This Week: Jump

Introduction

Laura: Hello my name’s Laura and welcome to our weekly round-up section called ‘This Week’ on Premier Skills English.

Rich: Hi there. I’m Rich. We’ve got lots of interesting words and phrases to help you talk about football in English.

Jack: And I’m Jack and we hope you are all staying well whether you are staying home or still going to work.

Rich: We’ve got Laura with us again this week and we’re very happy to have you back.

Laura: Hi Rich. Hi Jack. Hi everyone who’s listening. I’m very happy to be back. 

Jack: We’ve looked high and low for three news stories that we want to share with you.

Laura: This week, we talk about Leicester City, the home goal challenge and pole vaulting - yes pole vaulting!

Rich: We have chosen these stories because they are topical and fun but also so we can focus on some interesting bits of vocabulary that we think are useful to learn.

Jack: And we want you to use and practise these words and phrases by interacting with Premier League fans from around the world in our comments section.
 
Laura: If you listen to us on Apple Podcasts, you can leave your comments in the review section. We do read all the reviews and would love to hear from you.

Rich: You can find all our latest content on the Premier Skills English homepage or the Premier Skills-British Council Facebook page. 

Jack: Don’t forget that we also have our weekly Premier Skills English Podcast that is released every Friday. Every week we help you with some different vocabulary or an aspect of grammar.

Laura: Our latest podcast is called Learning Vocabulary: Talking about feelings. In the podcast, we have nine short roleplays. In each roleplay, we look at different emotions and the phrases we use to talk about these emotions or feelings.

Jack: You can find the lesson on the homepage on the Premier Skills English website. 

Rich: You’re now going to hear our three headlines. After each headline, we will have a little discussion and look at some vocabulary. The words and phrases we are looking at this week are: to defy the odds, household name, raise money, to join in, to jump at the chance and to give someone or something a lift.

Laura: After the headlines, we’ll have another fitness challenge and a language challenge for you to have a go at.

Headlines

Jack: Foxes shock football world!

Laura: Four years ago this weekend Leicester City defied the odds to win the Premier League in one of sports biggest ever shocks. Five thousand to one to win the title at the beginning of the season, Leicester ran out winners with two games to spare and Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and Claudio Ranieri became household names.

Rich: What a story? Four years ago already? It seems like yesterday. I think Leicester became a lot of people’s second team that season.

Jack: Laura said it was one of sports biggest ever surprises. Was it? I think it might have been the biggest.

Laura: Let’s look at a couple of words from the headline. I said Leicester City defied the odds. To defy the odds means to do something that most people think is impossible.

Rich: Leicester defied the odds; they did something most thought was impossible - to win the Premier League.

Jack: Let’s break the expression down. To defy means to refuse to obey or show respect to a rule or someone in authority like police or teachers. It can also be used to say that something seems impossible; we can say that something defies logic, defies belief or defies explanation.

Laura: We said Leicester’s win defied the odds. The odds are the chances of or likelihood of something happening. I  said that the odds of Leicester winning the Premier League were 5,000-1.

Rich: 5,000-1 is very unlikely - the chances or odds are very low but Leicester won - they defied the odds. Their win was totally out of the blue.

Jack: The other phrase we want to look at is a household name. We said that Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and Claudio Ranieri became household names.

Laura: A household name is an expression we use to describe someone who has become very famous or well-known.

Rich: A household is all the people that live in your house or flat - a household name is a name that is known in most people’s homes or households.

Jack: Let’s move on to our next headline.

Laura: Can you score in the home goal challenge?

Rich: England international, Lucy Bronze has joined up with other sports stars to take part in the home goal challenge to raise money for charity. Players from football, basketball, cricket, and rugby have all joined in. Players spin around ten times before hitting or shooting a ball at a small target.

Jack: I’ve seen Watford’s Troy Deeney and Tottenham’s Jose Mourinho have a go at this one but they used a full empty goal - it was too easy. 

Laura: Yes, I’ve seen the videos. They both get dizzy and fall over but Lucy Bronze puts the ball in a small bucket - far more skilful! 

Rich: We’ve got the video on the website if you want to check it out. Let’s have a look at a bit of vocabulary from that headline.

Jack: Rich said the players were doing this challenge to raise money for charity. To raise money is a collocation we’re hearing a lot at the moment.

Laura: To raise money means to collect money; usually for a specific purpose. We often raise money for good causes or charity.

Rich: The other phrase we want to look at is to join in. To join in is a phrasal verb and it means to take part in an activity of some kind with other people.

