Learning Vocabulary: Football Training

Introduction

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack

Rich: My name’s Rich

Rowan: and I’m Rowan 

Rich: And welcome to the Premier Skills English podcast ...

Jack: ... where we talk about football and English.

Rich: In the Premier Skills English podcast, we talk about football and help you with your English.

Rowan: Don’t forget you can find the transcript for all our podcasts with examples and activities to help you understand the language and a task for you to complete on the Premier Skills English website.

Jack: In this Premier Skills English course, we’re looking at the different ways people stay fit and healthy.

Rich: We’re talking about lots of different sports and activities and will focus on language-related to fitness and some words and phrases connected to a specific sport.

Jack: This lesson is all about football. We’ve been looking at lots of different sports and activities over the last few weeks and this lesson will follow a similar format.

Rich: We’re going to do a roleplay. Rowan coaches a football team and has invited Jack and me to join them for a training session. We will use words and phrases connected to participation, getting better at things as well as football training in this week’s roleplay.

Rowan: In the roleplay, we’ll also tell you about the Premier Skills English fitness challenge that we’re doing.

Jack: We’re going to give a fitness score and a fun score for each of the sports and activities we look at.

Rich: And in the task we have for you later in the podcast, we want you to give your own fitness and fun scores for football and tell us about the last time you played football.

Last week’s Football Phrase 

Rowan: Before we start this week’s roleplay we need to look back at last week’s football phrase.

Rich: OK, our football phrase. If you’ve not listened to the podcast before, every week we set our listeners a language challenge. We explain a football phrase or word and you have to guess what it is.

Rowan: When you know the answer, go to the Premier Skills English website and write the word or phrase in the comments section for this podcast. If you’re correct we’ll announce your name on next week’s podcast.

Rich: We had lots of correct answers last week but a big congratulations to MoBeckham from Turkey who was the first to get the correct answer.

Jack: And a big well done to the following listeners who also got the correct answer: Liubomyr from Ukraine, Hayato from Japan, Emmanuel from France, Max Alex from Vietnam, Daniel4 from Italy, Marco Zapien from Mexico, Jacek from Poland, HSN from Turkey, Elghoul from Algeria, Guilherme Souza from Brazil and Abdlrhman from Egypt.

Rowan: The new football phrase is at the end of this podcast but we’re going to give you one more chance to guess last week’s football phrase. Are you ready?

Rich: The phrase was ****-**** **********. This is the phrase and the tech which is used when a referee needs to know if the ball has gone in the net or not. There are sensors around the goal and in the ball to detect when the ball has gone in the goal. When this happens, a message is sent to a watch which the referee wears and a goal is awarded.

Rowan: We’ll give you the answer and a new football phrase at the end of this podcast.

Jack: If you remember, our last podcast was all about fitness and technology and we asked you what technology you used when doing exercise.

Rich: Yoshichika from Japan uses a fitness band when he goes running and Abdlrhmn from Egypt uses an app called Fitify when he goes running.

Rowan: But not everybody is a fan of wearable technology. Vic from Mexico thinks it’s too expensive and HSN from Turkey thinks self-motivation is the most important thing when doing exercise, not technology.

Jack: If you haven’t heard this podcast it’s called Learning Vocabulary: Fitness and tech and you can find it on the Premier Skills English website or on Apple Podcasts.

Introduction to roleplay: Fitness Challenge

Rich: In our roleplay, Rowan invites me and Jack to a training session with the football team she coaches. Football is the latest activity in our Premier Skills English fitness challenge series - you can find the other sports we’ve looked at on the website.

Jack: Our fitness challenge is a little competition between the three of us. We are trying out a few different sports and activities and we decide which is the best.

Rich: We’ve been running, swimming, to the gym, played tennis and we’ve also been cycling online and offline. After all those activities we’ve finally decided to play a bit of football.

Rowan: We give each activity a Premier Skills English fitness challenge score based on how much fun we have and how good the activity is for us.

Jack: It’s all a bit of fun but it should help all of us think more about keeping fit and healthy.

Rich: As always, the main focus is the language. In this roleplay, we’re going to focus on words and phrases connected to getting better at things, participation and football training.

Rowan: While you listen we want you to answer two questions:

Jack: Question one: Who are the training sessions for?

Rowan: Question two: Why do you think Rich really wants to go to the training session?

Roleplay

Rowan: Yeah ... OK ... see you at training later. Bye Sam.

Jack: Hey, Rowan. Are you ready to go for that coffee now?

Rowan: Yes, sorry. I was just organising training times for next week.

Rich: Was that Sam you were talking to?

Rowan: Yes, do you know her?

Rich: She’s my boss.

Rowan: Your boss? Wow! Well, she’s my best defender.

