BOX SET: 6 Minute English - 'Sport' English mega-class! 30 minutes of new vocabulary!

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

And I’m Sam.

The Olympic Games happen every four years and the most recent games were held  

in Tokyo this summer. Did you watch them, Sam?

Yes, I saw British swimmer,  Adam Peaty, win a gold medal, 

and my personal favourite was 13-year-old, Sky Brown,  

competing in an exciting sport

which was added  to the Olympics this year: skateboarding.

Olympic athletes inspire people around the world to take on new challenges,

eat healthily and get fit. So it seems strange that some of the companies that

sponsor – or pay for - the Olympic Games also sell food and drink which is

linked to obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

Tobacco advertising was banned from international sport in 2005

because of the harmful effects of smoking. But other companies selling

less-than-healthy products still sponsor big sporting events.

These could be sugary drinks companies, or others who sell fast food

– hot food, like hamburgers, that is quick to cook and

serve but which is often unhealthy.

In this programme, we’ll be asking whether it’s right for companies selling unhealthy

products to sponsor sporting events.

But first it’s time for my quiz question, Sam.

McDonalds had a long history with the Olympic Games until the company

ended the partnership ahead of the 2024 games in Paris.

But why did McDonalds choose to quit? Was it because:

a) they wanted to change the name of French fries to McFries?

b) they didn’t want to call their hamburger ‘Le Big Mac’?

or c) they wanted to be the only company selling cheese for cheeseburgers?

Hmm, I think maybe it’s a) because they wanted to call French fries McFries.

OK, Sam, we’ll find out the answer later in the programme.

Someone who is worried about the relationship between fast food and sport is

Dr Sandro Demaio. He worked for the World Health Organisation

specialising in obesity before starting his own public health agency in Australia.

Here is Dr Demaio speaking with BBC World Service programme, The Food Chain,  

about the problem with unhealthy brands and food products:

By having their brand alongside a young person’s favourite sporting hero, on the

chest of their national team, it does two things. First of all, it

creates brand attachment, so if you’re a young child you built

the connection in your mind that basically fast food equals success.

At the same time it also gives a health halo to that brand.

Then you start to think in your mind, even subconsciously, that it can’t be that bad…

You’ve probably heard of ‘brand loyalty’,  

where people have a favourite brand  

they always buy, but Dr Demaio is concerned about brand attachment.

Brand attachment is the emotional connection between humans and brands.

It goes deeper than loyalty so that people mentally connect a  

particular company with feelings of winning, being healthy and success.

The problem comes when these feelings attach to companies that aren’t

healthy at all. Dr Demaio says this creates a health halo –

the belief that something is good, like an angel’s halo,  

even though there is little evidence to support this.

On the other hand, fast food and fizzy drink companies 

invest large amounts of money in sport, over 4.5 billion 

dollars since the 2016 Rio Olympics, much of it supporting athletes around the world.

Yes, with travel, training and equipment the cost of being 

an Olympic athlete can be huge.

And depending on your country and your sport, there may be little financial help.

Many athletes are desperate for any sponsorship they can 

get - but does that make it right to promote

unhealthy eating in return?

Not according to Dr Demaio, who thinks people should 

worry about the nutritional value of fast food,  

as he explained to BBC World Service’s, The Food Chain:

When we think about foods and beverages of public health concern,

we tend to start by talking about highly-processed foods, particularly

ultra-processed foods. These are foods that have been

really broken down to their kind of basic elements and then

built up - they’re more products really than foods – you know,

they’re made in a laboratory not a kitchen.

Dr Demaio mentions unhealthy foods and beverages – another word for drinks.

He’s concerned about the public health risk of ultra-processed food –

foods containing extra ingredients like chemicals, colourings and sweeteners 

that you wouldn’t add when cooking homemade food.

A potato, for example, is natural - minimally processed. 

Bake a potato and it becomes ‘processed’.

Make French fries and it’s ‘ultra-processed’.

And speaking of French fries, Neil, what was the answer to your quiz question?

