Premier Skills English Podcast 10
Premier Skills English Podcast 10
In this week's podcast, Rich and Jack are talking about the Barclays Asia Trophy which is taking place in Singapore for the first ever time. Jack also tells us a little about passive sentences as they talk about pre-season in the Premier League.
You can read all about the difference between the active and passive voice in the Learn English - English Grammar section.
How much did you understand?
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, what’s happening this week, Rich? Are Premier League players back at work yet?
Rich: Yes, most of the players at most of the clubs have been back in training for nearly two weeks.
Jack: It doesn’t give many of them a long break, does it?
Rich: Well, some players like Alexis Sanchez at Arsenal or Sergio Aguero at Manchester City have a bit longer.
Jack: Why's that?
Rich: They were playing in the Copa America, weren’t they? So they’ve been given a bit of extra time off.
Jack: So, I imagine this is a bit of a boring time for players.
Rich: Maybe, they have a lot of training to do to get back to peak fitness.
Jack: What do you mean by peak fitness, Rich?
Rich: Well, peak fitness is when a player’s body is the fittest it can be. So there’s lots of running in pre-season as players need to get their strength and stamina back after a couple of weeks on holiday.
Jack: What’s the difference between strength and stamina?
Rich: Your strength shows how strong you are. Strong is the adjective and strength is the noun. Stamina is how long you can use your strength.
Jack: So players want to be as strong as possible for as long as possible. But just training all the time must be boring.
Rich: It’s not just training at the moment.
Jack: So, what else are they doing?
Rich: Many clubs are also on pre-season tours.
Jack: That’s true. Premier League teams are all over the world at the moment. Do you know about the Barclays Asia Trophy?
Rich: No, what’s that?
Jack: It’s a four-team competition in Asia. It takes place every 2 years and in the past it’s been held in Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Thailand.
Rich: And where is it this year?
Jack: For the first time it’s being held in Singapore.
Rich: What’s this word ‘held’ that you keep using, Jack?
Jack: Ahh! This is the past participle of the verb hold. To hold something means to have something like a competition in a specific place. I used the past participle because I was using the passive voice.
Rich: Come on Jack, these podcasts are about football and vocabulary, not grammar.
Jack: You’re right Rich, but if anyone’s interested, there’s a link to the learn english grammar pages about the passive below. Can you come up with another example?
Rich: How about: the World Cup was held in Brazil.
Jack: Yes, and the Olympics were held in London in 2012
Rich: and the next World Cup will be held in Russia.
Jack: Yes, exactly.
Rich: And who’s in the Asia Trophy this year?
Jack: A Singapore XI (eleven), Everton, Stoke City and Arsenal.
Rich: Well, I think Arsenal will take the trophy home.
Jack: We’ll have to wait and see, but I think you’re right... Pre-season isn’t a boring time for the players.
Rich: Yeah, I wouldn’t mind flying out to Singapore for a week or two!
Jack: Well that’s all for now. Thanks for listening.
Rich: 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/premierskillsenglish.
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.
Quiz
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What do you think?
Is your team on a pre-season tour at the moment?
Do you think it's good that Premier League teams visit other countries?
Has a Premier League team visited your country?
Let us know your answers in the comments section below.
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Comments
26/12/2020
points
I think my team is on an end-year holiday because it's in the middle of the season. My team might do a pre-season tour when the season ends in the middle of 2021. Who knows.
It's good for Premier League teams to visit other countries. Either players or fans get many benefits from this tour. For players, it's like a new journey visiting a country that they might have never been there before. For fans, it's also great because they can meet and maybe play with their favorite players.
I don't know whether a Premier League team has ever visited Indonesia. I need to check it.
26/12/2020 01:12
Arsenal
124
I think my team is on an end-year holiday because it's in the middle of the season. My team might do a pre-season tour when the season ends in the middle of 2021. Who knows.
It's good for Premier League teams to visit other countries. Either players or fans get many benefits from this tour. For players, it's like a new journey visiting a country that they might have never been there before. For fans, it's also great because they can meet and maybe play with their favorite players.
I don't know whether a Premier League team has ever visited Indonesia. I need to check it.
02/05/2020
points
yeah Manchester United is in the USA tour
Definately to learn to play in different conditions and increase their merchandise. Also , fans travel and watch the world
Yes , Manchester United visited Istanbul 3 years ago to play against Fenerbahce in Europa League and I watched the game from the stands
02/05/2020 23:56
Manchester United
6539
yeah Manchester United is in the USA tour
Definately to learn to play in different conditions and increase their merchandise. Also , fans travel and watch the world
Yes , Manchester United visited Istanbul 3 years ago to play against Fenerbahce in Europa League and I watched the game from the stands
07/03/2019
points
Yes, Arsenal is on the Barclays Asia Trophy.
Yes, it is a good idea. It is a chance people from other countries can see PL teams.
No, I hope some PL teams go to Colombia soon.
07/03/2019 23:02
Arsenal
112
Yes, Arsenal is on the Barclays Asia Trophy.
Yes, it is a good idea. It is a chance people from other countries can see PL teams.
No, I hope some PL teams go to Colombia soon.
08/08/2016
points
The Olympic games are been held in Brazil
08/08/2016 03:23
Manchester United
4779
The Olympic games are been held in Brazil
28/06/2016
points
yes it's very good
28/06/2016 16:03
Manchester City
1734
yes it's very good
11/06/2016
points
Yes my team is on pre-season at the moment
11/06/2016 08:25
Manchester United
4779
Yes my team is on pre-season at the moment
07/06/2016
points
No premier league team has visited my country before.
