M: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name is Marco.  
E: And I’m Erica. 
M: And today we have another great elementary lesson for you all. 
E: That’s right. We’ve got a lesson for all you sports fans out there. 
M: Right, we’re doing a podcast on sports today. Uh, we’re starting off with basketball. 
E: Aha. So, we’ve got lots of language about basketball and sports in this lesson today. 
M: Great, so, let’s take a look at our “vocabulary preview”. 
Voice: Vocabulary preview. 
E: Two words for you today. The first one is foul. 
M: Foul. 
E: Foul. 
M: A foul. 
E: Basically, it’s an action in a game that is not allowed. 
M: Right, so, if you’re playing basketball and you kick the other player… 
E: That’s a foul. 
M: That’s a foul. That’s a pretty big foul. 
E: Yeah, if you’re playing soccer and you pick up the ball… 
M: That’s also a foul. 
E: Aha. 
M: Our second word is ref. 
E: Ref, R-E-F. 
M: Also known as a referee. 
E: Uhu. 
M: Right? So, a referee is… 
E: Basically, like the judge of a game. 
M: The judge of the game. 
E: Yeah. 
M: So, he is the one that will… 
E: Say “that was a foul!” 
M: That was a foul. 
E: Yeah. 
M: Exactly. 
E: Yeah. 
M: Ref. Also known as referee. 
E: Okay, so, two great words; we’re gonna hear them in our dialogue and we’re going to be 
listening to two guys, who are watching a basketball game on TV. 
A: Has the game started yet?
B: Yeah, about 5 minutes ago.
A: Who’s winning?
B: The Bulls, of course!
A: What! That wasn’t a foul! C’mon, ref!
B: Don’t worry, Shaq always screws up free throws.
A: You were right! He didn’t make the shot!
B: That was a great shot! A three pointer, yeah!
A: Did you see that? He traveled and the ref didn’t
call it!
B: This ref needs glasses. Hey ref, open your eyes!
I can’t believe he didn’t see that!
A: Okay... end of the first quarter... Alright, I’m gonna
make a beer run.
 
M: Alright, a really common situation whenever you’re watching games with the friends, 
right? 
E: You need to get a beer. 
M: Hehe. We’ll talk about that in a little while. Um, let’s take a look at “language takeaway”. 
Voice: Language takeaway. 
M: Okay, let’s take a look at our first word on language takeaway - free throw. 
E: Free throw. 
M: Free throw. 
E: Free throw. This one is a bit hard to say, isn’t it? 
M: It’s a little bit hard to explain, but if you’re playing basketball… 
E: Uhu. 
M: And if someone fouls you, you get a free throw. 
E: So, that’s when all the players line up around you and you can throw the ball. 
M: To the basket without anyone blocking you or anything. 
E: Right. 
M: A little bit complicated, but I’m sure the basketball fans understand what a free throw is. 
E: Alright, our next word is… 
M: Make the shot. 
E: Make the shot. 
M: Make the shot. 
E: Let’s listen to some examples and we’ll understand the meaning of make the shot. 
Voice: Example one. 
A: I can’t believe it. He made the shot from the other side of the court. 
Voice: Example two. 
B: There’s no way he’s going to make that shot. He’s way too far away from the net. 
Voice: Example three. 
C: If Gretzky makes the shot, they’re gonna with the Stanley Cup. 
M: So, it’s clear now. To make the shot is to successfully… 
E: Th… 
M: Put the ball in the basket. 
E: You can use this expression in other sports as well, right? 
M: Yeah, you could use it in hockey. 
E: Uhu. 
M: To make the shot. You could also use it in golf, when… in a lot of different sports they 
use the term to shoot. 
E: Yes. 
M: Shoot the ball. 
E: So, uh, anytime you shoot the ball, you can make the shot. 
M: Exactly. 
E: Uhu. 
M: Okay, our next word today – three pointer. 
E: Three pointer. 
M: Three pointer. 
E: A three pointer. 
M: It’s a shot in basketball when you get three points. 
E: Yes. 
M: Usually this shot is taken from further out. 
E: Yeah, a farther distance. 
M: Yeah. So it’s a little bit more difficult to make this shot. 
E: Yeah. You know, sometimes people might say “a three point shot” or something like that. 
M: Yeah. 
E: But our EnglishPod learners, they know… 
M: It’s a three pointer. 
E: Yeah, you’ll sound really knowledgeable, really cool, u… 
M: Hehe. 
E: Using that one. 
M: Three pointer. 
E: Aha. 
M: And, uh, our last word today – travel. 
E: Travel. 
M: To travel. 
E: Travel. When you walk with the basket ball. 
M: Well, technically you’re allowed to take two steps in basketball. 
E: Okay. 
M: So, when you take more than two steps, then it’s… 
E: Alright, alright, alright. 
M: Traveling. 
E: I understand. 
M: Hehe. So, yeah, traveling means to take more than two steps with the ball. 
E: Let’s listen to the dialogue a second time. This time it’ll be a bit slower, so that we can 
understand some of these great phrases we just talked about. 
A: Has the game started yet?
B: Yeah, about 5 minutes ago.
A: Who’s winning?
B: The Bulls, of course!
A: What! That wasn’t a foul! C’mon, ref!
B: Don’t worry, Shaq always screws up free throws.
A: You were right! He didn’t make the shot!
B: That was a great shot! A three pointer, yeah!
A: Did you see that? He traveled and the ref didn’t
call it!
B: This ref needs glasses. Hey ref, open your eyes!
I can’t believe he didn’t see that!
A: Okay... end of the first quarter... Alright, I’m gonna
make a beer run.
 
