Listen to News with Tara Benwell - Instructions:
1. Preview the vocabulary and read the gapfill text.
2. Play the news report and try to fill in the blanks.
3. Answer the comprehension questions by writing full sentences.
4. Use the discussion question to write an essay or discuss the story with other students.
5. Click "show Answers" to see the full text.
6. Pretend to be a news anchor by reading each story out loud.
dateline: 19 July 2011
NB! For WEEKLY audio stories check out LISTEN & LEARN π
Japan Wins Women’s World Cup
Pre-Listening Vocabulary
- victory: win
- penalty kick shootout: a method for determining a winner after a tie; players take shots on the goalie
- opponent: the team or player on the other side
- devastating: bringing sadness and suffering
- sentimental: related to the feelings of tenderness and/or pity
Comprehension Questions
- Where did the football competition take place?
- Why does the report mention a Japanese flower?
- Who was quoted in the report?
Discussion Question: Sources say the Japanese coach showed his team a slideshow of images from the earthquake to motivate his players to win. Do you agree with this tactic? Do you think it helped them win?
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Japan Wins Women’s World Cup
Japan’s women’s football team won the World Cup on Sunday after beating the US in the finals in Germany. The victory came after a penalty kick shootout following a 2-2 tie in overtime. Prior to the competition, Japan was ranked fourth in the world, and had been defeated by the US 25 times. The team was nicknamed Nadeshiko, a pink flower which symbolizes all of the qualities of an ideal Japanese woman. They are a much smaller team than their opponents, but they proved that size did not matter. Japan is still recovering from the devastating earthquake and tsunami that took place in March leaving 20,000 people dead or missing. The US goalkeeper, Hope Solo, called Japan the “sentimental favourites”, and said it was difficult to win against a team that was “playing for something bigger and better than the game”.
- The football competition took place in Germany.
- The report mentions a pink flower that the Japanese team was nicknamed after. Nadeshiko (the pink flower) represents an ideal woman in Japan.
- The US goalie was quoted in the report.
Written and recorded by Tara Benwell for EnglishClub
Tara Benwell is a Canadian freelance writer and editor who specializes in materials and articles for the ELT industry.
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