Club Profiles

AFC Bournemouth club badge
Arsenal
Aston Villa Club badge
Brentford badge
Brighton and Hove Albion club badge
Burnley FC club badge
Chelsea club badge
Crystal Palace badge
Everton
Liverpool badge
Manchester City badge
Manchester United badge
Newcastle United club badge
Nottingham Forest club badge
Sheffield United badge
Spurs badge
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Desire Oparanozie in action for Nigeria.

This Week: Home Fitness

This Week: Home Fitness

Welcome to This Week from Premier Skills English, a weekly review of football action for learners of English from across the globe. In This Week, Rich and Jack talk about the latest action from the Premier League and have lots of football English for you to learn. Following the suspension of the Premier League, Rich and Jack take a look at some light-hearted stories which are making the news this week.

Transcript

If the listening is a bit difficult, try listening and reading at the same time.
Read the transcript and listen at the same time.

Introduction

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack and welcome to our weekly round-up section called ‘This Week’ on Premier Skills English.

Rich: Hi there. I’m Rich. We’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

Jack: We hope you are all staying well whether you are staying home or still going to work.

Rich: With no Premier League football at the moment we’ve changed the format of This Week a little. We’ve looked high and low for three news stories that we want to share with you.

Jack: We hope you find the stories we’ve chosen interesting and funny. 

Rich: We have chosen these stories because they are topical but also so we can focus on some interesting bits of vocabulary that we think are useful to learn.

Jack: And we want you to use and practise these words and phrases by interacting with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.

Rich: If you listen to us on Apple Podcasts, you can leave your comments in the review section. We do read all the reviews and would love to hear from you.

Jack: You can find all our latest content on the Premier Skills English homepage or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page. 

Rich: Don’t forget that we also have our weekly Premier Skills English Podcast that is released every Friday. Every week we help you with some different vocabulary or an aspect of grammar.

Jack: Our latest podcast is called Learning Vocabulary: Walk this way. Rich goes out for a walk and has a conversation with a police officer. We look at words connected to the ways we walk and run. You can find the lesson on the Premier Skills English homepage, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and most other podcast platforms now. 

Rich: This week, after each headline, we will have a little discussion and look at some vocabulary. The words and phrases we are looking at this week are: workout, fitness drills, shuttle runs, lap, gear, and summit.

Jack: We also have another fitness challenge and language challenge for you to have a go at.

Headline 1

Jack: Shoe workout goes viral in Nigeria.

Rich: The Nigerian footballer, Desire Oparanozie, is helping her compatriots keep fit and healthy at home with a simple workout that anyone can do in their hallway or any small, restricted space. The shoe workout involves four pairs of shoes and lots of fitness drills and lunges. 

Jack: Everyone is looking for ways to keep fit and healthy at home at the moment and so many people are helping out and sharing ideas online.

Rich: I really like this one because space, or the lack of it, is so important right now. If you have a garden or a yard, exercise is easier but if you live in a small flat things get more difficult.

Jack: That’s why this routine is so good - you just need a few pairs of shoes - I suppose you could use small boxes or anything really.

Rich: It looks like it’ll really keep you in shape. If you want to check out the routine just Google Desire Oparaozie shoe workout but we’ll put a link on the Premier Skills English website, too.

Jack: Let’s look at a couple of the words we used in the headline. The first is workout, Oparaozie has designed a new workout. She’s called it the shoe workout.

Rich: A workout is a period of physical exercise. You might do a 20-minute workout every morning.

Jack: I think doing a good workout every morning gives you energy for the rest of the day. Work out is also be a phrasal verb. Do you work out, Rich?

Rich: It’s difficult with this lockdown to work out in the house, you know.

Jack: Did you work out before the lockdown?

Rich: Er… let’s look at another phrase from the headline fitness drills. A fitness drill is a type of exercise you do repeatedly, something you do lots of times.

Jack: A fitness drill is like a routine - something you do every morning for example. When I get out of bed, I do 50 push-ups, 30 star jumps and 20 squats every morning.

Rich: No, you do not!

Jack: Let’s move on to headline two.

Headline 2

Jack: Man runs marathon in garden.

