Podcast 33

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. Welcome back Rich. Did you have a good holiday?

Rich: Yes, I did thanks. Sorry I wasn’t here to help you with the podcast last week, I had a listen and I thought you did a great job on your own.

Jack: Thanks very much. This week, the two of us are going to talk about football and films and also speak about two former Premier League players that have become famous actors. And the language focus is on phrases and vocabulary we use to talk about films.   

Rich: Later I will make another Premier League prediction. And, of course, you have another chance to win a Samsung Galaxy tablet in our ‘What’s my Team?’ competition.

Jack: We’ve had lots of winners now but there are still five more chances to win.

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

Jack: Ah, yes. Last week it was Jimmy... his favourite Premier League team is Newcastle.

Rich: We had lots of correct entries so congratulations to everybody who got it right. It was really interesting to listen to his accent. You can really tell that Jimmy is a Geordie.

Jack: And of course, Geordies are people from Newcastle. But if you didn’t get the correct answer from Jimmy’s accent, you may have heard the name Alan Shearer, who is the Premier League’s all-time top scorer and a former Newcastle player.

Rich: Shearer got 260 goals for Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle. No other player has got more than 200 goals so it is a record that might not be broken for a long time.

Jack: I also asked you for some Premier League predictions for 2016. The  majority of you think Arsenal will win the Premier League this season. And I hope you are right. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Rich: Some of you, like Hichem Hy from Algeria, Heaton555 and Tito1992 from Armenia, Salva GH from Spain, and Nalssgair from Libya think it will be Man City that take the title.

Jack: And AssemJuve from UAE and Abdallah from Kuwait have gone for Leicester City. If Arsenal don’t win I think lots of people, including me, would love to see Leicester win the title. Everybody loves an underdog!

Rich:  I was really surprised nobody chose Manchester Utd. I know they’re having problems at the moment but they’re only a few points from the top. I also think Spurs are a bit of a dark horse - I think they have a chance of winning too!

Jack: A dark horse is a phrase we use to describe a person or a team in a competition that surprises everyone by winning. And an underdog is a person or a team that is generally seen as weaker than the others.

Rich: Right, anyway, who is this week’s winner?

Jack: We have selected a winner at random from the correct answers and the fifteenth winner of the What’s my team? competition is Sanja a Manchester Utd fan from Serbia. Congratulations Sanja, we’ll be in contact with you this week.

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

Jack: So Rich, did you have a good holiday? Where were you and what did you do?

Rich: I spent some time back in the UK and had a great time with friends and family. I even went to the cinema, which is something I haven’t done for ages. Films in Spain are usually dubbed into Spanish instead of the original version. I think it would be much better if cinemas showed films in the original version with Spanish subtitles.

Jack: As an English teacher I agree. But as a film lover I’d prefer to watch films in my own language. I often tell my students to watch films in English without subtitles, which is the writing at the bottom of the screen, to improve their listening skills. Then, if they don’t understand something, I tell them to turn on the subtitles in English.

Rich: Yes, watching without subtitles is a good idea to improve your listening skills and watching with subtitles is good for improving reading skills and your vocabulary. But sometimes people like to watch when it is dubbed too. Dubbed means to be changed from the original language into another language.

Jack: What film did you see anyway? I can probably guess though……

Rich: You’re probably right, it was The Force Awakens, the new Star Wars Film. Have you seen it?

Jack: Not yet. Lots of people have been talking about it. It’s the most popular film this year and it’s already one of the highest grossing films of all time, which means that it’s made more money and sold more tickets than any other film. What was it like?

Rich: It was brilliant. I grew up with Star Wars and it was great to see the old characters like Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Chewbacca in the film. The special effects were great and it’s great to see the light sabres, the swords that they fight with, in action again. Some people say the plot, which is the story of the film, is similar to the original Star Wars film but I think that is why I liked it. I would give it five stars and I think it’s a must-see for all Star Wars fans.

Jack: Well, after that review I think I’ll definitely go and see it. Did you know that Manchester Utd’s Wayne Rooney is a Star Wars fan.

Rich: No, I didn’t.

Jack: He’s made a video where he chooses a football team full of Star Wars characters and footballers. He made the video for Visit Britain, who encourage people to visit Britain for holiday or to study.

Rich: Ahh! Because the new Star Wars film was made in the UK and lots of the actors are also British. So who did he pick in his team?

Jack: Well, I won’t tell you all the team now, you can look at the video yourself. I’ve put a link to the video on the side of this page. But he plays Yoda in midfield because he can control the game and he’s intelligent. He says his Manchester Utd teammate, Juan Mata is similar in style to Yoda. He plays himself in attack next to BB8 because he is quick and can beat the offside trap. And he says Chewbacca can play in defence and as a goalkeeper because he is so big.

Rich: Sounds like a great team. I’m sure Manchester Utd would win the Premier League with Yoda in the middle of the pitch!

Jack: I’m not sure about Star Wars characters playing football but I do know some Premier League players that became famous actors after they finished playing football.

Rich: I think we’re talking about Eric Cantona here. One of Manchester Utd’s best ever players. He won the Premier League four times and even as a Liverpool fan, I have to say he was a great player.

Jack: And he’s an actor now. He appears mainly in French language films but one English film he has been in is ‘Looking for Eric’ and is definitely worth watching if you haven’t seen it. It’s directed by Ken Loach who is a famous British film director and is about how football lets fans escape from all the problems of modern life.

Rich: Another former Premier League player who has become an actor is Vinnie Jones. While Cantona was a very talented footballer, Jones was more famous for his tackling and tough image. He played for Leeds Utd and Chelsea but was most famous for playing for Wimbledon who were known as the Crazy Gang in the 1990s. He was sent off 12 times in his career and still holds the record for the fastest ever yellow card, which he got after just three seconds.

Jack: And he has kept this tough guy image for his acting career too. He mainly plays tough, violent characters in gangster and action films. He made his name in Snatch, a British Gangster film, which also starred Brad Pitt. He then moved to Hollywood and has appeared in over 50 Hollywood movies.

Rich: Our questions for you this week are about films,actors and football. Question 1. Can you tell us about a film you’ve seen recently? What was it about? Was it good?

Jack: Question 2. Do you know any other footballers that became actors? What else do footballers do after they finish playing?

Rich: Question 3. If like Wayne Rooney, you could choose a team full of characters from different films, who would you choose in your team?

Jack: 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 Ella. Listen to Ella's riddle and try to work out what’s her team?

Ella: Our biggest match of the season is against our West Midlands rivals Aston Villa. Our nickname is a strange one. We’re called the Baggies but nobody really knows why. We also shout ‘boing boing’ and bounce up and down after we score at home matches. It’s great fun!

Rich: The Baggies is a strange nickname. If anybody knows why they are called the Baggies do let us know.

Jack: Right, it’s time for your Premier League prediction.

Rich: Right, it’s my first prediction of the New Year and I hope my predictions are going to improve. There is a full round of Premier League matches on Tuesday and Wednesday this week but because most of you will listen after this so I am going to choose one of the weekend’s matches. And it is a massive match. Liverpool host Manchester Utd on Sunday. Both teams are having difficult seasons but I think Liverpool have more chance of getting into the top 4. Manchester Utd can’t score goals at the moment and I think the best they can hope for is a 0-0 draw. But I think Liverpool will win the game with two goals in the second half. Final score Liverpool 2-0 Manchester Utd.

Jack: You’re very confident Rich. I will be definitely watching this one, just to see your face if you’re wrong!

Rich: Thanks 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 predictions and any questions you have about the website or football English in the comments below.

Jack: 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.

Rich:  Bye for now and enjoy your football.