M: Alright, sports fans, so now let’s take a look at “fluency builder”. 
Voice: Fluency builder. 
M: Okay, today on fluency builder we have two really common words that you would listen 
to while you’re watching a game. 
E: Yeah, these are sort of slangy words, hey? 
M: Yeah, they’re kind of, uh, common… 
E: Like informal. 
M: Informal. 
E: Uhu. 
M: The first one that we have is screw up. 
E: Screw up. 
M: Screw up. 
E: Screw up. 
M: To screw up. 
E: Yeah, so, this is a good way of saying… 
M: To make a mistake. 
E: Uhu. 
M: Let’s listen to some examples of how this word is used. 
Voice: Example one. 
A: Jill, you really screwed up this time, you’re fired. 
Voice: Example two. 
B: This game is important. If you screw it up, we’re out of the finals. 
Voice: Example three. 
C: I’m sorry, I know I screwed up. Will you forgive me? 
M: Okay, so, screw up is mess up. 
E: Yeah, make a mistake. 
M: Make a mistake. 
E: Aha. 
M: Great! And our last word on fluency builder today – a beer run. 
E: A beer run. 
M: Beer run. 
E: So, what is this beer run? 
M: You run to get beer. Hehe. 
E: Hehe. 
M: You go to the store and get beer. 
E: Okay. 
M: Get more beer. 
E: So, it’s just an expression to… meaning to go and get more beer. 
M: Yeah, usually you’re watching a game… 
E: Uhu. 
M: Or you’re at home with your friends, you run out of beer, so, somebody has to make… 
[NOTE: anohter one useful phrase – “to run low on something”] 
E: Go get some beer. 
M: Go get some beer. 
E: Yeah. 
M: Make a beer run. 
E: Yeah. 
A: Has the game started yet?
B: Yeah, about 5 minutes ago.
A: Who’s winning?
B: The Bulls, of course!
A: What! That wasn’t a foul! C’mon, ref!
B: Don’t worry, Shaq always screws up free throws.
A: You were right! He didn’t make the shot!
B: That was a great shot! A three pointer, yeah!
A: Did you see that? He traveled and the ref didn’t
call it!
B: This ref needs glasses. Hey ref, open your eyes!
I can’t believe he didn’t see that!
A: Okay... end of the first quarter... Alright, I’m gonna
make a beer run.
 
M: Okay, guys, I hope you enjoyed our lesson today. We’ll be bringing you more sports 
lessons in the future. 
E: Yes. 
M: So, if you have a particular sport that you wanna learn about, you can tell us.  
E: Uhu. 
M: And we’ll… 
E: Come to our website englishpod.com. 
M: Yeah, and, uh, leave us your comments or your suggestions or any doubts that you 
have. 
E: Uhu. 
M: And we’re always there to answer it, so, we’ll see you there. 
E: Yes, until next time… 
M: Bye! 
E: Bye!