Audio Worksheets

In this video worksheet post we use a clip from the excellent The History Of Football [2002] [DVD]on the topic of Folk Football. There is also a worksheet, transcript and answer sheet below. The report lasts for 2 minutes 10 seconds.

Folk Football Worksheet | Transcript

(for audio only, click here)

Transcript
The legend, whether true or not, is still enacted year in, year out by the people of Kirkwall, Scotland, making it one of the last strongholds of the game, which for hundreds of years dominated Britain.

The game itself is remarkably similar to other long-abandoned folk matches played on the island. The pitch is the entire town; the players number in their hundreds; the goals are local landmarks a mile apart. One goal was generally all it took to win the game, although that could take a whole day. In Kirkwall, two sides compete: the ‘up-the-gates’ and the ‘down-the-gates’. Their struggle for the ball, or ‘baa’, is deeply symbolic. continue

This post gives explanations of two more footballing clichés. You can find many more examples by going to our football cliché page here.

To run your socks off | Listen to the cliché here

This cliché is used when a team or an individual player is seen to work very hard during a game. The expression is often used with the verb ‘work’ as in he worked his socks off throughout the game. Indeed, this phrase is synonymous with certain types of battling midfield players such as Steven Gerrard or formerly Roy Keane who often run their socks off to get their teams back into a game. If a team works their socks off it means that they battled hard and did not give up. To work your socks off. continue

This week’s main report looks ahead to the group stages of the Champions League. In this interview Damian asks Manchester United fan Brendan about this season’s competition. The transcript of the report is below and includes vocabulary in bold which is explained at the foot of the post.

Main week 5

DF: Now the Champions League group stages are about to start and after last season when there were really no surprises at all the question is, do we really care? Brendan. continue

This post gives explanations of two more footballing clichés. You can find many more examples by going to our football cliché page here.

Can’t win the title in August but you can certainly lose it | Listen here

This cliché is a classic example of stating the complete obvious to make a point. As most European leagues start in August and finish in May it is mathematically impossible for a team to win the title so early in the season. So no matter how well a team begins the season it is far too early to predict that they will become champions. However, if a team that is tipped to do well has a bad start to the season then it might be difficult for them to recover and go on to win the title, meaning that a winning start is vital.
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 Print This Post | Listen to the report here

La Liga kicks off this weekend and on this week’s main report we ask whether the Spanish League is now better than the Premier League. Explanations of key terms are explained in bold at the end of the transcript below.

Listen to this week’s show here

TRANSCRIPT

Spain or England?

The much-anticipated Spanish football season, La Liga, kicks off this weekend, and it is one which Ronaldo now claims is the best league in the world – though that may only be because of his recent move there. But maybe Ronaldo has a point; has a shift occurred in the power structure of club football? continue

Teaching Ideas

Though it’s hard to believe not everyone is a fan of football. In the first of our series of interviews with people who just don’t like the game, Alan from Scotland tells us why a 5-4 ‘thriller’ left him completely bored. Listen here to the interview. To help you understand there are some comprehension questions, as well as a vocabulary list containing the words in bold at the foot of this post.

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In this teaching ideas post we listen to Manchester City fan Dave explain why he supports the Blues and not the Reds from his hometown of Manchester. Vocabulary in bold is explained at the end of the post

• Download the worksheet here
• Listen to the interview here

Why Manchester City? That’s a very good question. I know that in Japan and in many other countries most people know or have heard about Manchester United of course – a very famous team. However, you may be interested to know that there is another team in Manchester and the team is called Manchester City. continue

 Print This Post | Teaching Ideas

In this teaching ideas post we have an interview with Arsenal fan Andy who tells us about some of his memories while supporting the Gunners. Vocabulary in bold is explained at the end of the post

• Download the worksheet here
• Listen to the interview here

Damian: Right, today we have got an Arsenal season ticket holder giving us his views on all things Gunners. Hello, how are you doing? Could you please introduce yourself.

Andy: Hi yes, my name is Andy Robertson, I have been an Arsenal fan for life and I started supporting Arsenal when I was very young, mainly because my mother came from north London. continue