG
23
points

a **** *******


Abdullah 2017's picture
Abdullah 2017
28/07/2016 13:48
Egypt
Manchester City
23

a **** *******

Abdullah 2017's picture
Abdullah 2017
28/07/2016
EG
23
points

where can I write the phrase?


Abdullah 2017's picture
Abdullah 2017
28/07/2016 13:45
Egypt
Manchester City
23

where can I write the phrase?

Rich's picture
Rich
28/07/2016
ES
594
points

Hi Abdullah Hussein

Welcome to Premier Skills English! I see that you have found where to write the phrase. Well done you got it right first time! I've censored your answer so others have a chance to guess, too!

I see that you are a Manchester City fan. You will probably enjoy this week's course - it has a Man City flavour!

Thanks for your message!

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team


Rich's picture
Rich
28/07/2016 15:01
Spain
Liverpool
594

Hi Abdullah Hussein

Welcome to Premier Skills English! I see that you have found where to write the phrase. Well done you got it right first time! I've censored your answer so others have a chance to guess, too!

I see that you are a Manchester City fan. You will probably enjoy this week's course - it has a Man City flavour!

Thanks for your message!

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team

Abdullah 2017's picture
Abdullah 2017
30/07/2016
EG
23
points

you're welcome


Abdullah 2017's picture
Abdullah 2017
30/07/2016 22:17
Egypt
Manchester City
23

you're welcome

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/07/2016
GH
4779
points

After the defender committed a professional foul, the referee blew his whistle and sent him off. The team's coach took a good look at his substitute benchanting for a possible replacement.


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/07/2016 05:36
Ghana
Manchester United
4779

After the defender committed a professional foul, the referee blew his whistle and sent him off. The team's coach took a good look at his substitute benchanting for a possible replacement.

Rich's picture
Rich
28/07/2016
ES
594
points

I'm confused frown. Is this the answer to a question from a different part of the website?


Rich's picture
Rich
28/07/2016 12:26
Spain
Liverpool
594

I'm confused frown. Is this the answer to a question from a different part of the website?

kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/07/2016
GH
4779
points

This week's phrase is **** *******


kwesimanifest's picture
kwesimanifest
28/07/2016 05:26
Ghana
Manchester United
4779

This week's phrase is **** *******

Rich's picture
Rich
28/07/2016
ES
594
points

Great! You've got it spot on, Kwesimanifest!


Rich's picture
Rich
28/07/2016 12:25
Spain
Liverpool
594

Great! You've got it spot on, Kwesimanifest!

Leaderboard

Top Scorers
RankNameScore
1Alex_from_Ukraine6578
2mobeckham6539
3hsn5560
4wsanta5086
5kwesimanifest4779
6Liubomyr4417
7elghoul3988
8assemjuve3705
9aragorn19863557
10Gergő Nagy3396
Country ranking
RankNameScore
1Colombia74676
2Ukraine33885
3Spain29525
4Serbia27426
5Brazil23505
6Albania20578
7Vietnam20460
8Turkey20111
9Macedonia19074
10Bosnia and Herzegovina16333
Club ranking
RankNameScore
1Manchester United146938
2Liverpool111453
3Chelsea90265
4Arsenal86299
5Manchester City58908
6Tottenham Hotspur19499
7Newcastle United10626
8West Ham United7701
9AFC Bournemouth4915
10Crystal Palace4568

Level

3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

Goals

Skills: Listening

Vocabulary: The weather.

Pronunciation: Vowel sounds /b/ and /p/.

Knowledge: Join our latest course.