Changes - Podcast 60

Welcome / Competition

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.

Rich: This week we’re going to talk about some of the transfers happening  in the Premier League and the language focus is on words connected to change. We’re also going to introduce a club of the week section and we’ll have some pronunciation for you to think about.

Jack: As well as all this, we’re going to talk more about how we are going to use the Fantasy Football game on premierleague.com on Premier Skills English, and of course, we’ll have a new football phrase for you. We’re going to try something new. We want to introduce a mini-course that you can complete every week on the website.

Rich: That’s right - to help you improve your English, each week we’re going to give you some different articles to look with a big quiz at the end. If you get over 80% right, you can print out or download a Premier Skills English certificate.

Jack: 80% That’s a bit difficult!

Rich: Yeah, I know - I think it’s a good challenge. But, if you get some of the questions wrong you can look at the articles again and do the quiz again, too!

Jack: To start this week’s mini-course you have to enroll on the course. It’s called Pre-Season Course 1 and you can see it on the righthand side of this page. Just click ‘join this course’ and you will see the different sections of the course.

Rich: We will look at some of the different parts of the course in this podcast. Don’t forget to click on the mark as complete button when you finish each section.

Jack: So, as we go through the podcast this week, we’re going to ask you to pause the podcast and have a look at some of the different pages on the site. So, I might say - OK, now I want you to look at the Manchester United page and find some information, or leave a comment. That sort of thing.

Rich: And then, when you’ve done that. Come back to the podcast and carry on. This way you can all join in together.

Jack: Right, that sounds OK. We’ll speak more about all of this later.

Social

Jack: What’s been happening on the website this week, Rich?

Rich: Well, we’ve been updating our club pages. I’ve made my predictions for this season and been adding new players and managers. There are lots of new managers in the Premier League this season. At the start of the season, there will be at least 8 managers that are new to their club or new to the Premier League.

Jack: We’ve had some interesting comments too. Jane Lost from Russia has commented on lots of the club pages. She says that Manchester Utd are the biggest club in football but have had some problems in the transfer market recently.

Rich: Hmmm... They’ve just signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic! Why don’t you tell Jane if you agree or disagree with her comments on the Manchester Utd club page?

Jack: I see that you’ve predicted Man Utd to come second this season. What do you think about that? Do you think Rich has got it right this time? All of you can make your predictions on the club pages, too! Just write your prediction in the comments section!

Rich: I’m sure lots of you can make better predictions than me. Mine are usually awful!

Jack: This is our first activity for you today! We would like you to go to the Manchester Utd club page and add a comment. Either reply to Jane from Russia or give us your prediction about where Manchester Utd will finish this season.

Rich: Don’t forget to click the mark as complete button to say that you’ve finished this stage of the course.

Jack: Pause the podcast, add your comment, then come back to the podcast!

Latest News

Jack:  Welcome back! What’s been happening in the Premier League this week, Rich?

Rich: This week the focus has been on transfers and pre-season friendly matches.

Jack: That’s right. Many players are back in pre-season training. Liverpool, Manchester Utd and Chelsea have all played pre-season friendlies, too.

Rich: I saw that Henrikh Mkhitaryan played for Manchester Utd for the first time. I think he will be one of the most exciting players to watch in the Premier League next season.

Jack: I agree. He’s the captain of Armenia and has been voted Armenia’s best player five times. He will be the first Armenian to ever play in the Premier League.

Rich: Nice. There are lots of changes at Old Trafford this season and fans will be looking for a change in fortunes, too, after a disappointing season last year.

Jack: Yes, they’ve changed the manager of course, Jose Mourinho has arrived. Ryan Giggs has left, and other new players have arrived; like Eric Baily the Ivory Coast defender and of course, the big one - Zlatan Ibrahimovic from PSG.

Rich: But there are not only changes at Manchester Utd. There are changes of managers and players all over the Premier League.

Language Focus

Rich: We’ve just been speaking about changes. The word change has many meanings and there are lots of phrases that use the word change. Jack said that Manchester Utd have changed their manager.

Jack: So, change can mean to replace something or someone. It can also mean to become different. You can say the world is changing or maybe, if talking about football, you could say that Leicester City changed last season. They were a team at the bottom but changed into a team of champions!

Rich: It can also mean to exchange something. At half-time in a football match the teams change ends. This means that in the second half the teams play in the opposite direction to what they were playing in the first half.

Jack: Before a match, players get changed in the changing room. Get changed means to replace your clothes and the changing room is the place where players get changed. It’s sometimes called the dressing room, too.

Rich: A changing room is usually used for sports and a dressing room is also used for actors in theatres.

