Podcast 31

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. The holiday season is about to arrive in the UK, so Rich and I will be taking a short break, but don’t worry, our podcasts will be back at the beginning of January. I’d like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and thank all of you from all over the world for listening and using the Premier Skills English website.

Rich: I all hope you’ve had a brilliant 2015 and will have an even better 2016! And to celebrate, we’ve got a fantastic football prediction competition to tell you about, but first let us tell you what’s in this week’s podcast.

Jack: This week, we’re going to talk about Christmas in the UK and New Year Resolutions and the language focus is on Christmas vocabulary and how to make a resolution. As Rich just said he’ll tell you about our football prediction competition where you can win a Premier League shirt of your choice. And, as always, we have our latest ‘What’s my Team?’ competition with another chance for you to win a Samsung Galaxy tablet.

Rich: What was the answer to last week’s competition question Jack?

Jack: Ah, yes. Last week it was Pete, his favourite Premier League team is Stoke City. Pete said that Stoke are the oldest team in the Premier League. They were founded in 1863, founded is the word we use to say an organisation, such as a football club or other business or institution, was started.

Rich: That’s pretty old. I wonder who they played against? Maybe they just trained together until another club was founded? Right, anyway, who is this week’s winner?

Jack: We have selected a winner at random from the correct answers and the thirteenth winner of the What’s my team? competition is Nikens an Arsenal fan from Russia. Congratulations Nikens, we’ll be in contact with you this week.

Rich: Well done Nikens! Later on in the podcast, you can listen to this week’s What’s my team riddle.

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

Jack: It was another exciting weekend in the Premier League. Leicester won again and extended their lead at the top of the table. Norwich beat Manchester Utd to win at Old Trafford for the first time since 1989 and become the first newly promoted team to win at Old Trafford for more than 10 years.

Rich: But the big news last week was, of course, Jose Mourinho leaving Chelsea. The champions have had a terrible start to the season and it will be interesting to see if Chelsea’s new manager can help improve their season.

Jack: Guss Hiddink has arrived as the interim manager, interim means something that lasts for a short period of time until something permanent is found.

Rich: He will be here until the end of the season. It’s the second time Hiddink has been interim manager at Chelsea. In 2009, he was interim manager for five months and helped Chelsea win the FA Cup and got them to the semi-finals of the Champions League. And he only lost one Premier League match. I think Chelsea fans would be happy with a similar result this season!

Jack: We asked you last week what things you often do in a hurry, and a lot of you wrote in with some interesting comments.

Rich: Amaral from Albania says that he’s a typical man and always does things at the last minute, which means he’s rushing about every morning. But Grigor25 from Armenia doesn’t like doing things at the last minute because there is more chance of making mistakes.

Jack: Drilol from Kosovo says that he is a procrastinator, which I think is a great word and often describes me, too. To procrastinate means to delay things you need to do and leave them until the last minute.

Rich: I imagine you are procrastinating at the moment. It’s the 22nd of December and I bet you haven’t bought anybody a Christmas present, yet?

Jack: You’re right, I haven’t. I usually leave everything until the last minute like Amaral and Drilol, but I often buy things online which makes it easier. What about you, Rich?

Rich: I’m more like Grigor25 and I have bought most of my presents already, I don’t like to do things in a hurry, but there are still a couple of things I need to buy. I will probably be rushing about on the 24th of December looking for presents and the shops will be so busy.

Jack: Thanks for all your comments and please keep writing them, we really like to read them and feel free to reply to other users comments on the website to get a conversation going. In the next section we’re going to talk a little more about Christmas and the New Year.

Rich: What are you getting for Christmas, Jack?

Jack: I have no idea, Rich. It will be a surprise, but I’ve been giving hints to my family that I’d like a new camera.

Rich: A new camera nice. We often say this phrase ‘What are you getting for Christmas/your birthday’ and it can be used for other celebrations when presents or gifts are bought, too. You can also ask questions like ‘What are you getting for your brother/sister/mother/son?’ etc.

Jack: I also used the word ‘hint’. A hint is something you say indirectly to let people know what you are thinking. And the collocation is usually ‘to give a hint’ or ‘to drop a hint’ and I’ve been dropping hints all the time. When we pass an electronics shop I am always pointing out cameras that I like and I’ve said a few times how old my camera is. Maybe they will ‘get the hint’.

