M: Hello English learners! Welcome back to EnglishPod! My name isMarco. E: And I’m Erica. M: And today we’re bringing you another part of our sports series and today we’re gonna be talking about volleyball. E: That’s right! And we’re going all the way to New Zealand to visit the Men’s Volleyball Championships. M: So, we’re gonna be looking at some great words and phrases related to volleyball and also how to describe a sporting event. So, before we start on the dialogue let’s take a look at two words on “vocabulary preview”. Voice: Vocabulary preview. E: Alright, we’re gonna hear both of these words in our dialogue. Now, the first one – encounter. M: Encounter. E: An exciting encounter. M: Alright, so, if we have an exciting encounter, it means we have an exciting… E: Meeting of two people or two teams or two groups. M: If I say I had an incredible encounter last night with my best friend. E: Um, you met up your best friend… with your best friend and something happened. M: Okay, so, that’s what an encounter would mean. E: Yes. M: Looking at our second word now - powerhouse. E: Two powerhouse teams. M: Alright, so we have two powerhouse teams – China and Brazil. E: That’s right! So, a powerhouse team is basically a strong, powerful, really energetic great team, right? M: Okay, so, we can use it for teams, such as in this case, but we can also describe maybe a company or a person… E: Yep. M: As a powerhouse. E: That guy is a powerhouse; he can lift five hundred pounds. M: Now, I think it’s time for us to listen to our dialogue for the first time. We’re gonna be listening to this great sporting event as we are taken to New Zeeland to see China and Brazil play. A: It’s a beautiful day here in New Zealand at the Men’s Volleyball world championship. My name is Rick Fields and I’m joined by the man with the plan, Bob Copeland. B: Thank you, Rick. We’ve got a very exciting en- counter ahead of us today as two powerhouse teams, Brazil and China, face off against each other and try to qualify for the next round. Without a doubt, both teams are in top shape and this will prove to be a competitive match. A: The ref signals the start of the game and here we go. Ribeiro serves and China quickly receives the ball. Chen bumps it to the setter, and... a very nice set by Chen! B: Xu spikes it! Wow, what a great hit! The Brazil- ian blockers anticipated the play and tried to block him but he managed to get the ball in! Great play. A: It’s China’s service now. What a superb jump serve by Li, oh, and we have a let serve. The ball was coming in fast and almost made it over the net. B: Brazil calls for a time out and we’ll be right back, after a short commercial break. E: Well, sounds like a pretty exciting encounter between these two countries. M: Very good teams and both of them, as they mentioned, are powerhouse teams. E: Well, why don’t we take a look at some of the vocabulary that wecame across in this dialogue? We’re gonna be focusing on volleyball words here in “language takeaway”. Voice: Language takeaway. M: Okay, so, on language takeaway today we’re gonna have six words. And let’s start with the first one: “Chen bumps it to the setter”. E: Alright, to bump. M: Alright, so, in volleyball when you are going to receive the ball… E: Uhu. M: You put your arms together and you hit it with your forearms. E: That’s right! So, the top of your arm. M: Right! And that’s how you pass it to another player. That’s called abump. E: So, it is a noun and a verb – a bump, to bump. M: Exactly. E: Now, another type of, uh, way to move the ball in volleyball, we heard in the dialogue, is a set. M: “A very nice set by Chen”. E: So, a set or to set. M: Right, the word can be used as a verb and a noun. And again you take the ball and you move it with the tips of your fingers. E: That is actually done by the setter. M: Right, that is done by the setter. And he does this, he sets the ball, so then the attacker can spike the ball. E: That’s our next word – to spike. M: So, to spike the ball… E: Or a spike. M: Is when you hit the ball very hard and very fast with the palm of your hand. E: That’s right! And that’s how you score your points, right? M: Exactly! So, you’ll see three basic moves… the bump, set andspike. E: But what about the serve? M: Alright, so, our forth word in volleyball is service. E: So, “it’s China’s service now”. M: Right! So, the service is the opportunity for the team to serve the ball. E: Yeah, pretty simple. M: Right! And that means basically to start the game by hitting it to the other side. E: Now, one type of serve is the jump serve. M: Jump serve. E: Jump serve. M: Now, this is very popular and you will see some players do this; they will throw the ball in the air and then jump in the air and hit it. E: That’s right! M: Alright, so, that’s a jump serve. And our last word for today is let serve. E: A let serve. M: Okay, we have a let serve today. E: So, a let serve