Boletín 128 - Breaking down barriers with Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams.
Boletín 128 - Breaking down barriers with Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams.
+ tier 2/3 vocabulary and links to free downloads
Lamine Yamal, 16 and the youngest player to start for the Spanish men’s national team, is currently turning heads in Germany with 3 assists so far in the Euros. On the opposite flank, Nico Williams is also attracting a lot of interest with his dynamism and directness. Both are key to Spain progressing to the semi-finals and both share a lot in common.
👋Welcome to Boletín, an English-language newsletter covering historical, cultural and topical stories related to the A Level Spanish course. This week:
Edition 128 of Boletín (download the student worksheet here).
Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams.
The reviews are in for my new book.
Tier 2 & 3 vocabulary.
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📌Edition 128.
I’ve just got back from Normandy (left Thursday at 3am and got back Sunday morning at 1am). This whole issue, drawings and everything has been completed in record time - about three/four hours.
I’ve known for a month or so that I wanted to cover either Lamine Yamal or Nico Williams but the only thing holding it up was finding a nice image of either of them which I could draw. In Normandy I thought it would be nice to edit together the both of them in side profile, back to back. Today I got to work, with the help of my wife (senior graphic designer, in her own words).
⚽ Breaking down barriers with Yamal and Williams
If you’re a long-term reader, you’ll know that I love to cover football players. If you check the modelos a seguir tab across the top of the website you’ll see many covered in previous editions (Hakimi, Vini jr, Bellerín). Via football so many topics and issues can be covered.
So, the euros are in full swing. Spain have been amongst the standout favourites so far with their attractive brand of football catching the eye whilst many of the other so-called big teams are struggling to get out of first gear. Spain play France in a semi-final on Tuesday, it’s going to be massive.
Key to Spain’s performances so far are two figures who are both making big names for themselves on the world stage. One is Lamine Yamal, 16 years of age and the youngest player to start for Spain in history (also the youngest to score in La Liga). He’s a prodigal talent, winning the hearts of Spanish fans, who has already racked up 3 assists in Euro 2024. When he cuts in on his left foot you can bet something is about to happen. Yamal is yet another product of Barcelona’s famous La Masia football academy, notable others include: Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Fàbregas and lots more.
The second player ripping it up at the euros is Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams, 21 years of age and younger brother of Iñaki Williams, who plays for the same team. Nico has captured the interest of many top teams around Europe with his dynamism off the left-wing. There’s something endearing about these two players. They’re confident, creative and captivating.
At a time where football players are racially abused almost week in week out in the league (see edition 114) these two players, who represent a new generation of players born to immigrant parents, are breaking down barriers and giving Spanish people hope for the future.
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✒️The three texts.
Dos amigos.1
Recién graduado de la ESO y pocas horas antes de disputar los cuartos de final de la Eurocopa siendo el principal referente ofensivo de la selección española. El sueño de muchos es la realidad de Lamine Yamal. Quien acompaña al jugador de es Nico Williams. Un catalán y un vasco. Lo que podría ser el inicio de un chiste es la nacionalidad de los jugadores más desequilibrantes del torneo. Uno del Barça y el otro del Athletic Club de Bilbao. La relación entre los dos, entre bailes, tiktoks, regates y bromas, sólo hace que ir al alza. Inseparables dentro y fuera del terreno de juego, son carne y uña.
Nico Williams.2
Nico Williams nació en Pamplona el 12 de julio de 2002. Por tanto, en la actualidad tiene 21 años, aunque pronto alcanzará los 22. Su lugar de nacimiento se da debido al trabajo de sus padres y su localización en ese momento, si bien desde que es un niño e ingresó en las categorías inferiores del Athletic Club, la familia del internacional español se mudó a Bilbao. El origen de la familia de Nico es de Ghana, país donde nacieron sus padres. Ellos cruzaron desde el país africano hasta Melilla, en condiciones extremas, y ahí cruzaron la valla para empezar una nueva vida en España, donde nacieron Iñaki (su hermano) y Nico.
Lamine Yamal.3
Lamine es un chaval de barrio obrero, un niño criado en Rocafonda que ha mamado el fútbol de la calle. Tanto es así que con cada gol que mete, hace con las manos el número 304, el codigo postal del lugar en el que se ha criado, un barrio marcado por la gran inmigración que recibió hace varias décadas y en que todavía vive su familia. Su padre, Mounir Nasraoui, es marroquí y en su honor lleva la bandera del país vecino en las botas. Su madre, Sheila Ebana, es de Guinea Ecuatorial. De esa mezcla ha salido un jugador con una técnica impoluta solo al alcance de los genios y una visión de juego privilegiada.
🗝️Tier 2/3 vocabulary.
El sueño (nms) - dream
La selección española (nfs) - the Spanish national team
Acompañar (vb) - to accompany
Desequilibrante (adj) - impactful (in a football sense)
La amistad (nfs) - friendship
Un regate (nms) - a dribble, side-step, feint or swerve
Ir al alza (vb) - to be on the way up
Ser uña y carne (idiom) - to be inseparable, to be joined at the hip
La alegría (nfs) - joy, cheerfulness
La valla (nfs) - fence
Impoluto (adj) - spotless, flawless
Un chaval (nms) - a kid
En la actualidad - at present, currently
Al alcance - at the reach of
Alcanzar (vb) - to reach
Nacer (vb) - to be born
Mudarse (vb) - to move
Criarse (vb) - to grow (up)
Mamar (vb) - to take up, absorb, breastfeed, bring up on + various others
Cruzar (vb) - to cross
🔎Grammar search
Once you’ve downloaded the student worksheet, can you find examples of the following grammar elements within the texts?
De + el contracting to del
Short-form possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, their)
Any verb in the present tense
Masculine nouns
Conjunctions
The future simple tense
The preterite tense
The present perfect tense
🗞️Student friendly newsletter print out.
Thanks for reading,
Ollie
❤️
https://es.ara.cat/deportes/futbol/lamine-yamal-nico-williams-origenes-amistad-ilusiona-barcelonismo_130_5079986.html
https://okdiario.com/deportes/origen-nico-williams-donde-nacio-viaje-sus-padres-polemica-ex-novia-13027364
https://www.20minutos.es/deportes/noticia/5526825/0/nico-williams-lamine-yamal-pareja-ilusiona-espana-origen-humilde-padres-migrantes/