07/06/2016 08:44
Manchester United
4779
No premier league team has visited my country before.
07/06/2016
points
Its best for premier league teams to visit other countries to get exposed to other countries way of playing knowing that they might meet such teams in international club games.
07/06/2016 08:43
Manchester United
4779
Its best for premier league teams to visit other countries to get exposed to other countries way of playing knowing that they might meet such teams in international club games.
04/04/2016
points
No.
04/04/2016 20:53
Liverpool
3705
No.
04/04/2016
points
Yes it is.
04/04/2016 20:52
Liverpool
3705
Yes it is.
04/04/2016
points
Yes they are.
04/04/2016 20:52
Liverpool
3705
Yes they are.
08/03/2016
points
Yes,the people who like watching from different country have a chance to see the Premier League teams.
Yes,Chelsea visited Turkey in summer of 2014.
08/03/2016 05:03
Leicester City
1761
Yes,the people who like watching from different country have a chance to see the Premier League teams.
Yes,Chelsea visited Turkey in summer of 2014.
26/01/2016
points
Hello / Hola ¡¡¡ My team (Barcelona) is now competing a lot, because is the leader of Spain and it could win the Champions League again.
It's good for anyone to visit each country
I dont know if a english team has visited my country for a pre-season tour.
26/01/2016 12:14
Leicester City
21
Hello / Hola ¡¡¡ My team (Barcelona) is now competing a lot, because is the leader of Spain and it could win the Champions League again.
It's good for anyone to visit each country
I dont know if a english team has visited my country for a pre-season tour.
06/01/2016
points
"peak fitness", this expression makes me laugh, hhhhhhhh, it's a long time, may be 10 years when my body was in it's peak fitness. What I need is stamina, but not with (with: it's the right preposition here ?) this course meaning, I need stamina to keep exercising a long period of time, to lose some weight!
Yes, I think it's good that Premier League teams visit other countries, to know "the others" (not the meaning of that movie starring Nicole Kidman ;) )
No, there is no Premier League team visited my country?
06/01/2016 23:12
Newcastle United
3189
"peak fitness", this expression makes me laugh, hhhhhhhh, it's a long time, may be 10 years when my body was in it's peak fitness. What I need is stamina, but not with (with: it's the right preposition here ?) this course meaning, I need stamina to keep exercising a long period of time, to lose some weight!
Yes, I think it's good that Premier League teams visit other countries, to know "the others" (not the meaning of that movie starring Nicole Kidman ;) )
No, there is no Premier League team visited my country?
08/05/2016
points
And I’m still not in my peak fitness, and the good news that I have lost 7 kg, not so much, but it encourages me to continue! At least, I have stamina to learning English more and more.
08/05/2016 23:33
Newcastle United
3189
And I’m still not in my peak fitness, and the good news that I have lost 7 kg, not so much, but it encourages me to continue! At least, I have stamina to learning English more and more.
07/01/2016
points
Yes, you can say 'with' the right meaning :)
07/01/2016 09:14
Liverpool
594
Yes, you can say 'with' the right meaning :)
07/01/2016
points
thank you Rich, why prepositions are so hard in all languages?!, even my tongue language is not so easy!
07/01/2016 21:00
Newcastle United
3189
thank you Rich, why prepositions are so hard in all languages?!, even my tongue language is not so easy!
16/11/2015
points
I can be more happy when Arsenal will visit East Africa
16/11/2015 14:22
Arsenal
2320
I can be more happy when Arsenal will visit East Africa
28/10/2015
points
It will be good that Arsenal or Man U visits my country.
28/10/2015 13:13
Manchester City
3988
It will be good that Arsenal or Man U visits my country.
23/10/2015
points
I think it's good idea because players can get know each other better and also a club works on its popularity round the world. No, I have never seen a Premier league team in my life. Sincerely, I hope that will change soon.
23/10/2015 16:41
Arsenal
3557
I think it's good idea because players can get know each other better and also a club works on its popularity round the world. No, I have never seen a Premier league team in my life. Sincerely, I hope that will change soon.
15/10/2015
points
ALGERIA
15/10/2015 02:18
Chelsea
160
ALGERIA
20/09/2015
points
Chelsea had a pre season in USA and it was bad because they had bad result .
I think it's very good to have this tour for the manager to know the weakest points in the team plus it benefits the club financially .
20/09/2015 13:21
Chelsea
1814
Chelsea had a pre season in USA and it was bad because they had bad result .
I think it's very good to have this tour for the manager to know the weakest points in the team plus it benefits the club financially .
18/09/2015
points
yes hope to visit algeria
18/09/2015 15:00
Tottenham Hotspur
241
yes hope to visit algeria
12/09/2015
points
It is important that Premier League teams visit other countries. It is a chance to experience new conditions, temperatures, teams, etc.
12/09/2015 20:11
Chelsea
44
It is important that Premier League teams visit other countries. It is a chance to experience new conditions, temperatures, teams, etc.
24/07/2015
points
premie league team has never visit algeria but i wish that happend, is our honer .
24/07/2015 16:04
Chelsea
0
premie league team has never visit algeria but i wish that happend, is our honer .