Rich: James Campbell, from Cheltenham in the UK, has raised over £25,000 for the health service after running a marathon in his back garden. It took five hours of shuttle runs for Campbell to reach his 26.2-mile target in his six-metre long garden. Campbell is not the only one taking on such challenges: Elisha Nochomovitz ran a marathon on his balcony in France and Pan Shancu ran 31 miles in his apartment in China - completing 6250 laps in under five hours.

Jack: People all over the world are doing things slightly differently at the moment - this is one example.

Rich: A marathon in a tiny back garden. I think I’d just get dizzy and end up falling over.

Jack: It’s impressive, it really is, and great that he was raising money for charity, too.

Rich: I wonder if it’s more tiring than a real marathon?

Jack: Let’s look at some of the language. Mr Campbell had to do thousands of shuttle runs to complete his marathon.

Rich: A shuttle run is usually a short run that tests speed and agility. You have two lines about 20 metres apart and have to run and tap the line with your hand and then run back and do the same.

Jack: Doing that every six metres for 26.2 miles. That is definitely a test.

Rich: We said that Pan Shancu did 6250 laps of his apartment.

Jack: A lap is one circuit, usually of a running track or race track from the beginning to the end.

Rich: We often speak about laps in athletics. In athletics, a lap is 400 metres - one lap of the running track. Motor racing also uses laps - the race might be 60 laps of the track for example.

Jack: Let’s look at our final headline.

Headline 3

Jack: Climbing group conquer Everest on stairs.

Rich: After five days of climbing, a group of climbers reached Mount Everest base camp last Friday. However, this is a climb with a difference, while the climbers are kitted out in their full climbing gear, they are not in the Himalayas but at home in the UK. The group have reached an altitude of 5364 metres by climbing stairs and ladders in their homes. This week’s challenge is to reach the summit.

Jack: That’s a funny story. I wonder if they had oxygen tanks and everything.

Rich: Well, they said they were in full mountain climbing gear so they might have.

Jack: It’s weird what people do to stop getting bored. Gear is our first word we want to look at - full mountain climbing gear.

Rich: Gear has a couple of meanings but the one we are looking at here means equipment and clothing to do a specific activity.

Jack: You need a lot of gear to go mountain climbing - ropes, boots, helmet, harness and loads more.

Rich: You don’t need so much for football - just a football really - everything else is optional.

Jack: Our last word is also connected to climbing - summit.

Rich: The summit is the top of a mountain, the highest peak.

Jack: To reach the summit of Mount Everest you have to climb 8848 metres.

Rich: Or lots of stairs!

Jack: OK, we’ve looked at three stories that are in the news and six bits of vocabulary. The words we’ve looked at are:  workout, fitness drills, shuttle runs, lap, gear, summit.

Rich:  Have a listen to the headlines again and see if you understand the vocabulary we’ve looked at.

Jack: The shoe workout goes viral in Nigeria.

Rich: The Nigerian footballer, Desire Oparanozie, is helping her compatriots keep fit and healthy at home with a simple workout regime that anyone can do in their hallway or any small, restricted space. The shoe workout involves four pairs of shoes and lots of fitness drills and lunges. 

Jack: Man runs marathon in garden.

Rich: James Campbell, from Cheltenham in the UK, has raised over £25,000 for the health service after running a marathon in his back garden. It took five hours of shuttle runs for Campbell to reach his 26.2-mile target in his garden six-metre long garden. Campbell is not the only one taking on such challenges: Elisha Nochomovitz ran a marathon on his balcony in France and Pan Shancu ran 31 miles in his apartment in China - completing 6250 laps in under five hours.

Jack: Climbing group conquer Everest on stairs.

Rich: After five days of climbing, a group of climbers reached Mount Everest base camp last Friday. However, this is a climb with a difference, while the climbers are kitted out in their full climbing gear, they are not in the Himalayas but at home in the UK. The group have reached an altitude of 5364 metres by climbing stairs and ladders in their homes. This week’s challenge is to reach the summit.

TASK - Fitness Challenge

Jack: Each week we’re trying to set you a fitness challenge. Last week we gave you a PE class and this week we want you to give the shoe workout a go.

Rich: Google Desire Oparanozie and shoe workout to find the video.

Jack: We’ll also put a link to the video on the Premier Skills English website, too.