Yes, I asked Sam the reason behind the  

decision McDonald’s made not to sponsor the 2024 Paris Olympics.

And I said it was a) because they wanted to call French fries McFries.

Which was… the wrong answer, I'm afraid. In fact, McDonald’s wanted to be only company  

allowed to advertise cheese so it could boost cheeseburger sales.

This didn’t go down well with officials in France, a country with over a thousand  

different types of cheese!

OK, let’s recap the vocabulary from this programme starting with fast food

– hot food that is quick to cook but may be unhealthy.

Companies that sponsor sports events, pay for them to happen.

Brand attachment is a psychological connection between someone and a brand.

A health halo is the perception that something is healthy for you, even if it’s not.

Ultra-processed foods are foods containing added 

artificial ingredients like colourings and preservatives.

And a beverage is another word for a drink.

That’s all from us, but if you’d like to find out more about the business,  

science and culture of food, why not download The Food Chain podcast!

– it’s updated weekly and available now.

Join us again soon for more topical discussion and vocabulary

here at 6 Minute English. Bye for now!

Goodbye!

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Dan.

And I'm Neil.

Now, Neil, do you like going to live football matches?

Oh yes, I love it.

Is it better than watching them on TV?

Well, you don’t really see as much as you do on TV, 

but then on TV you don’t really feel the atmosphere. 

You can’t sing along with the chants and songs at home.

Well, it’s good you mentioned the songs and chants 

because that is today’s topic. It seems that for some 

football clubs, the atmosphere in the stadiums is becoming a bit ‘quiet’.

Now, before we look at this topic in more detail,  

here is today’s quiz.

As we are talking about football, in which decade

was the first ever international football played?

Is it a) in the 1870s,

b) in the 1890s or

c) in the 1910s.

I could be wrong but I think it was before the turn of 

the century, so I’ll say the 1890s.

Well, we'll see if you're right or not later in the show.  

Now, songs and chants are part of the experience of football matches.  

But where do they come from? What are they about?

Here’s Joe Wilson from BBC Sport.

Which team name does he mention?

Some songs can be witty, honed specifically to celebrate 

a certain player or moment in a club’s history. Others rely 

more on a hypnotic repetition of syllables. U-NI-TED, for example.

So, which team does he mention?

Well, he used the syllables from United. This isn’t one team 

as there are quite a few professional teams in Britain 

that have United in their names. In fact, there are over a 

dozen. Perhaps the most well-known though would be Manchester United.

I think fans of Welling United might argue with you about 

that! Anyway, what did Wilson say about the nature of 

football songs?

He said they could be witty. Witty means funny but in a 

clever way. He also said that they could be honed.

Honed is an interesting word here. Something that is 

honed is carefully crafted, skilfully created and developed over a period of time.

When it comes to witty football songs Wilson describes 

them as being honed to be about a particular player,  

or a moment in a club’s history. But these aren’t the only kinds 

of songs. Another kind of song he describes is the hypnotic repetition of syllables.

Something that is hypnotic repeats again and again – 

like a magical spell or chant. What’s interesting is that in football songs  

words can have more syllables than you would expect.

Oh yes, for example, let’s take England. Two syllables, right?

Right!

Wrong! At least in a football stadium it becomes  

three syllables. Eng – ger – land, Eng – ger – land …

Alright! Thank you! Let’s listen to Mr Wilson again.

Some songs can be witty, honed specifically to celebrate 

a certain player or moment in a club’s history. Others 

rely more on a hypnotic repetition of syllables.  

U-NI-TED, for example.

Now, apparently, in many stadiums, the crowds aren’t 

singing as much as they used to. Some managers have complained that the fans  

are too quiet and that this has a negative effect on the players.  

So what are some of the reasons for this? Here’s BBC Sport’s Joe Wilson again. 

How many reasons does he mention?

The decline in singing may be explained by changing demographics in football  

attendance. Older supporters, more expensive tickets.  

Or by stadium design. All-seater arenas may

discourage the instinct to stand up and sing.

