English Recordings

Unit 6: Sports | Writing: A sports star

Usain Bolt is an athlete from Jamaica. He was born on 21st August 1986 in Sherwood Content. He lives in Kingston now.

Bolt first competed in sprint races as a schoolboy. At sixteen, he became the youngest ever world junior champion for 200 metres.

Bolt broke world records in 100- and 200-metre races. He also won gold medals at the Olympics in Beijing and London. He’s one of the most successful athletes.

Unit 6: Sports | Language Focus: Past simple

YOUNG SPORTS SUPERSTARS

*Phan Thị Hà Thanh
Phan Thị Hà Thanh started gymnastics when she was six. She went to an athletic training centre in Hải Phòng. In 2011, she was the first Vietnamese gymnast who won a world medal for Việt Nam and she competed in the Olympic Games in 2012 and 2016.

*Martin Odegaard
Martin Odegaard, from Norway, became a professional footballer at fifteen and scored great goals for his club. He first played international football before he was sixteen.
A lot of famous clubs were interested in him and he trained with some of them. Finally, in 2015, Real Madrid gave him a contract.

Unit 6: Sports | Vocabulary and Listening: X Games: Regular and irregular verbs

X GAMES SUPERSTARS

Sports in the X Games are always exciting and often dangerous. The games started in 1995 when 500,000 fans travelled to Newport in the USA and watched sports like BMX, skateboarding and motocross.

Our programme today looks at two skateboarders who decided to learn to skateboard when they were very young. They competed in the X Games and became big stars – Tom Schaar, the youngest gold medallist in the history of the games, and Alana Smith, the youngest silver medallist.

1. She / He learned to skate when she / he was
a. four b. seven c. nine
2. She / He first went to the X Games in
a. Barcelona b. Miami c. Shanghai
3. She / He did a trick called
a. 900 b. 1080 c. 540 McTwist
4. She / He won an X Games medal when she / he was
a. ten b. twelve c. fourteen

Unit 6: Sports | Language Focus: was, wasn’t, were, weren’t

Complete the sentences about the Olympics timeline text on page 74. Then complete the rule.

1. There were silver medals for winners.
2. Inge Sorenson was the youngest medallist.
3. Abebe Bikila from Ethiopia was the first African to win a gold medal.
4. Golf was an Olympic sport until 2016.
5. There weren't any games in 2020.

RULE: “was” and “were” are the past forms of “is” and “are”. The negative forms of “was” and “were” are “wasn’t” and “weren’t”.

Unit 6: Sports | Language Focus: there was, there were

The first marathon

2,500 years ago there was a war between Greece and Persia and there were a lot of battles. There was a big battle in a place called Marathon, which the Greeks won. This was important news, but there wasn’t any internet and there weren’t any telephones. So a man called Pheidippides ran to Athens with news of the battle. He ran about forty-one kilometres. There weren’t any good roads, so it was a difficult journey. When he arrived in Athens, he died.

Unit 6: Sports | Reading: The Olympics then and now

OLYMPICS TIMELINE
1896: The first modern Olympic Games were in Greece. There were silver medals for winners and bronze medals for second place. There weren’t any gold medals.
1916: In 1916, 1940 and 1944, there weren’t any games because of war.
1920: There wasn’t an Olympic flag until 1920. The flag of every country in the world has got one of the five Olympic colours in it.
1936: Twelve-year-old swimmer Inge Sorensen from Denmark was the youngest medallist in Olympic history.
1960: Abebe Bikila from Ethiopia was the first African to win a gold medal after running a marathon without shoes.
2016: There were two new events in Rio in 2016 – golf and rugby were the first new events in nearly 100 years.
2020: In 2020, there was a global problem and they moved the games to 2021.

Unit 6: Sports | Vocabulary: Sports

SPORTS QUIZ
How much do you know about sports? Do the quiz. Score one point for every correct answer. Then look at the key.

1. Can you name an American basketball player?
2. Which country are these hockey fans from?
3. What is the longest event in an athletics competition?
4. What’s the most famous cycling race in the world?
5. In which city is the biggest football stadium in Europe?
6. Here’s a judo champion. Which country is this sport from?
7. Which of these is the correct size for a golf ball: a. 19 mm, b. 41.1 mm or c. 57.5 mm?
8. How many players are there in a doubles tennis match?
9. How long is an Olympic swimming pool?
10. How many players are there in a beach volleyball team?

She sells sea shells by the seashore.

How can a clam cram in a clean cream can?

If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?

Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?

Eddie edited it.

Tom threw Tim three thumbtacks.

Red lorry, yellow lorry. (x3)

A snake sneaks to seek a snack.

Selfish shellfish.

"Hello, and welcome to my audio blog. For the ones
who don’t know me, my name’s Danny and I’m 15 years old.
I travel a lot with my parents, and on my blog, I talk about
our trips. As the ones who follow me on a regular basis know,
we have already been to Europe: we have visited Italy, Spain
and Germany, but there is a continent that we haven’t visited
yet. Do you remember which one it is? No? It’s Oceania! I
can’t wait to travel Down Under, and especially… I can’t wait
to visit Australia! One of my biggest dreams is to go scuba
diving on the Great Barrier Reef: it is one of the best places
to spot marine wildlife. As you know, I am not very brave, and
I’m afraid of heights, so I don’t think I’m going to try bungee
jumping, but I am definitely cycling in the Australian Outback.
It’s going to be amazing! Well, I think I’ll need a lot of water:
the Outback is one of the hottest places in Australia!
You know… when I’m older; I’ll either be a zookeeper or a
marine biologist, that’s my dream. Even though I’d rather be a zookeeper than a biologist… Anyway, for this reason, a mustsee place to visit for me is Taronga Zoo in Sydney. I’ll have a
great time with koalas and wombats. It will be awesome!"

Let me talk about my experiences.

I have flown in a helicopter once. It was fantastic but a little scary !

I have visited England but I’ve never been to Germany. I’d like to go there for my next holiday.

I have slept in many hotels but I have never experienced camping. And it’s a good thing because I like to sleep in a comfortable bed.

I have fallen down the stairs once and I have broken my leg. It was really painful.

I am extremely absent-minded. I suppose that’s why I’ve lost my keys lots of times !