Jack: There are lots of other phrases that use change. Rich said that Man Utd fans will want a change in fortunes or a change of luck this season.

Rich: And there are more complicated phrases or idioms, too. I like the phrase to change your tune. It means to change your opinion or change your mind about something at a later time.

Jack: Many journalists thought that Leicester would not be good enough to win the Premier League last season but they all changed their tune later in the season.

Rich: And the manager, Claudio Ranieri, used to be called the TInkerman when he was at Chelsea because he would always chop and change the team.

Jack: Chop and change?

Rich: Yes, it means to keep changing things all the time. To tinker means to constantly make lots of small changes to something - so that’s why he was called the Tinkerman. At Leicester last season he hardly ever changed the team. So, they needed a new nickname for him!

Jack: My favourite is; a leopard can never change its spots. It means that a person can never change their character or personality. It’s usually used in a negative way.

Club of the Week

Rich: This is our new section: Club of the Week.

Jack: And our first Club of the Week is Chelsea! What news do we have about Chelsea, Rich?

Rich: They have just completed their biggest transfer of the summer. They have bought N’golo Kante from Leicester City for £32 million.

Jack: It’s a lot of money but Kante is a great player and will add a lot of fight to Chelsea’s midfield this season.

Rich: Chelsea didn’t have a very good season, but this season, I think the blues will have a change in fortunes. I think Chelsea will have a much better season than last. They’ve already got a new manager and they are bringing in a few new players, too.

Jack: If you want to talk about Chelsea, go to our Chelsea club page and read more about the club and check out Rich’s prediction for the team.

Rich: Yesterday, I saw a fun headline ‘Why Conte wanted Kante’ and I thought that was quite difficult to say and may be problematic for some learners.

Jack: Conte, of course, is  Chelsea’s new manager and Kante the player Chelsea have just bought from Leicester.

Rich: The only difference between the names is the vowel sound. For Conte, the manager, there is an /ɒ/ sound, so we say Conte and for Kante, the player, there is an /æ/ sound, so we say Kante.

Jack: So Why Conte wanted Kante.

Jack: Let’s look at some more examples of this to help you with your pronunciation.

Rich: Right, Jack is going to say some words and we want you to say which sound he is using first /o/ or /a/. The words are: hot and hat, cot and cat and pot and pat.  Let’s say the /a/ sound like Kante is A and the /o/ like Conte is B. I want you to listen to Jack say the words and say AB or BA. OK Jack, off you go!

Jack: Hat hot, hat, hot.

Rich: That’s AB.

Jack: That’s right. Now the next one. Cot cat, cot cat. Did you get it?

Rich: BA?

Jack: Good. Here’s another. top tap, top tap.

Rich: BA like the last one?

Jack: Yes. And the inalone. Pat Pot, pat pot. What do you think?

Rich: AB like the first one?

Jack: Yes, that’s right. OK, if you want to practise this some more you can see that we have a pronunciation practice section in the lesson below. We’re going to have some pronunciation practice every week from now on.

Rich: Yes, we hope you find it useful.

Football Phrase

Rich: Right, last week’s football phrase was pre-season friendly. Pre-season friendlies are the matches that take place before the season starts. It gives new players a chance to get to know the team and tactics and for all players to improve their fitness.

Jack: Well done to Kwesimanifest from Ghana, Haydi from Tunisia who got the right answer and Alex from Ukraine who also got the answer right eventually!!

Rich: Have you got a new football phrase, Jack?

Jack: Yes, this week’s football phrase is the ******* ******. The ******** ****** is now open and lots of players are changing clubs. The ******* ****** iis the period of the year when players are allowed to move clubs. There are two ******** ******* one in January and the other, which is open now, in July and August.

Rich: I think there will still be lots of players moving before the end of August. I’m still hoping for more players coming in at Liverpool!

Fantasy Football

Jack: Finally, we want to talk about Fantasy Football. The Fantasy Football game on premierleague.com opens this week so we want to start choosing our Premier Skills English team.

Rich: We’re going to start by picking our strikers. Our second activity today is also stage two of this week’s mini-course. We want you to look on our new Fantasy Football Page and decide which three strikers are best for the Premier Skills English Fantasy Football team.

Jack: Have a look on the page, there’s a link on the side of this page, there’s lots of information about Fantasy Football and how you can get involved in choosing a team.

Rich: When you have finished, write a comment on our Fantasy Football page to tell us which strikers we should have in our team and why.

Jack: Brilliant! Right, well, that’s all we have time for today!

Rich: Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and the football phrase in the comments below. And remember to join this week’s Premier Skills English course by clicking on Pre-Season Course 1 on the side of this page.

Jack: Bye for now and enjoy your football!