So, what reasons did he give for the decline in singing, 

for the fact that singing is getting less common.

He gave a number of reasons. He talked about the change 

in demographics. 'Demographics' refers to a section of the

population that do a particular thing. It can refer to age groups or wealth, for example.

What Wilson says is that the members that make up a 

football crowd are changing. They are older and wealthier, 

and perhaps that is a demographic or group  

that is less likely to sing in public.

Another reason he gives is that sitting down might also discourage

people from singing. If something discourages you,

it makes you not want to do it. Most stadiums in the UK have to have seats

and maybe singing is something that people feel happier doing

when they are standing up.

Well, the final whistle is about to blow on today’s programme.

Before that though, here’s the answer to our quiz question.

I asked you when the first international football match took place.

And I took a guess with the 1890s.

And that's a red card, I'm afraid, Neil.

The first international football match took place in the 1870s

between England and Scotland.

Oh, come on ref!

And now, to take us to the whistle, let's review today’s vocabulary.

The first word we had was 'witty'. A kind of humour that 

is smart and clever.

Then we had 'honed for something' that is crafted and improved over time.  

A bit like my physique. I’ve been honing my body in the gym.

Really? Are you being witty?

I wasn’t trying to! Anyhow, we then heard about 'hypnotic' repetition to describe the  

effect of thousands of people repeating the syllables of a football team over and over 

and over and over and over and over and over…

OK, Dan! OK, Dan! We use the phrase 'a decline in' to say 

that something is getting less.

'Demographics' refers to a group or section of the population

that is involved a particular activity. And finally we had

the verb 'discourage' for something that makes us less likely to do something.

Well, that is it for this programme. If you’re not interested in football,  

I hope we didn’t discourage you from listening again!

Indeed, I hope it doesn’t lead to a decline in our audience. 

We want to have as wide a demographic as possible.

So with that in mind, don't forget to find us on Facebook, Twitter,  

Instagram and YouTube, and, of course, on our website –

bbclearninenglish.com! Bye bye!

Goodbye!

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning  

English. I’m Neil.

And I’m Georgina.

Can you swim, Georgina?

I can, Neil. I learned to swim as a child and now I enjoy

swimming for exercise and to relax.

In the summer hundreds of keen swimmers, like Georgina,  

head off to swimming pools, lakes and beaches to 

take a dip – an informal idiom meaning ‘go for a swim’.

Swimming has many health benefits and since ancient 

times has been used to promote strength and wellbeing.

But swimming’s not just about exercise – there’s far more 

to it beneath the surface as we’ll be finding out

in this programme on the history of swimming.

Although evidence suggests that ancient Mediterranean people dived eagerly into  

temple pleasure pools, lakes and the sea, other cultures  

have swum against the tide – another swimming idiom there, Neil

- meaning ‘not to follow what everyone else is doing’.

Someone who did enjoy swimming was the poet, Lord Byron. He wrote  

poems popularising the sport and in 1810 swam the Hellespont,

a stretch of water separating Europe from Asia.

But in which modern country can the Hellespont be found -

that’s my quiz question, Georgina.

Is it: a) Greece,

b) Cyprus or

c) Turkey?

I think Lord Byron visited Istanbul, so I’ll say c) Turkey.

OK, we’ll find out the answer at the end of the programme. 

For all its good points, swimming seems to have  

lost its appeal in Europe after the decline of the Roman Empire.

According to historian and swimming enthusiast, Professor Kevin Dawson,

the rise of Christian beliefs discouraged swimming,

as he explains here to BBC World Service programme, The Forum:

You have some beliefs that water is this unsafe space, unnatural space

for human beings… it’s a perpetuation of the chaos that existed before God  

created land, or that water is a mechanism for punishment like the Great Flood story

or pharaoh’s army being destroyed in the Red Sea… 

But then there’s also beliefs that swimming is immodest, I mean,

most people at the time swam nude and so church officials discouraged

swimming because they felt that it lead to immodest behaviour.