Rich: She plays football? I didn’t know. Mmm .. It’d be good to get to know Sam a bit better. I’m up for a promotion at work - there’s an opening in the management team and I’ve got an interview tomorrow.

Jack: Good luck with that, Rich. How’s the football coaching going, Rowan?

Rowan: Really well. We get around 25 players to most sessions. Everyone’s welcome. Actually, why don’t you come along for a session or two? I could give you some tips.

Jack: Well, it’s been a while but it could be fun to join in. It’s not too competitive, is it? I don’t want you screaming get stuck in, man on, shoot at me from the sidelines.

Rowan: It’s not like that. All levels and all ages can get involved. We train and work on different fitness and soccer skills. The idea is to develop specific skills we want to improve and get better at.

Rich: You don’t play any games?

Rowan: These sessions are not very competitive. We play conditioned games, but we make sure everyone can join in. It’s about taking part and improvement. Some of the players are involved in more competitive matches for other clubs but most are happy with what we do.

Jack: Sounds good to me. I’m in.

Rich: Maybe you’d be able to put in a good word with your star defender, Rowan?

Rowan: Sam? Maybe. Are you going to come along then? There’s a session tonight at six.

Rich: Definitely. They don’t call me old twinkletoes for nothing, you know!

Rowan: OK, everyone. Remember we’ve been working on our ABCs. Agility, balance, coordination and speed.

Jack: ABCs. I like it.

Rowan: This training drill develops all three at the same time. It’s called dribbling king. Can I have a volunteer?

Rich: Me! Me! Me!

Rowan: OK, Rich. Come on. I’m putting five cones out in front of you. You need to dribble around the cones like this. Go around the cones as fast as you can keeping the ball under control. Have a go.

Rich: Easy! One cone, two, three, four, five. I am the dribbling king. Did you see that, Sam?

Jack: Ah! I know what you’re doing. Sam’s not here, Rich. She’s late.

Rowan: OK, now, everybody have a go. We’ve got more cones here. Get into groups of four or five.

Rowan: Right the next drill is to improve our long passing. Most passes on the pitch are short but sometimes we need to play a long pass. When might we use long passes?

Jack: To switch the play.

Rowan: Very good, Jack. To pass the ball from one side of the pitch to the other.

Jack: Or we might want to play a through ball.

Rowan: Yes, a long pass forward for a striker to run on to.

Rich: Teacher’s pet! He’s just showing off!

Rowan: I need another volunteer.

Rich: Me! Is Sam here yet?

Jack: I don’t think so.

Rowan: OK, Rich seeing as you’re so keen. This drill will help us develop our long passing skills and sharpen up our ball control.

Rich: I’m ready. What do you want me to do?

Rowan: Here are four balls. The focus is on accuracy. We want our long passes to always be accurate and find the target. What’s the target?

Jack: A teammate.

Rowan: Good. There is a square over there. You see the four cones. Try to get the ball into the square. Ready?

Rich: Ready! Here we go. Uf!

Jack: Bit off target there, Rich!

Sam: Oww!

Rich: Oh no!

Jack: Who’s that?

Rowan: It’s Sam.

Jack: The training session was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it.

Rowan: They always are. I enjoy the idea of everyone learning, improving and developing their football skills in a safe, non-competitive environment whoever they are and whatever their ability.

Jack: It wasn’t so safe today. Not for Sam anyway.

Rowan: She’s OK, thankfully. The first aider checked her out and there were no signs of concussion. Just a bit shaken up.

Jack: It must be a bit of surprise to get a ball in the back of the head when you’re not expecting it.

Rich: Can we stop now? I apologised a million times. I didn’t mean to do it.

Jack: I bet you’re looking forward to work tomorrow!

Rowan: Still think you’re up for that promotion? Ha! No chance! You’re more likely to get a demotion.

Rich: OK, guys let’s leave that now. What about our Premier Skills Fitness Challenge scores for football training.

Rowan: Football? Well, it has to be ten for fitness and ten for fun, doesn’t it?

Jack: A ten and a ten from me.

Rich: And top marks from me, too. That gives football a score of sixty out of sixty and sends it flying to the top of the table in our Premier Skills English Fitness challenge.

LANGUAGE FOCUS

Rowan: Before the roleplay, we asked you two questions. The first question was: Who are the training sessions for?

Jack: The answer is everyone. In these training sessions, you can work on your own skills at your own pace.

Rich: I think it’s a great idea. Everybody helps everyone. These types of sessions would help everybody’s coaching skills, too.

Rowan: And the second question was: Why do you think Rich really wanted to go to the training session?

Jack: Well, he is interested in football, of course, and I think he did want to go and try it out but he definitely became more interested when he found out that his boss would be there.

Rich: That didn’t turn out too well though, did it? OK, let’s look at some language.

