Premier Skills English Podcast 8

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 look at some language to help you with your English. How are you today. Rich?

Rich: I’m a little sleepy this morning.

Jack: Why’s that?

Rich: Well, I was watching the England match last night and it didn’t finish until nearly one ‘o'clock in the morning.

Jack: Ah yes, England beat Norway in the Women’s World Cup. I didn’t stay up late last night but I saw the result this morning. What did you think of the match?

Rich: England won 2-1 and we’re through to the quarter-finals for the first ever time. It was a great result and Lucy Bronze scored a fantastic winning goal - did you see it?

Jack: Yes, it was a great goal. She plays for Manchester City you know.

Rich: Yes, I know. She used to play for Liverpool and won the women’s super league twice with the Reds.

Jack: Have you been watching a lot of the Women’s World Cup?

Rich: I’ve watched a couple of matches - the England match wasn’t as late as some of the other matches. I watched the opening match. There were 53,000 fans in the stadium to see Canada beat China 1-0. But I normally watch the highlights.

Jack: OK - I think that’s a word to explain. What do you mean when you say the highlights?

Rich: The highlights are the best parts of the match - like the goals - that are recorded and then shown on TV later.

Jack: I watch the highlights too. Because the tournament is in Canada and the live matches are a bit too late for me.

Rich: This World Cup is the biggest and most watched Women’s World Cup ever.

Jack: Yes, but it’s still much more popular in some countries than others.

Rich: Why do you think that is?

Jack: I’m not sure but I know that in North America, women’s football is just as popular as men’s football.

Rich: It’s really popular in Japan too. Maybe because they’re the World Champions? It’s getting more popular in the UK too.

Jack: Did you know that more women play football than any other team sport in the UK?

Rich: And the women’s super league is getting more and more popular and is attracting great players from around the world.

Jack: The current player of the year in the Women’s Super League is Ji So Yun, who plays for Chelsea and is from South Korea.

Rich: And Liverpool have recently signed Asisat Oshoala who is the current African Player of the Year and is from Nigeria.

Jack: I think that’s another word that to explain. What do you mean when you say ‘current’?

Rich: It means now or at the moment. So Oshoala is the African Player of the Year now.

Jack: Right... The Super League is not as international as the men’s Premier League yet but it is becoming more popular with players from all over the world.

Rich: Who do you think is going to win the World Cup? England?

Jack: No, I doubt it. I think it’ll be the USA.

Rich: Maybe, but I think Japan will win. The current World Champions.

Jack: So listeners, are you watching the World Cup? Who do you think will win? Let us know in the comments section below.

Rich: Well that’s all for now. Thanks for listening.

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/premierskillsenglish.

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.