As well as being considered unsafe or chaotic, swimming 

was seen as immodest – shocking because it shows too much of the body.

This was because most people at the time swam nude – naked, without clothes.

Another place with a long history of swimming is the 

remote Maldives Islands in the Indian Ocean.

In the Maldives, access to shallow, warm sea-water lakes called lagoons  

makes it an unbeatable place for swimming.

But even on a tropical island, things haven’t always gone swimmingly,

as diver and Maldives resident, Mikael Rosen,

told BBC World Service programme, The Forum:

Listen for the reason Mikael gives for the change in 

people’s attitudes to swimming in the Maldives:

Most citizens of the Maldives have half a mile to a lukewarm lagoon.

Given that,

they could be world leading in swimming,  but in the 1960s the government recruited  

a lot of teachers from India, Sri Lanka. They didn’t know anything about

the water culture and they noticed that the young students playing hooky –

they were in the lagoons,

and swimming soon got frowned upon, but now the government and the local  

organisations – they try to reclaim swimming.

Did you hear the reason Mikael gave, Neil?

Yes, he said that young students were playing hooky to 

go swimming in the lagoons. Play hooky is an informal 

way of saying ‘stay away from school without permission’.

Right, and that meant swimming quickly got frowned upon, 

or disapproved of.

It seems a bit unfair since there was already a strong 

culture of swimming in the Maldives  

which the arriving teachers didn’t fully appreciate.

Well, I know which I’d rather do – sit in a classroom or 

swim in a warm tropical lagoon!

Swimming, right? But then you would never have learned about Lord Byron…

Yes, in your quiz question you asked me about Lord Byron

swimming the Hellespont, a stretch of water separating Europe from Asia.

I asked you in which country the Hellespont can be found. 

Is it: a) Greece, b) Cyprus

or c) Turkey? What did you say?

I said c) Turkey. Was I right?

Yes, you were, Georgina! The Hellespont, also known as 

the Straits of Dardanelles, is a six-kilometre-wide stretch 

of water in Turkey.

Let’s recap the vocabulary from this programme on 

swimming, which some people informally call taking a dip.

Someone who 'swims against the tide' refuses to do what everyone else is doing.

In the past, swimming was considered 'immodest' -

shocking because it showed too much of the body.

Another word for naked or not wearing any clothes is 'nude'.

Children who 'play hooky' stay away from school without permission.

And finally, if something is 'frowned upon' it’s disapproved of.

That’s all for our dive into the deep end of the vocabulary 

of swimming. As we’ve discovered, there’s plenty of 

idioms and expressions relating to swimming and water!

And check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Don’t forget – we have an app too, which you can download for free

from the app stores. We help you learn English on the move.

Grammar, vocabulary, and interesting topics – we have them all!

Visit our website! Get the app! Bye for now!

Goodbye!

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. 

I’m Neil.

And I’m Sam.

We all know that sport is  great for our health - and if 

you’re talented it can make you rich.

Many great champions have found a way out of poverty through their sporting  

ability – think of someone like footballer Maradona.

But in today’s programme we’re not looking at the  

superstars. Instead we’ll discuss how sport can change the lives of 

young people from some of the poorest, toughest backgrounds on earth.

And, of course, we’ll be

learning some new vocabulary on the way.

Many projects around the world use sports to change children's’ lives

- improving mental health, challenging stereotypes and giving hope.

Among them is the Ebony Club in Brixton which uses sport to help young people

in London’s most disadvantaged communities – but which sport?

That’s my quiz question.

Is it: a) golf,

b) tennis or c) horse riding?

Well, I can’t imagine there’s enough space for golf and horse riding in the city, so

I’ll say b) tennis.

OK, we’ll find out the answer later.

Just now we were talking about London but sporting projects like the Ebony Club

are happening all over the world. In Cape Town, South Africa, British surfer

Tim Conibear noticed how kids from poor townships hardly ever went to the beach.

So, he started giving them free surfing lessons.