LANGUAGE FOCUS 1: Participation

Rowan: In our language focus, we’re going to focus on words and phrases connected to participation, football training and improvement.

Jack: Let’s start with participation. When we talk about participation we’re talking about taking part in something, getting involved.

Rich: The idea behind Rowan’s coaching sessions is that everyone can participate. Everyone can play. Sometimes there is a lack of participation when it comes to sports because people may not want to compete or they think that others are better than them.

Rowan: These kinds of training sessions are designed to increase participation.

Rich: We used a few words and phrases in the roleplay connected to participating. Have a listen to this:

Jack: Well, it’s been a while but it could be fun to join in. It’s not too competitive, is it? I don’t want you screaming ‘get stuck in, man on, shoot’ at me from the sidelines.

Rowan: Here, we want to focus on two phrases: join in and get stuck in.

Rich: Join in is a phrasal verb which means to participate in an activity with other people.

Jack: It’s quite informal. You might be in the park with friends and you see a few people playing football and you could say: ‘Could we join in?’

Rowan: Exactly. You usually join in with an activity that has already started.

Rich: The other phrase: get stuck in is a bit more unusual. It’s an idiom and it means to start doing something in a very energetic way.

Jack: It’s often connected with food and is used as an instruction to start eating. A dad might say it to his hungry children when he serves some food. Don’t wait for me - get stuck in.

Rowan: In the roleplay, Jack said he didn’t want me, as the coach, shouting get stuck in at him.

Rich: This is because when it’s used in this way, a coach is saying that a player is not being physical enough and should tackle more.

Jack: The phrase is a bit aggressive. You might hear fans shouting ‘he needs to get stuck in more’. I think some fans sometimes prioritise aggression and being strong over being skilful.

Rich: Let’s hear another part of the roleplay again:

Rowan: These sessions are not very competitive. We play conditioned games, but we make sure everyone can join in. It’s about taking part and improvement. Some of the players are involved in more competitive matches for other clubs but most are happy with what we do.

Jack: It’s not the winning but the taking part which counts.

Rowan: This is what Baron de Coubertin who is known as the founder of the modern Olympic Games said about sport.

Rich: To take part in something can be used in the same way as to participate but is more common and less formal. Here are some examples:

Jack: Millions of people take part in organised sports in the UK every week.

Rowan: Hundreds of thousands of people took part in the protests outside the parliament building last week.

Rich: It’s not the winning but the taking part which counts but winning is nice, isn’t it?

Jack: The other phrase we used in the part of the roleplay you’ve just heard was to be involved in or to get involved.

Rich: Rowan said that some of her players were involved in more competitive matches and she also said: All levels and all ages can get involved.

Rowan: Again, these phrases can be used to mean to participate but we use these phrases in certain ways. We often talk about being involved in something when we highlight ongoing participation - something you have been involved in for some time. Here are a couple of examples:

Jack: Doctors and nurses are involved in the ongoing fight against COVID19 or I’ve been involved in politics from an early age.

Rich: To get involved is used when you want to participate in something. All ages and levels can get involved.

Rowan: I would love to get involved in coaching kids from all over the world.

Jack: I’d like to get involved in my local community - maybe help older people with their shopping.

Rich: The last phrase I want to look at in this section is very informal. Listen to what Jack said in the roleplay when Rowan invited him to the training session:

Jack: Sounds good to me. I’m in.

Rowan: I think this phrase comes from the phrase: count me in which means to include me in what you are doing.

Rich: When you ask someone to do something a bit different or slightly risky you might say ‘Are you in or are you out?’

Rowan: Remember you can practise all this language on the Premier Skills English website.

Language Focus: Football training

Rich: In this section, we’re going to take a look at a few words you might hear at football training.

Jack: Coaches often explain why you are doing certain activities and Rowan did this in the roleplay. Have a listen to this part of the roleplay again:

Rowan: OK, everyone. Remember we’ve been working on our ABCs. Agility, balance, coordination and speed.

Rich: There are three words we want to focus on here: agility, balance and coordination.

Jack: Let’s start with agility: agility is how quickly and easily we can move our body.

Rowan: In training sessions, we might do different exercises and drills that work on agility. Exercises that do this could be when you have to run forwards and backwards, sprint, jump and change direction inside a small space.

Rich: The adjective is agile. Who’s the most agile person you know, Rowan?

Rowan: I’m not sure. I’d probably say Spiderman.

Rich: I was thinking of an acrobat or a gymnast you know.

Rowan: OK, what about Nia Dennis? She’s a gymnast. I saw her do a routine on the news yesterday. Brilliant agility.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55824267

Jack: The next word is balance. It’s important for footballers to have good balance so they can jump or turn quickly in a match.

Rowan: Have you got good balance, Jack?

