The 7 Steps February
1. CONTEXT
Mindmap
anything you
know about thetopic, including
vocabulary. Do
some research
online to help.

J.League
Listening Questions 1
1. When were Ronaldo and Neymar born?
.

2. QUESTIONS

2. How many goals did Ronaldo score in the Premier League with
Manchester United?
.

Read the listening
questions tocheck yourunderstanding.
Look up any new
vocabulary.

3. What award did Ronaldo win in 2016?
.
4. How many goals did Neymar score for Brazil at the 2016 Summer
Olympics?
.
5. What was Neymar’s estimated value in 2017?
.
Listening Questions 2

3. LISTEN

1. How many teams were there in the J1 division in 2019?
.

Listen and answer
the questions
using fullsentences. Circle
the number oftimes and % you
understood.

2. When was J2 launched?
.
3. When is Kazuyoshi Miura’s birthday and how old did he turn in 2017?
.
4. Which J.League team did Zico play for?
.
5. How many championships had the Antlers won as of December 2016?

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Listening 1
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Listening 2
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Discussion Questions
1. How is supporting soccer teams in Japan unique? Do you preferto watch soccer leagues from overseas?
2. How do you feel about the amount of money that professionalsoccer players earn?

4. CHECK ANSWERS

TRANSCRIPT 1
Two famous footballers who share a birthday are Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar. Ronaldo andNeymar were both born on February 5th, Ronaldo in 1985 and Neymar in 1992.

Read through thetranscript andunderline theanswers. Checkthem against yourown answers.

In 2009, Real Madrid acquired Ronaldo from Manchester United. In his six seasons with thePremier League team he scored 84 league goals and won 3 league championships. In January
2017, Ronaldo beat out Messi to win FIFA’s Best Men’s Player award for 2016 and in 2018 hesigned a contract with Juventus.

5. CHECK VOCABULARY

2017 saw Neymar sign with Paris Saint-Germain. Prior to that he played for Barcelona in La
Liga, Spain’s top league, and before that he was a member of Santos FC in Brazil. At the 2016
Summer Olympics in Rio, Neymar was part of the gold medal winning Brazilian team and scored4 goals in the tournament.
According to a study released in January 2017, Neymar’s estimated value was about 245
million Euros, putting him at the top of all players in Europe at the time. Ronaldo was seventhon the list at about 125 million Euros.

Read thetranscript andcircle any new
vocabulary you
find. Look themup and add themto your list.

MATCH THE ANTONYMS BY DRAWING LINES BELOW:

6. READ ALOUD

Read thetranscript aloudat least 5 times,
focusing on
intonation andpronunciation.

Extension

Lose

Estimated

After

Beat out

Exact

AcquireCompression

PriorSell

TRANSCRIPT 21122334455

7. SHADOWINGIn January 2017, Kazuyoshi Miura signed a 1-year extension with the J2 division club Yokohama
FC. Miura, also known as ‘King Kazu’, celebrated his 50th birthday on February 26th, 2017. Miura
played in 89 games for Japan and scored a total of 55 goals. Miura’s career also includes stints inBrazil, Australia and Italy. Miura was the first ever Japanese to play in Italy’s top league.

Say the transcript
aloud at the sametime as the audio
without reading
it. Circle how
many times
below.

112
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Japan’s J.League includes three divisions: J1, J2 and J3. In 2019 a total of 18 teams competed inJ1, the league’s highest division, while J2 and J3 had 22 and 18 teams respectively. When theJ.League was founded in 1993 it had 10 teams. J2 came along 6 years later and J3 started up in
2014.

One of the most famous non-Japanese footballers to have played in the J.League is Zico. In addition
to playing for the Kashima Antlers, Zico also coached Japan’s national team.
In December 2016 the Kashima Antlers won their 8th league title. Kashima also lost 4-2 to ReadMadrid in the Club World Cup final that was played in Yokohama. Ronaldo, who played for Real
Madrid at the time, scored a hat-trick in his team’s victory.

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