Football English: New Clubs Part 1

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Language level

Learning goals

Skills: Listening

Vocabulary: Words and phrases connected to promotion

Vocabulary: Words and phrases connected to feeling excited

Task: Describe a time when you felt excited

Football English: New Clubs Part 1

In this Premier Skills English Podcast, we join Rich, Rowan and Jack on Radio UK where they are hosting a football phone-in show and asking football fans to call in and talk about their football clubs. The language focus is on words and phrases connected to promotion and feeling excited. Your task is to talk about a time when you felt excited. Don't forget to listen to the end of the podcast because we have a new football phrase for you to guess.

If the listening was a bit difficult, you can listen again and read the transcript at the same time.

Read and listen at the same time.

Football English: New Clubs (1)

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack

Rowan: My name’s Rowan

Rich: and I’m Rich and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Jack: 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 on the Premier Skills English website.

Rich: This week’s podcast is connected to the three new football clubs in the Premier League this season: Norwich City, Watford and Brentford.

Jack: You’ll hear Rich and me hosting a phone-in on our radio station: Radio UK and we’ll be joined by our expert sports reporter - Rowan.

Rowan: In the phone-in, we’re speaking to three football fans, one Norwich fan, one Watford fan and one Brentford fan. We are going to ask them how they are feeling now that the new Premier League season is only a few weeks away.

Rich: After we’ve spoken to each fan we’ll focus on some language. This week we’re going to focus on football English and the language we use to talk about promotion and relegation as well as ways to say how we feel about our team.

Jack: You will hear this week’s podcast in three different parts, we will have a task for you to do after each part and there will be an opportunity for you to talk about your team’s chances in this season’s Premier League.

Rowan: If you are listening to us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or any other podcast platform, you should also check out our website.

Rich: On the Premier Skills English website, you’ll find
the transcript, examples and activities to help you understand the language, and a task for you to complete with other listeners.

Rowan: And don’t forget to listen to the end of the podcast because we have a new football phrase for you to guess!

SOCIAL

Jack: Before we start this week’s roleplay we’d just like to thank everyone for all their comments on the Premier Skills English website. It’s great to know that you’re enjoying the podcasts and all of the free learning materials we have on the website.

Rich: In this week’s podcast, we’re talking about the three newest members of the Premier League so we thought it would be nice to say hello to three of our newest members on the website.

Rowan: I’d like to give a shout-out to Kazu from Japan who has recently joined Premier Skills and has been making lots of comments.

Jack: Amongst other things, Kazu has told us about his house in Japan and the football heartache his team suffered against Belgium and in penalty shootouts. I hope you’re enjoying the Olympics, Kazu!

Rich: I’d like to say a big hello to Ali Kalhor from Iran who has recently joined our website. Ali has been commenting on our pre-season article and thinks Raheem Sterling is the player with the most pace in the Premier League.

Jack: And finally I’d like to say hi to Gitaandari from Indonesia who is also new on Premier Skills. Keep on guessing our football phrases and you’ll get there in the end!

Rich: Keep the comments and questions coming - we do enjoy reading all of them!

Introduction to roleplay 1

Rich: As we said earlier, in this week’s roleplay you are going to hear part of a phone-in from a radio station called Radio UK.

Jack: The topic is football and we’re asking listeners to phone in and talk about their club ahead of the new season.

Rowan: We especially want to hear from fans of the clubs that have just been promoted to the Premier League.

Rich: You’re about to listen to the first part of the phone-in, while you listen we want you to answer two questions and after you listen we’ll look at some of the language we used.

Rowan: Here are the questions: Question one is: Which team does this fan support?

Jack: Question two is: How does this fan feel about his team playing in the Premier League?

Roleplay 1

Rich: You’re listening to Radio UK and now it’s time for our weekly phone-in where you - our listeners get the chance to have your say.

Jack: And this week’s phone-in is all about football. With the new Premier League season just a few weeks away we want to hear from football fans from across the world.

Rich: Across the world? That sounds great mate ... And we especially want to hear from football fans from Watford, Brentford and Norwich - the three new clubs this season.