Jack: I can stand on one leg.

Rich: That’s easy. Feet together and hold up one foot with your knee up towards your chest. Can you keep your balance now?

Jack: Just about.

Rich: Try it with your eyes closed.

Jack: That’s much more difficult.

Rowan: To keep your balance is the phrase we use when we are standing in a difficult position but don’t fall over.

Rich: The opposite is to lose your balance which is when you do fall over.

Jack: The third word in our ABCs is coordination. Coordination is how we make our arms and legs work together in a controlled way.

Rowan: Like rubbing our stomachs and patting our heads at the same time. You need to be very coordinated to do that.

Rich: Yes, very coordinated. A goalkeeper needs to be coordinated; if her arms move but her legs don’t when she tries to save the ball, the ball will end up in the back of the net.

Jack: I can remember teachers at school always talking about hand-eye coordination.

Rowan: Yes, coordinating what you see with your eye with the movement of your body.

Rich: In football, it’s probably more foot-eye coordination that’s important.

Rowan: Remember you can practise all this language on the Premier Skills English website.

Language focus: Improvement

Jack: The purpose of going to training or coaching sessions is to get better at something. In the roleplay, we used quite a few words and phrases to show this. Have a listen to this section of the roleplay again:

Rowan: We train and work on different fitness and soccer skills. The idea is to develop specific skills we want to improve and get better at.

Rich: Here we have a few similar words and phrases: get better, improve, develop and work on.

Jack: These can be used with little change in meaning. We can use any of them in this sentence from the roleplay.

Rowan: The aim of the next drill is to improve our long passing.

Rowan: The aim of the next drill is to develop our long passing.

Rowan: The aim of the next drill is to get better at our long passing.

Rowan: The aim of the next drill is to work on our long passing.

Rich: It’s a good idea to use different words to say the same thing when you're learning a language.

Jack: Yes, using synonyms expands your vocabulary and stops your speech or writing from becoming repetitive.

Rowan: But it’s important to try to understand a word or phrase fully and check in a dictionary for example sentences to see if two words can be used in the same way.

Rich: Listen to this sentence from the roleplay:

Rowan: OK, Rich seeing you’re so keen. This drill will help us develop our long passing skills and sharpen up our ball control.

Jack: The phrasal verb to sharpen up can mean to improve and in the example, we could replace it with improve, develop, get better at or work on.

Rich: But sharpen up is a more difficult phrase to know and use well. We sharpen things like knives and swords. A knife will still work when it is not super sharp but when we sharpen it, it will work really well.

Rowan: So, when we sharpen up a skill it’s more like we are trying to perfect a skill. It’s something we can do well already and we are trying to do it perfectly.

Jack: This is really advanced English - looking at different meanings and uses of near-synonyms. I think it’s always useful to look for real-world examples of phrases being used online if you’re not sure.

Rich: We’ve looked at a lot of vocabulary in this section and you can take a much closer look at it all on the Premier Skills English website.

Rowan: We’ve got the transcript, activities, questions, and a discussion for you all on the website.

TASK

Rowan: It’s time for this week’s task. Our first task for you is to give us a Premier Skills English Fitness Challenge score for football.

Jack: Do you think football keeps you fit? And do you think football is fun?

Rich: Give us a score out of ten for fitness and a score out of ten for fun - just like we did in the roleplay.

Rowan: Our second task is to tell us the last time you played football.

Jack: Do you play every week or has it been a few years since you last played?

Rowan: Do you play for a local team, at school, work or university or just with friends for fun?

Rich: Do you play outside on grass, concrete or an all-weather pitch? Or do you play five-a-side indoors?

Jack: Tell us all about the last game of football you played, where you played it, who with and against?

Rowan: Write all your answers in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website and try to use some of the words and phrases we introduced in this podcast.

FOOTBALL PHRASE 

Jack: It’s time for this week’s football phrase. Have you got one Rowan?

Rowan: I have. In the roleplay, earlier Rich’s passing skills injured his boss so this week’s football phrase is a ******** **** which connects passing with getting injured. A ******** **** is when you give an opponent the same chance of getting the ball as a teammate. Both players will need to tackle to win possession of the ball and this increases the chance of injury.

Jack: A quick tip: this phrase includes the place you need to go to if you get seriously injured.

Rich: Let’s see if anyone gets it right and who is first this week. If you are still wondering what the answer was to last week’s football phrase it was goal-line technology.

Rowan: Right, that’s all we have time for this week! Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below. If you get it right, we’ll announce your name on next week’s podcast.

Rich: If you have a question for us about football or English you can email us at premierskills@britishcouncil.org

Jack: or you can leave your questions and comments on the website in the comments section or on our Facebook page.

Rowan: or you could give us a rating and a fantastic review on Apple Podcasts.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football!