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Premier Skills English - Podcasts image

Premier Skills English Podcast 11

Premier Skills English Podcast 11

Premier League badge.

In this week's podcast, Jack and Rich talk about the three teams that won promotion to the Premier League last season. What do you know about Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich City? We also take a look at some difficult football words and give you a chance to win a Premier League club shirt in our fantastic competition!

 

How much did you understand?

Activity 1: Were there any words in the podcast that you didn't understand? Try this activity and learn more vocabulary.
Match the words to their definitions.

Bournemouth went up to the Premier League as Champions!

Activity 2: How much did you understand? Listen again and have a go at this activity.
Complete the gaps with words from the podcast.

Watford fans celebrate promotion at Vicarage Road.

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

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: So, what’s happening this week, Jack? Are you getting excited about the start of the new season?

Jack: Yes, I am. I can’t wait for the season to kick off. There are new players, some new managers and new teams.

Rich:  And in this week’s podcast we’re going to talk about the new teams: Bournemouth, Watford and Norwich City.

Jack: Yes, and we also have a little competition for you too, but we’ll tell you about that later. Who’s new this season Rich?

Rich: I think the big story is Bournemouth who will play in the top division for the first time.

Jack: Yes, Bournemouth was founded 125 years ago, so their fans have had to wait a long time for this! What do you know about the team?

Rich: They play fast attacking football and scored nearly 100 goals to get promoted last season. They have a young manager too. Eddie Howe became manager when he was only 32!

Jack: What else do you know about them?

Rich: Well, they play in the smallest stadium in the Premier League - it’s capacity is only 11,000. And their nickname is The Cherries!

Jack: The what? Like the fruit.

Rich: Yes, like the fruit.

Jack: I think I’ll be supporting Bournemouth this season. I always love an underdog to do well.

Rich: Underdog? Can you tell us more about this word?

Jack: An underdog is a team that is weaker than others and who most people think will lose.

Rich: Yes, it’s great when an underdog surprises one of the bigger teams. Do you remember Leicester beating Man Utd 5-2 last season?

Jack: Yes, any team can beat any other if they have a good day.

Rich: Watford are also back in the Premier League after eight years in the Championship. What do you know about Watford Jack?

Jack: I know that Elton John is a massive fan.

Rich: Who?... the singer?

Jack: Yes, he’s president of the club and I also know that Watford’s nickname is the Hornets.

Rich: Hornets? What are they?

Jack: They’re black and yellow insects. Like a wasp but bigger and with a bigger sting.

Rich: Did you know that in the 1980s Watford were also famous for establishing a new style of football in England?

Jack: Yes,they won promotion in three consecutive seasons and then finished second in the top division. Only Liverpool stopped them from winning the title.

Rich: The style of football was often called the direct approach.

Jack: What did it involve?

Rich: It involved lots of long passes into the other team’s penalty box where the other team would make mistakes.

Jack: So the idea was to get the ball near to the other team’s goal as quickly as possible.

Rich: Exactly. Watford’s strikers would also close down or press defenders very quickly.

Jack: So they had no time or space to pass the ball.

Rich: Yes, and make more mistakes. The long ball game is used less these days, but you often see it in the last few minutes of a match when a team needs a goal.

Jack: Sometimes you even see the goalkeeper in the other team’s penalty area.

Rich: Maybe we’ll see Watford with some new types of tactics this season?

Jack: Maybe. Who was the other team to win promotion, Rich?

Rich: It was Norwich City.

Jack: Of course, they were only recently relegated...

Rich: And they’ve bounced straight back, haven’t they?

Jack: What do you mean ‘bounced back’?

Rich: It’s a phrasal verb which means to be successful again after some problems.

Jack: So Norwich were relegated in 2013/14 but bounced back in 2014/15.

Rich: Yes, they’ve only been away from the Premier League for one season.

Jack: And Norwich have an interesting nickname too, don’t they?

Rich: Yes, they’re called the Canaries which is a small yellow bird. Norwich have a picture of a canary on their badge and they also play in Canary Yellow!

Jack: And that brings us to our competition! There are three other teams in the Premier League who have birds as nicknames. Can you name the clubs and the birds?

Rich: If you can, write your answers in the comments section below and you could be our lucky winner!

Jack: Yes, you can win a Premier League shirt of your choice. So good luck and get your answers in before midnight in the 5th of August. We'll select a winner from the correct answers at random and announce the lucky winner in next week's premier Skills English podcast.

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/premierskillsenglish.

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

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What do you think?

Jack and Rich were talking about some Premier League nicknames.
Do football teams in your country have nicknames? 
Remember to write your answers to the podcast competition here too! Good luck!
Let us know your answers in the comments section below.

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Comments

outofname
02/08/2015
PL
0
points

Crystal Palace - Eagles
Newcastle United - The Magpies
Swansea City - The Swans
West Bromwich Albion - Throstlesó


outofname
02/08/2015 07:48
Poland
Arsenal
0

Crystal Palace - Eagles
Newcastle United - The Magpies
Swansea City - The Swans
West Bromwich Albion - Throstlesó

VerdMead96's picture
VerdMead96
01/08/2015
PL
146
points

Apart from Norwich City the three other Premier League teams who have birds as nicknames are:
Crystal Palace - "Eagles"
Newcastle United - "The Magpies"
Swansea City - "The Swans"
Good luck to everyone! This PL season is going to be exciting (as usual :))


VerdMead96's picture
VerdMead96
01/08/2015 17:30
Poland
Manchester United
146

Apart from Norwich City the three other Premier League teams who have birds as nicknames are:
Crystal Palace - "Eagles"
Newcastle United - "The Magpies"
Swansea City - "The Swans"
Good luck to everyone! This PL season is going to be exciting (as usual :))

Rema's picture
Rema
01/08/2015
RS
538
points

1.) Crystal Palace- Eagles,
2.) Newcastle United- Magpies,
3.) Swansea City- Swan.


Rema's picture
Rema
01/08/2015 10:15
Serbia
West Ham United
538

1.) Crystal Palace- Eagles,
2.) Newcastle United- Magpies,
3.) Swansea City- Swan.

manutd1
31/07/2015
BA
0
points

Crystal Palace- The Eagles, Swansea City- The Swans, Newcastle United- The Magpies


manutd1
31/07/2015 20:27
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Manchester United
0

Crystal Palace- The Eagles, Swansea City- The Swans, Newcastle United- The Magpies

Leaderboard

Top Scorers
RankNameScore
1Alex_from_Ukraine6578
2mobeckham6539
3hsn5560
4wsanta5086
5kwesimanifest4779
6Liubomyr4417
7elghoul3988
8assemjuve3705
9aragorn19863557
10Gergő Nagy3396
Country ranking
RankNameScore
1Colombia74679
2Ukraine33892
3Spain29531
4Serbia27426
5Brazil23661
6Albania20578
7Vietnam20460
8Turkey20111
9Macedonia19074
10Bosnia and Herzegovina16333
Club ranking
RankNameScore
1Manchester United147000
2Liverpool111527
3Chelsea90265
4Arsenal86299
5Manchester City58989
6Tottenham Hotspur19506
7Newcastle United10626
8West Ham United7701
9AFC Bournemouth4915
10Crystal Palace4568

Level

3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

Goals

Practise your listening skills.

Learn some new football vocabulary.

Glossary

Underdog - a team that is not expected to win because it's weaker than the others

To bounce back - to be successful again after some problems

To close down - to move close to the player with the ball so they have less time to pass