www.businessenglishstudy.

com

Jose Mourinho:

How to be a modern Manager

Elementary Level:

• Grammar: Can, Can’t – ability and requests

• Functional Vocabulary: Asking for and giving opinions

• Business words: Opposites

• Pronunciation: /j/ /g/

• Listening: Jose Mourinho’s management style

• Reading: The Special One

• Role Play: Jose Mourinho applies for a job

www.businessenglishstudy.com 1
 www.businessenglishstudy.com

"We can win because we are a team, not

because we are individuals.”

Jose Mourinho, football coach

Introduction:
Discuss these questions:
• What do you know about Jose Mourinho?
• Do you think managing a football team is like managing a business?

Do you know the meaning of these words? You will hear them in the listening
exercise: Successful – won – fantastic – coach – passion – dynamics – belief –
strong – communicator – ambition – strength – characteristics - too

Listening 1:
Visit www.businessenglishstudy.com for the free MP3 listening file
Listen to a spokesperson talking about Jose Mourinho. Answer the questions below.

1. What has Jose Mourinho won?

2. What does Jose Mourinho study?
3. Another strength of his is … ?
4. What happens if you adopt his characteristics in business?

GRAMMAR PRACTICE – Can & Can’t

Can expresses ability and can’t expresses inability. They are followed by the
infinitive without to.
e.g. I can speak French but she can’t understand me

EXERCISE 1: Complete the sentences with: can, can’t

1. “ I help you?”
2. I find my phone, where is it?
3. The team compete, because it’s not strong enough.
4. The airport is closed, but they catch a train.
5. You ask Paul, he is in Japan.

EXERCISE 2: Use can, can’t to replace the underlined words.

1. I want to speak to the manager.

2. Do you know how to speak German?
3. Nobody is permitted to smoke in the office.
4. Is it okay to open the window?
5. I am unable to use the machine.

www.businessenglishstudy.com 2
 www.businessenglishstudy.com

Business words: Opposites

Exercise: match the words (1-7) with their opposite meaning (a-g)

1. Ignore a. failure
2. Strong b. lose
3. Employ c. hate
4. Love d. ordinary
5. Special e. respect
6. Win f. sack
7. Success g. helpful
8. Selfish h. weak

READING:
Read the text and fill the gaps with the correct form of the words (1-8 above).

José Mourinho: ‘The one’

"I the team not the individual. Players don’t win, teams win."

The Portuguese coach, José Mourinho, is a real as a manager. He has won

the league title with Porto in Portugal, Chelsea in England and in 2009 with Inter
Milan in Italy. He is also a winner of the UEFA cup and Champion’s League.

Mourinho is confident. He believes he can , and, more importantly, he

believes his players can win. As a manager he insists that every player helps the
team and must not be .

Jose replaces any player who this demand. “I believe in the power of team
spirit and teamwork,” he says. “I love players who love to win. They not only win for
90 minutes in the game, but they win every day, in every moment of their lives. They
have personalities.”

The football club me because they want the team to win. If the team loses I
will be sacked. This is true in football and this is true for all successful jobs.

www.businessenglishstudy.com 3
 www.businessenglishstudy.com

Discuss the meaning of these words. You will hear them in the listening exercise:
Success - arrogant – work hard – energy – relationship – replace – famous - special

LISTENING 2:
Visit www.businessenglishstudy.com for the free MP3 listening file
Listen to a spokesperson talking about Jose Mourinho. Answer the questions below.

1. Is Jose organised?
2. What happens if a player doesn’t follow his instructions?
3. Does he want his players to love him?
4. Jose’s famous for saying what?
5. Does he think he is arrogant?

Functional Vocabulary - Asking for & giving opinions

Form and Uses
1. Opinions can be given on a scale, from strongly to weakly.