Jack: That’s right, Rich. Norwich fans in Nepal, Brentford fans in Brazil and Watford fans in Ukraine - we want to hear from all of you.

Rich: And we’ve got with us today Radio UK’s resident Premier League expert! Say hello Rowan.

Rowan: Hi guys. Hello everyone. Great to be here.

Jack: Well, the phone lines are flashing so I think we should take our first call. On line one we have Bill from … Brentford. Can you hear us, Bill?

Bill: Loud and clear! Up the Bees!

Rowan: So, Brentford … you’ve had some time for it to sink in. How are you feeling after winning promotion?

Bill: Oh, I’m still on cloud nine. The 29th of May 2021 is a day that will go down in history - the day Brentford Football Club got promoted to the Premier League for the first-ever time. Since we went up I haven’t been able to think about anything else.

Jack: And what an opening fixture: Brentford at home to Arsenal.

Bill: I know that you’re an Arsenal fan, Jack. I’ve heard you on the radio talking about the Gunners and how they are making some good signings and they are on their way back but I can’t wait for kick-off. I think there’s a big shock on the cards there.

Jack: Well, good luck to Brentford for the season if not for the opening fixture and thanks for calling. So, Rowan, what do you think about Brentford’s chances this season?

Rowan: I think Brentford will do well but only if they get off to a good start. If they get a couple of wins under their belts in the first few weeks that will give them the confidence to push on. I think they’ll definitely surprise a few of the more established Premier League teams including Arsenal on the opening day.

Jack: You heard it here first on Radio UK - Brentford to stay up. We’ll be back with more after this short break.

Language Focus 1

Rich: Before the roleplay, we asked you two questions. The first question was: Which team does this fan support?

Rowan: The answer is Brentford. What do we know about Brentford? I’m going to give you 10 seconds each - go.

Jack: Brentford. Their nickname is the Bees. They have a new stadium they moved into last year. They last played top-flight football in 1947. It’s the first time they’ll play in the Premier League.

Rowan: Jack. Stop. Rich. Go.

Rich: Brentford. They play in red and white stripes. The team is from West London. Their main rivals are QPR and Fulham but their local rivals this season will be Chelsea. They’ve got a really good striker called Ivan Toney.

Rowan: Good knowledge. Right, we also asked you another question. It was: How does this fan feel about his team playing in the Premier League?

Rich: Well, I’d say Bill was genuinely excited and if you didn’t get it from my acting then the language was there to help.

Jack: Yes, Bill said he was on cloud nine which is an idiom that we use when we are extremely happy and excited and he also said that he can’t think of anything else because he’s so excited.

Rowan: Let’s look at some more language from the roleplay.

...

Rich: In the roleplay, the Brentford fan was very excited because his team will be playing in the Premier League next season.

Jack: Brentford were promoted from the Championship to the Premier League … promoted … this is the first word we want to look at.

Rowan: In football, when we talk about a football club being promoted we mean that they move from playing with one group of teams to another at a higher level.

Rich: A team is promoted from one division to another. Brentford have been promoted from the Championship to the Premier League.

Jack: Promoted is often used in the passive form. Brentford were promoted last season. The noun is promotion and a common collocation is to win promotion.

Rowan: We often use the collocation get promoted in the same way; you might have heard it in the roleplay. We also use the phrasal verb to go up. This is a bit more informal.

Jack: Listen to this part of the roleplay again to hear how we used this language.

Rowan: So, Brentford … you’ve had some time for it to sink in. How are you feeling after winning promotion?

Jack: There were a couple of interesting idioms that were used in the roleplay. We’ve already spoken about the idiom to be on cloud nine but there were a couple of others, too.

Rich: The first is to be on the cards. Bill said I think there’s a big shock on the cards there.

Rowan: If something is on the cards we are saying that something is likely to happen. This is an old expression that comes from fortune tellers who used to use special cards to tell you what was going to happen to you. They could tell your future by saying what was on their cards. So if we say something is on the cards, we mean there’s a good chance of it happening. In the example, Bill thinks that a shock result is likely. It’s on the cards.

