Premier Skills English Podcast 12

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

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

Jack: So we’ve got a slightly longer podcast for you today because we’re going to announce the winner of last week’s competition and Rich has something new.

Rich: Yes, the new Premier League season starts this weekend; each week, I’m going to make a prediction... but I’ll talk more about that later.

Jack: So, the big kick off is here. There’s so much to look forward to.

Rich: Yes, it’s been a quiet summer, but it’ll be wall to wall football for the next 9 months in my house.

Jack: Yes, in mine too! So, what are we going to talk about this week, Rich?

Rich: Well, last season, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard took the honours as best player in the Premier League and Tottenham’s Harry Kane was the biggest Premier League surprise, so we’re going to take a look at three players. These are our tips about players that we think are going to have a great season.

Jack: Tip’s an interesting word - it’s normally money you leave at the end of a meal for the waiter or for a taxi driver or someone like that, but it can also mean something different. What did you mean, Rich?

Rich: The word tip can also mean a small bit of advice or information that is usually given by an expert.

Jack: So are you the expert Rich?

Rich: I did say ‘usually’ Jack! Let’s move on to the players to watch out for this season.

Jack: Alright, our first tip arrived in the Premier League in one of the biggest transfers of the summer.

Rich: Yes, Bastian Schweinsteiger moved from Bayern Munich to Manchester Utd and is one of the biggest names in world football.

Jack: In 15 years with Bayern he won 8 German titles and 7 German Cups and also won the Champions League.

Rich: And he helped Germany lift the World Cup in Brazil last year.

Jack: I think he’s just going to have a major impact on Man Utd’s midfield and the Premier League.

Rich: Impact Jack. What do you mean?

Jack: To have an impact on something means to have a powerful effect on something. And any team with Schweinsteiger in it will be improved, Man Utd is going to have a much better season with him in the centre of the pitch.

Rich: Right... our next tip is Willian at Chelsea.

Jack: Willian is your choice Rich, why have you picked him over bigger names at Chelsea like Hazard, Costa and Fabregas.

Rich: Well,  I think last season Willian started to show what a great player he is. He has great skills but also works hard for the team. I think we might start to see him play more centrally this season and I think his electric pace will cause Premier League defenders all kinds of problems.

Jack: We use the word ‘pace’ a lot when we talk about football. What does it mean?

Rich: It’s a noun to describe how fast a player is. So you can say Willian has got great pace. Did you know that he’s the fastest player at Chelsea?

Jack: No, I didn’t. That’s interesting - it’ll be good to see him in action this season. Our final tip for a player to watch this season also has great pace.

Rich: And he’s the most expensive English player ever, after moving from Liverpool to Manchester City in the summer.

Jack: I think Raheem Sterling is going to have a great season.

Rich: Tell us why Jack.

Jack: He’s got something to prove. He’ll want to show the world how good he can be after a difficult season last year. I also think by playing alongside David Silva and Sergio Aguero at City, he’ll create loads of goals!

Rich: When you say someone has something to prove what do you mean?

Jack: Well, it means that you feel that you need to show people how good you are at something.

Rich: And there you are, we think Willian at Chelsea, Schweinsteiger at Manchester United and Sterling at Manchester City are going to have great seasons, but who are your tips to have a great season. Let us know in the comments section below.

Jack: Right, as the season is about to kick off, we have a new section in our podcast. Each week Rich will talk about one Premier League match. Your job is to spot the vocabulary that we have spoken about already and let us know in the comments section if you agree with his prediction.

Rich: My first prediction of the season is the match between Stoke City and my team - Liverpool. This is a rematch of the final game of last season when Stoke beat Liverpool 6-1! I don’t expect the same result and I think it will be much closer this time. Liverpool will have something to prove to the fans and they won’t want to start this season in the same way they finished last. Both teams have seven new players in their squads and all of them will want to have an impact on the game, but I think it might be Liverpool’s new striker Christian Benteke who has the biggest impact on the match. My tip for this match is a final score of Stoke City 1 - 2 Liverpool.

Jack: How good are you at predicting things Rich?

Rich: Not very, but we’ll see how it goes.

Jack: Right, it’s time to announce the winner of last week’s competition.

Rich: We talked about Norwich City’s return to the Premier League. Norwich have a great nickname; they are called the Canaries so we asked you leave a comment below the podcast with the other teams in the Premier League with birds for nicknames.

Jack: And the answers, of course, were The Magpies (Newcastle Utd), The Swans (Swansea City) and The Eagles (Crystal Palace). Some of you suggested the Liver bird for Liverpool and Cockerels for Spurs and these were almost right as they are on the club badges, but they are not their nicknames.

Rich: Well done to everybody who got it right and congratulations to Manchester United fan VerdMead96 from Poland who is the winner of a Premier League shirt! The shirt is on the way!

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/      .

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.