Tim founded the ‘Waves for Changes’ project and now hundreds of kids go along each week

to get “surfing therapy”. Not only is surfing giving them a buzz,

it's helping to improve their life chances.

Here he is, talking to the BBC World Service programme People Fixing the World:

Surfing also is quite difficult so you’re learning a very challenging skill, which

takes a lot of confidence. And these very small successes which children have when they

go into the water elicit a really big emotional response. If you come from a

background of trauma quite often you’ll have a negative self-image

and being able to try something new, achieve something new,

be recognised by a coach or a mentor is very very good for your confidence as well.

Most of the surfers have experienced trauma – emotional 

pain and shock caused by very distressing experiences.

This has given them a negative self-image – the way 

a person feels about themselves, their ability, personality 

and value.

Surfing helps kids improve their self-image because it’s  

challenging - difficult in a way that tests your ability and determination.

So challenging, in fact,  

that the children have a mentor –a trusted advisor who gives help  

and support to a younger or less experienced person.

Tim believes that the concentration needed to surf makes 

the children’s other problems disappear - at least for a short time.

And the results so far have been optimistic, with a 

significant reduction in violent behaviour reported 

among Cape Town’s young surfers.

Surfing is quite well-known in South Africa. But what 

happens when you take a completely unknown sport 

into one of the least developed countries on earth?

In 2007, Australian Oliver Percovich was travelling

in Afghanistan with his skateboard. The children there 

were fascinated so he started showing them how to skate.

The idea grew and a few years later he founded the organisation  

‘Skateistan’ giving free skateboard lessons to children aged five to seventeen,  

with a focus on those with disabilities, from low-income backgrounds and

especially, girls.

Here’s ‘Skateistan’ volunteer, Jessica Faulkner, explaining how skateboarding reinforces positive educational 

messages which Afghan kids don’t always get at home.

There’s a few things that skateboarding does as a kind of function. It is really quite  

challenging – it’s not an easy sport for anyone whether you’re young or old.

And that means that it also teaches quite a lot of life skills. You have to fall 

off a skateboard quite a lot of times before you get better 

and it really helps children with things like goal setting

and resilience and determination.

Also, and really importantly, we do believe that children should have fun.

Like surfing, skateboarding is challenging and difficult.  

It requires effort and Jessica believes this teaches children important life skills

– the basic skills needed to solve problems commonly encountered in everyday life.

One important life skill is goal setting – deciding 

what things you want to achieve and how you plan to achieve them.

Along with other skills like determination and resilience, 

this helps kids improve their outlook on life.

And to experience one of the most important things – having fun!

Which reminds me about the kids at the Ebony Club and 

my quiz question.

Remember that I asked you which sport the club uses to support

disadvantaged children in London.

Yes, and I said, b) tennis.

But, in fact, it’s c) horse riding - a sport normally associated with the elite.

In this episode, we’ve been discussing how sport can help  

improve the life chances of young people from tough backgrounds,  

many of whom have suffered trauma – severe emotional pain and distress.

Such pain damages a child’s self-image – how they see 

and value themselves in the world.

This can be improved by taking part in sports, like surfing, skating and  

horse riding, which are challenging –demanding and testing of your abilities.

Often kids are supported by a mentor – a trusted,  

more experienced friend who can offer help and advice.

And with this support they learn life skills – basic skills  

everyone needs to cope with everyday problems.

One important skill is goal setting – deciding what you 

want to accomplish and planning how to do it.

And, of course, sometimes the most important goal is just to have fun!

That’s all we have time for. Join us again soon 

as we discuss more topical issues. Bye for now!

Bye!

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.

Hello. I'm Catherine.

And if I say to you, Catherine, fortnight, what do you think of?

Well, that’s easy, Neil. A fortnight is a period of two weeks.

Well, fortnight, spelt f-o-r-t-n-i-g-h-t, is indeed a period 

of two weeks. But Fortnite, spelt F-o-r-t-n-i-t-e, is an online computer  

game that has become incredibly popular in a very short period of time.

