Understanding Grammar - Talking about change

Jack: Hello. My name’s Jack.
Rowan: And I’m Rowan.
Jack: Welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Rowan: In the Premier Skills English podcast, we talk about football and help you with your English.
Jack: Today we're going to do things a bit differently because today I'm going to interview Rowan about her experience coaching girls football. Is that OK Rowan?
Rowan: Yes, definitely. I’d like to.
Jack: But before I start interviewing Rowan let's look back at last week's football phrase.

Last week’s football phrase

Jack: Every week we challenge you, our listeners, to work out our football phrase.
Rowan: We explain a word or phrase and you have to guess what it is. If you can work it out, write the word or phrase in the comments section.
Jack: We’re going to give you one more chance to guess now and then we’ll tell you the answer.
Rowan: Last week’s football phrase was playing ******* *** *****. This is a style of attacking play that involves short passes to teammates who manage to find space behind the opposition midfielders and in front of the opposition defenders to probe the defence for weaknesses and spaces to attack. Palace attacked Leicester by playing ******* *** *****, with short five-yard passes to try to find a way through to goal.
Jack: This phrase was too difficult. I think Alex from Ukraine might have got it right, but he didn’t leave a comment this week. Hsn from Turkey had a couple of good guesses, but he couldn’t quite get the answer.
Rowan: In the end, only one person got the correct answer and that was Emmanuel from France. So very well done Emmanuel.
Jack: The correct answer to last week’s incredibly difficult football phrase was between the lines. We’ll have a new and slightly easier football phrase for you to guess at the end of the podcast.

Interview

Jack: Today, I want to talk about how things have changed. I want to talk about how things used to be and how they’ve changed and specifically, football for women and girls. So, Rowan, how do you think football for women and girls has changed since you were a kid?
Rowan: That's a great question, Jack. I think there are significantly more opportunities for women playing football today than in the past. The growth of the women's professional game, which shows young … young children, young girls starting out in football that there is a pathway now, which wasn't available to them before.
Jack: That’s true. I don’t think I ever saw women playing football when I was a kid, but now you can see women’s football all the time. Do the girls you coach watch women’s football?
Rowan: Yes, they do. They watch a lot of football and it's now a lot more accessible … um … you can actually attend some of the games, but of course, there really isn't the level of tv or media coverage for the women's game as there is for men's, but that is changing. We're seeing a lot more women taking roles as commentators and participating in sport.
Jack: So, you have noticed a change in the way football is broadcast?
Rowan: When I … you know … when I used to listen to football growing up, I would only hear male voices commentating on football. I can turn the radio on … I mean I listen to Five Live, but you know … I turn the radio on, and every game, there is female representation. Even on the male game, not just the female game. And I think that is changing, but and I think that has definitely … it's definitely changed in, like, in the last year, two years … That's a big change.
Jack: It is great for young women and girls that there are more women in football.
Rowan: You may have seen this week, in the England versus Hungary game, that for the first time, there was an all-female referee team that that was responsible for that game. So we are seeing major changes and it is exciting to be part of.
Jack: But when you were young, there weren’t any role-models. So, did you use to play football when you were growing up?
Rowan: No. Actually, I didn't … um … but don't tell the girls I’m coaching that. They all think I did but … um … mainly because football wasn't offered as a sport in school. It was traditional sports like hockey and netball and football was reserved for the boys.
Jack: So you never played football?
Rowan: So, I think the only time I kicked a ball around was in the garden with … with my dad who … who is a big football fan, and so my … my experience with football has really come from him and watching his team over the years and being part of football that way.
Jack: Your love of the beautiful game comes from your dad?
Rowan: Yes. My dad had two girls, so we were always going to be football fans.
Jack: But you did use to play other sports as well?
Rowan: Yes, I’ve always competed at other sports. Um … all the way through my life. So, I played school … for school teams and for county teams … um … in other sports. So, I guess yes. You would say I am sporty, and I enjoy watching sport as well on the television … all types of sport.
Jack: And what about coaching? How did you get involved and start coaching?
Rowan: Well, that happened around five years ago. Actually, my daughter's interest in football is what started it. She joined a local team and after a few years they were looking for a replacement manager. There wasn't very many volunteers at the time. My husband offered to help, and my daughter said she'd like mum to do it, so I thought ‘well, why not? I like football and I’m ready to take on the challenge.’
Jack: And what did you have to do to become a coach?
Rowan: So, I started my FA Level One training straight away. I was one of only two women in a classroom of 20 or so men, so that was quite daunting. So it's still very male dominated, but I took part in the training … completed my training … and was able to coach the girls.
Jack: So why do you think there aren’t many women training to be coaches? Did the men make you feel uncomfortable?
Rowan: Most of the men were really supportive, but I will say that the coaching course itself is … is very physical. You have to act as the children while you're being coached, and everyone is trying out their coaching skills. So, you know the physical side of the training can be difficult and I think probably puts off some women.
Jack: And some men, no doubt. In general, though, it seems like things have changed for the better for women and girls playing football, but there’s still room for improvement. What would you like to see happen in the future?
Rowan: I think we need more women role models to step up and take part in football. Many of the teams that our team plays against are managed by … by men. So, I think we need more role models in the game and I think it's … it’s … um … there's a lot of excitement around the game. A lot more girls are playing football and I think we need to continue that momentum. Maybe it won't be long before we see the first lady managing a Premier League side.
Jack: I think that would be a great step forward. Thanks a lot for doing this interview and sharing your thoughts and experience.