is, uh, when you serve the ball… M: Uhu. E: And it’s sort of brushes over the net. [NOTE: to brush over = to touch slightly] M: Right! It’ll hit the net, but it’ll still pass to the other side. E: That’s right! And it’s an illegal move in volleyball, isn’t it? M: When you are serving – yes. E: So, a let serve. M: Right! So, those are the six terms related to volleyball that we’re gonna be looking at today. And, well, with this in mind, let’s move on to looking at some phrases now in… what is it... “fluency builder”. Voice: Fluency builder. E: Alright, so, our two announcers Bob and Rick said that we’ve got an exciting encounter ahead of us. M: Right, so, they used this phrase – ahead of us. E: Ahead of us. M: So, basically, what does that mean? E: Um, something will happen in the very near future. M: So, they are expecting it or they will encounter it maybe. E: Yes! So, why don’t we give a few examples of this phrase? Marco, we’ve got a long day ahead of us. M: We have a very exciting trip ahead of us today. E: Uhu. Okay, so, ahead of us. So, we know it’s an exciting game and we heard that the announcers say ”without a doubt, both teams are in top shape”. M: Okay, so, the phrase - without a doubt. E: Without a doubt. M: So, if I start a phrase using without a doubt… E: You’re basically saying it… there’s no question, it’s so obvious, this definitely is true. M: It’s very true, okay. E: Yeah. M: So, without a doubt, EnglishPod is the best podcast out there. E: Without a doubt, this is the strategy we should take. M: Okay, very good, so, without a doubt. Why don’t we move on to our third phrase now? This will prove to be a competitive mach. E: So, let’s look at the phase will prove to be; something will prove to be. M: Okay. So, before we get into it, why don’t we listen to some examples? Voice: Example one. A: I think he will prove to be the greatest president we’ve ever had. Voice: Example two. B: The new HR policy is proving to be a waste of time. Voice: Example three. C: We were worried that we were going to get laid off, but our fears proved to be untrue. E: Okay, so, when something will prove to be, it will show itself to be this thing, right? M: It will demonstrate. E: Uhu. M: We will see it; we will see for sure how it will be. And now for our forth phrase – a very simple one, but very common in sports commentators… E: Yeah. M: Or when you’re watching a game. E: Uhu. M: You’ll say great play! E: Great play. M: Great play. E: A great play. Now, we know play is usually a verb, right? M: Uhu. E: But here it’s acting as a noun; a play is basically a move in a sport or a game. M: So, when somebody says “a great play”, it means all thesuccession of moves and passes and hits to make the point. E: Yep. M: So, it was a great play. E: Uhu. And that… ah, you can use that for any sport. M: Right. So, why don’t we listen to our dialogue now for the second time and then we’ll come back and talk about this very popular sport – volleyball. A: It’s a beautiful day here in New Zealand at the Men’s Volleyball world championship. My name is Rick Fields and I’m joined by the man with the plan, Bob Copeland. B: Thank you, Rick. We’ve got a very exciting en- counter ahead of us today as two powerhouse teams, Brazil and China, face off against each other and try to qualify for the next round. Without a doubt, both teams are in top shape and this will prove to be a competitive match. A: The ref signals the start of the game and here we go. Ribeiro serves and China quickly receives the ball. Chen bumps it to the setter, and... a very nice set by Chen! B: Xu spikes it! Wow, what a great hit! The Brazil- ian blockers anticipated the play and tried to block him but he managed to get the ball in! Great play. A: It’s China’s service now. What a superb jump serve by Li, oh, and we have a let serve. The ball was coming in fast and almost made it over the net. B: Brazil calls for a time out and we’ll be right back, after a short commercial break. E: So, are you a volleyball fan, Marco? M: It’s a very nice sport; it’s very fast and it’s very hard. E: Yep. M: Um, but it’s very interesting to get together with friends maybe at the beach and play some beach volleyball. E: Yes. M: Or something like that. E: Yeah, I think that’s the best place to play volleyball. And, you know, uh, we even have beach volleyball up in, uh, freezing cold Canada. M: And do you have sand? E: Um, occasionally. M: Hehe. Alright, so, volleyball is a great sport, but now we want to know what sport you want to learn about. We’ve covered soccer; we’ve covered basketball; we’ve covered volleyball. So, tell us what other sports we… you would like to learn vocabulary and phrases on. E: That’s right! You can tell us this and many more things atenglishpod.com, our website, so, check it out. M: Right! Leave your questions and comments and we’ll see you guys there. E: Thanks for downloading and until next time… Good bye! M: Bye!