As well as popular, it’s also very competitive. And 

you're soon going to be able to make big money playing 

it and you can even hire people to be your Fortnite coach.

Well, before we hear a little more about this topic, it’s time 

for our quiz. These days we play computer games on our phones,

we can hold them in our hands. In 1950, Bertie the Brain was the name of one of

the very first computer games. It played a simple game of noughts and crosses,

also called tic-tac-toe. But how tall was this computer?

Was it… a) one metre tall;

b) about four metres tall

or c) about ten metres tall?

Well, if it was the 1950s, computers were huge, so I’m going to go for ten metres.

OK. Well, we’ll find out if you’re right at the end of the programme.  

eSports or computer games competitions are now a thing. In some markets

they are huge and they are even discussing including them in the Olympic Games.

Kyle Jackson is a 13-year-old gamer who's been asked to join a team.

How long does he say he's been playing video games?

I’ve played video games all my life, basically. I started playing competitively when I was

around nine or ten. I got into like Halo, Call of Duty, games like that. And I just…

I realised that I could probably like go to a pro (professional) level, if I keep playing

at the level I am

He said that he's been playing computer games all his life. Now that might be a little

exaggeration, but he’s probably been playing them ever since he can remember.

When he was nine or ten he started playing competitively, which means he started

playing in competitions against other people.

He talks about a number of games that he got into. This is a good expression.

If you 'are into' something you are very interested in it and to 'get into' something

describes the process of becoming interested in that thing.

In Kyle's case, it was computer games and he got so 

good that he's thinking about playing at a professional level. Doing something as a  

professional means that it's more than a hobby or pastime.  

It’s something someone pays you to do because you are really good at it.

George Yao is a former gaming champion who is now

Director of Media of Team Secret. Team Secret are like a regular sports team.

They have a group of players who play matches and competitions against

other teams. Except these are not regular sports. These are eSports and they are

big business. Here’s George Yao.

It’s becoming a multi-billion-dollar industry:  

just games, production of games, publishing of games and the 

eSports scene. So it's not just one thing now, it’s a whole industry.

So George Yao says that online gaming is becoming a 

multi-billion-dollar industry. We usually think of industry as  

factories and manufacturing. But it can also apply to other areas as well  

that involve a lot of different elements that come together to make a business.

Different elements that he mentions as part of this 

industry are creating games, publishing games and the eSports scene.  

The word 'scene' here refers to the world of eSports: the events,

the competitions and the players. And many people want to be part of that 

scene. Right, now, let’s get the answer to our  

quiz question about the size of that 1950s computer game. 

Was it… a) one metre tall; b) four metres tall or c) ten metres tall?

What did you say, Catherine?

I went for ten metres, Neil.

Well, unfortunately it was four metres.

Still quite big though –  imagine you couldn't get those 

in your pocket, could you?

I'd rather not! But I would like to review today's vocabulary.

We started off with the word for  

a period of two weeks - a fortnight. But with a  

different spelling, Fortnite is also a very popular video game.

Multi-player video game competitions which people pay 

to go and watch are known as eSports. Playing against other people is

playing competitively.

Do you like to play multi-player video games, Catherine?

I've never really got into them even though I've tried one or two.

And that was one of our other expressions, 'to get into something'

– to become really interested in something.

Same here, I enjoy playing a little bit but I could never be a professional.

I couldn’t get paid to do it as a job.

Of course not, you’re already a professional broadcaster, Neil.

An area of business that is made up of different parts can be described as an

industry. The video game industry is a multi-billion-dollar business.

And we also talk about, 

for example, the fashion industry and the movie industry.

And finally there was the word 'scene'. This noun is used 

to describe the world of a particular activity.

So the eSport scene, for example, is the world of eSports. 

The games, the teams, the competition, the audiences. 

It’s all part of the scene.

Well, that’s all from the 6 Minute English scene today. 

Do join us again, but if you can’t wait, you can find us on Facebook,  

Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and of course

on our website bbclearningenglish.com. Thanks for joining us and goodbye.

Goodbye!