Jack: Lots of sport stars have joined in with the home goal challenge. It’s great that all kinds of people are joining in by doing these types of things and coming together. 

Laura: Let’s look at one final headline.

Rich: Sports fans jump at the chance of live action.

Jack: With a lack of live sports on TV at present, the sport of pole vaulting got a big lift when thousands tuned in to its garden championships. Three professional pole vaulters set up pole vault runways and landings in their own gardens. The competition was won by Former Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie in his garden in France.

Laura: I bet he was jumping for joy when he won!

Rich: Very good. I imagine he was very happy. There are a few sports that you can do in your garden but I never imagined pole vaulting to be one of them.

Jack: Let’s look at a couple of other phrases connected to jumping we used in the headline. Rich said sports fans jump at the chance of live sports.

Laura: To jump at the chance of something means to accept an opportunity with a lot of excitement and hunger.

Rich: A good word to use here is eager. If someone jumps at the chance of something they are very eager to do something - they really want to do it.

Jack: Our final phrase this week is to give someone or something a lift. It has a few meanings - let’s have a look at a couple of them.

Rich: It can be connected to increase. A cut in taxes might give the economy a lift for example. 

Laura: In the headline, we said that the sport of pole vaulting got a big lift when thousands tuned in ... to its garden championships. This is an increase in support.

Jack: To give someone a lift can also be used to make someone feel good by saying or doing something kind to make them feel happier.

Rich: Reading about some funny or strange stories might give you a lift if you are reading too many depressing stories in the newspaper.

Laura: Like pole vaulting in your garden.

Jack: That’s right. We’ve looked at three stories and six bits of vocabulary in our headlines. The words we’ve looked at are: to defy the odds, household names, raise money, to join in, to jump at the chance and to give someone or something a lift.

Rich: Have a listen to the headlines again and see if you understand the vocabulary we’ve looked at.  

Headlines

Jack: Foxes shock football world!

Laura: Four years ago this weekend Leicester City defied the odds to win the Premier League in one of sports biggest ever shocks. Five thousand to one to win the title at the beginning of the season, Leicester ran out winners with two games to spare and Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and Claudio Ranieri became household names.

Laura: Can you score in the home goal challenge?

Rich: England international, Lucy Bronze has joined up with other sports stars to take part in the home goal challenge to raise money for charity. Players from football, basketball, cricket, and rugby have all joined in. Players spin around ten times before hitting or shooting a ball at a small target.

Rich: Sports fans jump at the chance of live-action.

Jack: With a lack of live sports on TV at present, the sport of pole vaulting got a big lift when thousands tuned in to its garden championships. Three professional pole vaulters set up pole vault runways and landings in their own gardens. The competition was won by Former Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie in his garden in France.

TASK - Fitness Challenge

Laura: Each week we’re trying to set you a fitness challenge and this week’s challenge comes from Manchester United’s Jesse Lingard.

Jack: The Manchester United midfielder has put together a 40-minute workout from his back garden.

Rich: There are three rounds of four sets of exercises. Lingard’s exercises include cardio, core and overall strength. He says it’s a light challenge.

Laura: There’s even a bonus round if you can manage to do it!

Jack: This is quite a challenge - especially because it’s so long.

Rich: I can do 10 minutes - tops.

Laura: If, like Rich, you can’t quite manage 40 minutes - just do bits of the workout. Do what you can and don’t push yourself too hard.

Jack: If you want to give it a go, take a look at the lesson page on the Premier Skills English website where we have a link to the video.

Rich: Let us know how it goes in our comments section.

Language Challenge

Laura: To finish up the show we’ve got a quick language challenge connected to this week’s vocabulary.

Rich: Earlier we looked at a couple of phrases connected to jump; jump for joy and jump at the chance. We’ve got three more sentences that use a phrase with jump. 

Jack: We want you to think what the missing word is and write the words in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website. Here is your language challenge:

Laura: Ah! Don’t ever do that again! I nearly jumped out of my ____.

Rich: I tell you what. If he’s home late again, he’s for the ____ jump!

Jack: There’s no need to jump to ________. There could be a very reasonable explanation.

Laura: We want you to write the correct answers on the Premier Skills English website where we have some more questions and activities connected to this week’s show for you.

Rich: Or write your answer on Apple Podcasts if that’s where you listen to us. Just write the answers in the review section and say hi.

Jack: Before we finish we just wanted to say that we hope you found this lesson useful and we hope that all of you stay fit and healthy and we’ll all be back watching Premier League football very soon.

Laura: Bye for now and enjoy your football.