Language focus

In the interview with Rowan, we used different language to talk about the past and about how things have changed. We were talking about football and women and girls and how things have changed for women and girls playing football. One of the most common forms for talking about situations in the past is ‘used to’.
Sometimes, teachers explain this by saying that used to is used to talk about habits or routines in the past. Listen to this clip from the interview. Rowan uses the phrase used to. What verb does she use with used to? What did she use to do?
When I, you know, when I used to listen to football growing up, I would only hear male voices commentating on football.
Rowan was talking about when she listened to football growing up. She used to listen to football commentary on the radio. This wasn’t something she did once. It was something she did a lot. It was a habit or a routine event for her, listening to the radio. She could have simply said: when I listened to the radio. But she chose to say when I used to listen to football. This emphasises that it was a regular event, that it was part of her routine.
Here are some other examples:

I used to live in Indonesia.
I used to drive a mini.
Rich used to work with me on Premier Skills English – ooh – that’s a bit too soon.
Rowan used to play football with her dad.

So these are all things or situations that were in the past.
Used to is quite interesting because of the pronunciation. In normal speech, it’s pronounced used to. I used to drive a mini.
The negative form is did not use to – there is no d on the end of use – so it’s written I did not use to drive a mini, but the pronunciation is use to – the same as the positive form. I used to drive a mini. I didn’t use to drive a mini. And the same is true in questions. What type of car did you use to drive? It’s written what type of car did you use to drive, but the pronunciation is use to – what kind of car did you use to drive?
OK. Rowan used the past simple as well and used the adverb always a few times to emphasize that she did something a lot. That’s how she described the situation in the past. To describe how things have changed, there are two structures that I want to focus on.
The first is the present perfect. I’m not going to spend time describing this because it’s the form that you will have learned in your English classes for this exact situation. This is something that happened in the past, something that changed, and the results of that change are present. A perfect example of the present and the past or the present perfect. Listen to this example from the interview.
We've seen the growth of the women's professional game
And then Rowan used another form that I don’t think is normally taught in this way but that was very natural when Rowan used it. What form is Rowan using in this example:
we're seeing a lot more women taking roles as commentators and participating in sport
This is the present continuous. We use the present continuous in loads of different ways in English, to talk about temporary actions, unfinished actions, future arrangements, and also to talk about repeated actions. When Rowan said: “We’re seeing a lot more women taking roles as commentators” she meant that this is something that happens again and again. I think that the use of the continuous also emphasizes that this is a changing situation, that this is something different from the past. For another example, I might talk about my new diet and say: I’m eating a lot of salad.
So, to sum up this language focus: Rowan used used to to describe the past and the present perfect and present continuous to talk about what has changed.

Task

Rowan: Your task this week is to tell us about how life has changed in your country? The world is changing so fast, especially when it comes to technology and also attitudes.
Jack: Rowan talked about the ways that football has changed, now there are more opportunities for women and girls. Has football changed in your country?
Rowan: What has been the biggest change that you have seen?
Jack: What were things like when you were a child?
Rowan: What did you use to do differently?
Jack: Try to use some of the language that Rowan used and that we spoke about in the podcast.
Rowan: Share your ideas in the comments section on the page for this podcast on Premier Skills English.

Football Phrase

Rowan: Last week, the football phrase was much too hard. I hope you’ve chosen something easier this time.
Jack: Yes. I have. In fact, I went to the Premier Vocabulary section on Premier Skills English and selected an easy word from there. I have prepared a little description of the word here. It’s just a word. Would you mind reading it, Rowan?
Rowan: No, of course not. OK so this week’s football word is a verb. The verb is to *******. I think we’ve had this before, Jack.
Jack: I’m sure we have Rowan. We’ve made hundreds of podcasts over the years.
Rowan: OK. The word is *******. This is an action on the pitch. It means to move the ball along the ground with repeated gentle kicks and to walk or run behind the ball so that the ball is always close to your feet and under control. Adama Traoré was the best ******** in the Premier League last season with 234 successful ********.
Jack: Hopefully many more of you will get the right answer this week
Rowan: If you know the answer to the football phrase, leave a comment on the page for this podcast on the Premier Skills English website. If you have a football phrase that you would like us to use in the podcast, just get in touch and let us know.
Jack: Before we finish we just wanted to say that we hope you found this podcast and the vocabulary useful and we hope all of you stay fit and healthy.
Rowan: Bye for now and enjoy your football.