Jack: The other idiom is to have something under your belt. In the roleplay, Rowan said, If they get a couple of wins under their belts it will give them the confidence to push on.

Rich: To have something under your belt means to have done or achieved something already. So, in the example, Rowan is saying that if Brentford win a couple of matches this will give them the confidence to win more.

Rowan: You can look at this vocabulary in more detail on the Premier Skills English website where you’ll find free activities, the transcript and a quiz to help you understand.

TASK

Jack: In the roleplay, Bill was very excited about his team, Brentford, playing in the Premier League. He said he was on cloud nine!

Rich: In this task, we want you to talk about a time when you were very excited about something.

Rowan: This could be a football match. What was the match? Was it a cup final? Did it involve your team winning promotion? Was it a title decider?

Jack: Did it involve your club or your country? How often do you feel really excited about a football match?

Rich: Or it could be something not connected to football. Maybe a new job, a holiday, a new baby or your wedding day.

Rowan: How did you feel and How did you celebrate? Were you on cloud nine like Bill in our roleplay?

Rich: Write all your answers in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website or on Apple podcasts if that’s where you listen to us.

Football Phrase

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

Jack: I have. This week’s football phrase is * ***-*** ****. When neither team win a match and no goals are scored we say that the match finished in * ***-*** ****. This is much more common in British English than in American English where someone might say that the match finished in a tie or finished zero zero.

Rich: If you have a football phrase that you would like us to use in the podcast, just get in touch and let us know and if you are still wondering what the answer was to last week’s football phrase it was in the flesh.

Jack: 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

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

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

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football!

How much did you understand?

Here is some of the vocabulary you might have heard in the roleplay. Do you know the words in bold?

It’s time for our weekly phone-in where you, our listeners, get the chance to have your say.

And we’ve got with us today Radio UK’s resident Premier League expert!

The phone lines are literally ablaze so I think we should take our first call.

You’ve had some time for it to sink in. How are you feeling?

I think they’ll definitely surprise a few of the more established Premier League teams.

Activity 1: In this activity, take a look at some of the words that were used in the roleplay and match them to their definitions.

Brentford Community Stadium will host Premier League football for the first time when the Bees kick off against Arsenal in August.

Promotion!

In the roleplay, Rowan and Jack spoke to a Brentford fan who was very excited about their team playing in the Premier League next season. Look at the sentences below from the roleplay and the phrases in bold connected to promotion. Think about what they mean and then have a go at the activity.

Rowan: How are you feeling after winning promotion?

Bill: Brentford Football Club have got promoted to the Premier League for the first-ever time. Since we went up I haven’t been able to think about anything else.

Note: Promoted is often used in the passive form: Brentford were promoted last season. The noun is promotion and a common collocation is to win promotion. We often use the collocation to get promoted in the same way. We also use the phrasal verb to go up. This is a bit more informal.

Brentford have been promoted to the Premier League.

Idioms

In the roleplay, there were three idioms. Look at the sentences below from the roleplay and the idioms in bold connected. Think about what they mean and then have a go at the activity.

Bill: Oh, I’m still on cloud nine. The 29th of May 2021 is a day that will go down in history - the day Brentford Football Club got promoted to the Premier League.

Bill: I can’t wait for Brentford and Arsenal to kick off. I think there’s a big shock on the cards there.

Rowan: If they get a couple of wins under their belts that will give them the confidence to push on.

Activity 2: In this activity think about some of the idioms we used in the roleplay and language to talk about promotion.

Ivan Toney is Brentford's star striker.

Learn more about Brentford FC:

An Exciting Time

Can you tell us about a time when you felt really excited?

In this task, we want you to talk about a time when you were very excited about something.

This could be a football match:

What was the match? Was it a cup final? Did it involve your team winning promotion? Was it a title decider?
Did it involve your club or your country? How often do you feel really excited about a football match?

Or it could be something completely different. Maybe a new job, a holiday, a new baby or your wedding day.

How did you feel and how did you celebrate? Were you on cloud nine like Bill in our roleplay?

Write your answers below and don't forget to make a guess at this week's football phrase!