Rich: If you are at home with the family, we want you to get them involved, too, kids, parents, brothers sisters, everyone.

Jack: Then, let us know in the comments section how you did and you felt afterwards. Was it a good workout?

TASK - Language Challenge

Rich: To finish up the show we’ve got a quick language challenge for you which is connected to this week’s vocabulary.

Jack: We want you to listen to three sentences and tell us which sentence is correct.

Rich: Those shuttle runs are so tiring. I can’t do more than 10.

Rich: Those rocket runs are so tiring. I can’t do more than 10.

Rich: Those plane runs are so tiring. I can’t do more than 10.

Jack: OK, we want you to write the correct answer on the Premier Skills English website where we have some more questions and activities connected to this week’s show for you.

Rich: Or write your answer on Apple Podcasts if that’s where you listen to us. We want you to use the correct word. Write: Those _______ runs are so tiring. I can’t do more than 10. 

Jack: Before we finish we just wanted to say that we hope you found this lesson useful and we hope that all of you are staying fit and healthy and we’ll all be back watching Premier League football very soon.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.

Headlines

Shoe workout goes viral in Nigeria

We want you to try Desire Oparanozie's shoe workout!

The Nigerian footballer, Desire Oparanozie, is helping her compatriots keep fit and healthy at home with a simple workout that anyone can do in their hallway or any small, restricted space. The shoe workout involves four pairs of shoes and lots of fitness drills and lunges.

Headlines

Man runs marathon in garden

James Campbell throws the javelin when he's not running marathons in his garden!

James Campbell, from Cheltenham in the UK, has raised over £25,000 for the health service after running a marathon in his back garden. It took five hours of shuttle runs for Campbell to reach his 26.2-mile target in his six-metre long garden. Campbell is not the only one taking on such challenges: Elisha Nochomovitz ran a marathon on his balcony in France and Pan Shancu ran 31 miles in his apartment in China - completing 6250 laps in under five hours.

Headlines

Climbing group conquer Everest on stairs

Climbing at home has got to be less dangerous than the real thing!

After five days of climbing, a group of climbers reached Mount Everest base camp last Friday. However, this is a climb with a difference, while the climbers are kitted out in their full climbing gear, they are not in the Himalayas but at home in the UK. The group have reached an altitude of 5364 metres by climbing stairs and ladders in their homes. This week’s challenge is to reach the summit.

Vocabulary Alert

Language in the headlines

We looked at six words and phrases in our headlines that you can learn to improve your English. Take a look at the phrases in bold. Do you understand what they mean?

A simple workout that anyone can do in their hallway or any small, restricted space. A workout is a period of physical exercise

The shoe workout involves four pairs of shoes and lots of fitness drills and lunges. A fitness drill is a type of exercise you do repeatedly

It took five hours of shuttle runs for Campbell to reach his 26.2-mile target. A shuttle run is usually a short run that tests speed and agility. 

Pan Shancu ran 31 miles in his apartment in China - completing 6250 laps in under five hours. A lap is one circuit, usually of a running track or race track from the beginning to the end.

The climbers are kitted out in their full climbing gear - this is equipment and clothing to do a specific activity. You need a lot of gear to go climbing.

This week’s challenge is to reach the summit. The summit is the top of a mountain, the highest peak.

Fun

The Fitness Challenge

In the show, Jack and Rich spoke about the Nigerian footballer Desire Oparanozie who has designed a workout for people who have less space than normal to do physical activity. We want you to get off the sofa and have a go at her workout. We want to encourage everyone else in your house to have a go, too!

Can you do the fitness challenge? Let us know in the comments section if you felt energised or exhausted after the session and if you managed to get anyone else to join in with you.

You can find Desire Oparanozie's video here.

Keeping fit at home is much easier if you have a garden!

Vocabulary

Language Challenge

Jack and Rich set you a language challenge. Which phrase do we use to describe short, fast runs between two lines?

Those shuttle runs are so tiring. I can’t do more than 10.

Those rocket runs are so tiring. I can’t do more than 10.

Those plane runs are so tiring. I can’t do more than 10. 

Write the correct answer in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Discuss

Talk about the headlines

Have you ever been rock climbing?

Jack and Rich looked at three stories in the news and some vocabulary that might be new to you. Now it's your turn! Have a look at the questions and write your answers in the comments section below.