Rich: I love the holidays and it’s great to spend time with family and friends, but the New Year is time to make New Year Resolutions. A resolution is a decision to do or not to do something, and many people in the UK take decisions to make big or small changes to their lives at the start of the year.

Jack: So have you made any New Year Resolutions, Rich?

Rich: I have yes. I know that I’m probably going to be eating too much during the holidays so one of my New Year Resolutions is going to be to lose some weight and I’m going to do more exercise.

Jack: I think that’s a good idea, Rich, and it is one New Year Resolution that is very popular. But the hard thing to do with New Year resolutions is to keep them up,

Rich: I think I’ll keep it up by making sure I do the same thing every week. If I have a schedule it will be much easier to keep to my new routine.

Jack: I agree. I hope you keep it up! To keep up is a phrasal verb, which means to continue doing something at the same level. So I hope Leicester City keep up their level of play this season because if they keep it up they might win the Premier League!

Rich: And I also said ‘keep to’ as in ‘keep to my new routine’. Keep to means to what you have promised or agree to do. So I hope to keep to my new routine!

Jack: Maybe you could play a bit of keepy-uppy? If you don’t know what this is, I’ve put a link to the game on the side of this page. I don’t really do resolutions but if I do make one, it will be to do things on time and I’m not going to procrastinate.

Rich: Now it’s your turn to think about New Year Resolutions. I want you to think about if you are going to make any New Year resolutions and also some resolutions in the Premier League. Can you try to answer some of these questions?

Jack: Number one: What do you think are some of the New Year resolutions for players and teams in the Premier League? What changes, big or small, do they need to make for a happier 2016?

Rich: Number two: Have you made any New Year resolutions?  Do you think they are a good idea or not?

Jack: Number three: What changes would you like to see in 2016 to make your city, your country or the world a happier place?

Rich: Right, I think it’s time for this week’s competition: ‘What’s my Team?’

Jack: Here is what you have to do. Listen to a Premier League fan, who will talk about their favourite team and then write the name of the team  in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website.

Rich: And for each of the 20 podcast competitions the lucky winner will receive a fantastic Samsung Galaxy Tablet. We wish you the best of luck!

Jack: Right, so this week, our Premier League fan is Debbie. Listen to Debbie’s riddle and try to work out what’s her team?

Debbie: Our nickname is the Toffees. We’ve never won the Premier League, but we’ve still got lots of passionate supporters. Our home city is well worth a visit if you’re a fan of music or football. Liverpool are our greatest rivals and The Merseyside Derby is one of the biggest matches of the season.

Rich: Toffee is a very popular sweet at Christmas.

Jack: Not for me, it breaks my teeth! Time for your prediction, Rich.

Jack: You predicted 1-0 to Arsenal last week, well done! You didn’t get the correct score but you predicted the right result - for the first time in ages! And, as an Arsenal fan, my Christmas will be a lot happier, too!

Rich: Lots and lots of you predicted an Arsenal win like me but surprisingly no one predicted that Arsenal would win 2-1.

Jack:Nikosonris from Ukraine, Elghoul and Mahfoudh Bensari from Algeria, Maznanda from Indonesia, Fofo2015 from Saudi Arabia, Aragorn1986 from Montenegro, Michelterzikhan, Gugo and Heaton555 from Armenia, Besian from Kosovo and this week’s winner of our ‘what’s my team?’ competition - Nikens from Russia all predicted a win for the Gunners so well done to you!

Rich: This week, I don’t have one prediction for you, but six predictions! Christmas and New Year is a time for relaxation and family for most people in the UK but for the Premier League it’s the busiest time of year and to celebrate we have a new competition for you.

Jack: We would like you to predict 6 Premier League matches over the holidays and if you are the winner of our prediction league you will win a P remier League shirt.

Rich: What do you have to do? You have to look on our Christmas in the Premier League article, I’ve put a link on the side of this page and it is also on our homepage. Look for the Prediction Competiton and make your predictions.

Jack:Write your predictions in the comments section and we will put your predictions in the league table on the page. You get one point for the correct result and three points for the correct score. If you finish above me, Rich and the other players from around the world you will be our prediction champion.

Rich: Remember! You need to post your predictions before 24:00 UK time on the 23rd of December, in the comments section, if you want to enter the competition. Good luck to everyone!

Jack: That’s it for today - we’ve run out of time! Thanks for listening. And don’t forget to write your answers to the competition, your answers to our questions about resolutions, your predictions and any questions you have about the website or football English in the comments below.

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.