  1. Which is the strangest story? Running a marathon in your garden or climbing Everest in your house?
  2. What items in your house can you use if you don't have any gym gear?
  3. Have you ever been mountain climbing?
  4. Can you do our fitness challenge?
  5. Can you do our language challenge?

Write your comments and answers in the section below.

Leave a comment

Log in to leave a comment

Comments

hsn's picture
hsn
04/01/2022
TR
5560
points

Discuss
1. Climbing Everest in the house is strangest story.
2. There are lots of fitness drills like press-up without any gym gear.
3. No never.
4. Not all of them. Simple ones.
5. Those shuttle runs are so tiring. I can’t do more than 10.
Phrases
• Brisk walking or jogging is preferable rather than shuttle run.It desn't need agility or high speed.
• This team conquered fans' heart by fair play game.
• It's not needed budget to kit football team out in case sponsors provides this facility.
Note
• "Ağrı" a city in the east of my country, located 1.630 metres altitude therefore many marathoners are from there.


hsn's picture
hsn
04/01/2022 17:38
Turkey
Tottenham Hotspur
5560

Discuss
1. Climbing Everest in the house is strangest story.
2. There are lots of fitness drills like press-up without any gym gear.
3. No never.
4. Not all of them. Simple ones.
5. Those shuttle runs are so tiring. I can’t do more than 10.
Phrases
• Brisk walking or jogging is preferable rather than shuttle run.It desn't need agility or high speed.
• This team conquered fans' heart by fair play game.
• It's not needed budget to kit football team out in case sponsors provides this facility.
Note
• "Ağrı" a city in the east of my country, located 1.630 metres altitude therefore many marathoners are from there.

elghoul's picture
elghoul
10/04/2020
DZ
3988
points

1. What a weird idea that of climbing Everest in your house.

2. I have a ball and a long hallway in my house so they are useful for children to play when there are some of my neighbours at home.

3. I am from Djurdjura mountains but I have never climbed any of them with full gear. I am used to walking through making some lunges and fitness drills.

4. Outdoor I often do some workouts and fitness stretchs.

5. Shuttle runs and five hundreds metres laps are my favorite workouts in the nearest ground.


elghoul's picture
elghoul
10/04/2020 15:10
Algeria
Manchester City
3988

1. What a weird idea that of climbing Everest in your house.

2. I have a ball and a long hallway in my house so they are useful for children to play when there are some of my neighbours at home.

3. I am from Djurdjura mountains but I have never climbed any of them with full gear. I am used to walking through making some lunges and fitness drills.

4. Outdoor I often do some workouts and fitness stretchs.

5. Shuttle runs and five hundreds metres laps are my favorite workouts in the nearest ground.

Rafael Robson's picture
Rafael Robson
08/04/2020
BR
615
points

These are strange but funny stories that help us by improving our mood in this difficult time.
It is always a good idea to keep fit and also take care of our mental health. It is quite far easier doing your language challenges and studying languages in general, than doing your fitness challenges, though. Like those shuttle runs, they are so tiring ;D


Rafael Robson's picture
Rafael Robson
08/04/2020 15:00
Brazil
Tottenham Hotspur
615

These are strange but funny stories that help us by improving our mood in this difficult time.
It is always a good idea to keep fit and also take care of our mental health. It is quite far easier doing your language challenges and studying languages in general, than doing your fitness challenges, though. Like those shuttle runs, they are so tiring ;D

Rich's picture
Rich
08/04/2020
ES
594
points

Thanks, Rafael. I hope they raised a smile or made you chuckle! I think we should try combining a fitness challenge with a language challenge. Any ideas?

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team


Rich's picture
Rich
08/04/2020 21:01
Spain
Liverpool
594

Thanks, Rafael. I hope they raised a smile or made you chuckle! I think we should try combining a fitness challenge with a language challenge. Any ideas?

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team

Rafael Robson's picture
Rafael Robson
11/04/2020
BR
615
points

You're welcome, Rich. No ideas, but that would be very nice.


Rafael Robson's picture
Rafael Robson
11/04/2020 14:26
Brazil
Tottenham Hotspur
615

You're welcome, Rich. No ideas, but that would be very nice.

tesla1983
07/04/2020
IT
146
points

the correct sentence is: Those shuttle runs are so tiring. I can’t do more than 10.


tesla1983
07/04/2020 19:12
Italy
Manchester United
146

the correct sentence is: Those shuttle runs are so tiring. I can’t do more than 10.

Josef Odehnal
07/04/2020
CZ
10
points

The right sentence is "Those shuttle runs are so tiring. I cannot do more than ten."
It's quite hard for me to find something what could be used like a "gear" because now I'm studying abroad and I have to live at dorms. But I try working out at least twice a week in here and I usually use a bottle of water (I hope I understand what exactly means the word "gear").
No, I have not. I just like hiking. In the Czech Republic are not so high mountains there so it's good just fir a nice trip with friends and watching a nice nature.
No, I can't I am afraid.
Well, I watch movies, listen podcasts, read books in English. But I have a big problem to remember new words. That's the reason why my vocabulary is very weak so I have to improve it but still don't know how


Josef Odehnal
07/04/2020 15:59
Czech Republic
Liverpool
10

The right sentence is "Those shuttle runs are so tiring. I cannot do more than ten."
It's quite hard for me to find something what could be used like a "gear" because now I'm studying abroad and I have to live at dorms. But I try working out at least twice a week in here and I usually use a bottle of water (I hope I understand what exactly means the word "gear").
No, I have not. I just like hiking. In the Czech Republic are not so high mountains there so it's good just fir a nice trip with friends and watching a nice nature.
No, I can't I am afraid.
Well, I watch movies, listen podcasts, read books in English. But I have a big problem to remember new words. That's the reason why my vocabulary is very weak so I have to improve it but still don't know how

Rich's picture
Rich
08/04/2020
ES
594
points

Hi Josef,

Welcome to Premier Skills English!

It seems that you understand gear quite well and yes if you haven't got any gym gear in your house you could use a couple of bottles of water instead of dumbells for example!

Have you tried recording new vocabulary that you see or hear when you're reading or listening to podcasts? 

Thanks for your message!

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team


Rich's picture
Rich
08/04/2020 21:06
Spain
Liverpool
594

Hi Josef,

Welcome to Premier Skills English!

It seems that you understand gear quite well and yes if you haven't got any gym gear in your house you could use a couple of bottles of water instead of dumbells for example!

Have you tried recording new vocabulary that you see or hear when you're reading or listening to podcasts? 

Thanks for your message!

Rich - The Premier Skills English Team

Vic
06/04/2020
MX
817
points

Those shuttle runs are so tiring. I can’t do more than 10.

For me, the satrnger story is climbing Everest at home, i can´t imagine up stair during five days.
At home, I can use gym gears, like a books, or bags with sand, the chiar for pushs-up.
No, I never been mountain climbing.
I am a less fitness person than you can meet.
My language challenge is every day, seeing movie in english without subtitles.


Vic
06/04/2020 23:02
Mexico
Liverpool
817

Those shuttle runs are so tiring. I can’t do more than 10.

For me, the satrnger story is climbing Everest at home, i can´t imagine up stair during five days.
At home, I can use gym gears, like a books, or bags with sand, the chiar for pushs-up.
No, I never been mountain climbing.
I am a less fitness person than you can meet.
My language challenge is every day, seeing movie in english without subtitles.

Leaderboard

Top Scorers
RankNameScore
1Alex_from_Ukraine6578
2mobeckham6539
3hsn5560
4wsanta5086
5kwesimanifest4779
6Liubomyr4417
7elghoul3988
8assemjuve3705
9aragorn19863557
10Gergő Nagy3396
Country ranking
RankNameScore
1Colombia74679
2Ukraine33892
3Spain29525
4Serbia27426
5Brazil23661
6Albania20578
7Vietnam20460
8Turkey20111
9Macedonia19074
10Bosnia and Herzegovina16333
Club ranking
RankNameScore
1Manchester United147000
2Liverpool111527
3Chelsea90265
4Arsenal86299
5Manchester City58968
6Tottenham Hotspur19506
7Newcastle United10626
8West Ham United7701
9AFC Bournemouth4915
10Crystal Palace4568

Level

3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

Goals

Improve your vocabulary.

Practise your listening skills.

Complete our language and fitness challenges.