Strongly I’m convinced …

I am absolutely sure…
I definitely / certainly think that …

I really feel that …

Neutrally In my opinion …
I think / feel / that …
I believe that …

It is possible that
Weakly For me …

2. Opinions can be asked for on a scale from forcefully to tactfully.

Forcefully Do you really think that …
Are you sure/convinced/positive/certain that
Don’t you think that …

Neutrally Do you think …

Tactfully Do you believe that …

Speaking Practice: Give your opinion

In pairs, ask for and give an opinion on these ideas:

• Football is not important or interesting

• Football managers can be good managers of business
• To control a team you must control the individuals

www.businessenglishstudy.com 4
 www.businessenglishstudy.com

Pronunciation: /j/ and /g/

Practice saying these words and sentences with your tutor:

jump - good - manager - major - range - get - large - cage - imagine - injure - gin

• John was wearing a green jumper and a grey jacket.

• The manager is called John Major, and he drives a Jaguar car.
• Justice said Jane to George, when Gregory injured his jaw.

Role-Play

Background: Jose Mourinho applies for a job at a football club. The Club
President interviews him.

Jose Mourinho. You want to join this ambitious club. Think of reasons why.
Give your opinion of the team, the coaching staff, the facilities and the
competition.

The President: You do not want to change things radically. You know that Jose
speaks to the media a lot and you do not always like what he says.
Is Jose the right man for the job? Will you offer him a job?

Discuss the options, and try to come up with a solution.

Practice using the grammar (Can & Can’t) and the Functional Vocabulary
(Asking for and Giving opinions) you have learnt in this unit.

Always try to make the role-play authentic

www.businessenglishstudy.com 5
 www.businessenglishstudy.com

AUDIO 1 – JOSE MOURINHO

Jose Mourinho, elementary level:

Jose Mourinho is a very successful manager of football teams.

He has won the Portuguese league, the English league and the Italian league. His
teams have also won the European Champion’s League and the UEFA Cup.

He wasn’t a great football player but he is a fantastic coach. So how does he do it?

He has a passion for the game and does a lot of research. He studies players,
tactics, and team dynamics.
Another strength is that he is a great communicator and his players always know
exactly what he wants.

His characteristics: the belief in the team, the communication skills, and the strong
ambition to win, make Jose a success.
If you adopt these characteristics in business they will make you a success too.

AUDIO 2 – JOSE MOURINHO

What other things makes Jose Mourinho such a successful modern manager?

He is very organized and has a lot of mental energy.

He is also confident in his personal ability and this helps his relationship with his
players. If they do not follow his instructions, he replaces them. “I don’t want the
players to love me,” he said, “I only want them to work hard for the team.”

He is famous for saying: “I see good managers and I see bad managers. Some
managers can win many things and other managers can’t win anything.

He doesn’t think he is arrogant, “because I am a winner, he said. “I am a champion

and I am the special one.”

www.businessenglishstudy.com 6
 www.businessenglishstudy.com

LESSON PLAN – Jose Mourinho - Elementary

Key objectives – to practise aural and oral Business English

INTRODUCTION: Start by asking students what they know about Jose Mourinho and
football management. Teacher (T) - Students (SS) 5 mins

LISTENING 1: Next tell students they are going to hear a spokesman talking about
Jose Mourinho. They need to answer the questions at the end. Play the listening and
ask students the questions. (T) - (SS) 10 mins

GRAMMAR: Go through the rules and do the exercises that follow.

Ask students to read the questions and answers out loud. (S) – (T) 10 mins

BUSINESS OPPOSITES: Go through the exercise and make sure the students
understand the meaning of the words. (S) – (T) 10 mins

READING: Go through reading and ask students to read out loud, fill the gaps with
the correct word. (S) – (T) 10 mins

LISTENING 2: Ask the students if they understand the vocabulary. Tell

students they are going to hear the 2nd part of the listening. They need to
answer the questions at the end. Play the listening (SS) – (T) 10 mins

FUNCTIONAL VOCABULARY: Ask the question, what’s the difference between: I

am sure that …’. and ‘for me … ’ one expresses a stronger opinion than the other.
Go through the examples and do the role-play exercise that follows. (S) – (T) 10 mins

PRONUNCIATION POINT: Drill the students on the correct pronunciation of words

and sentences. (S) – (T) 3 mins

ROLE PLAY: Split students into groups and get them to read their role cards and
prepare to discuss the situation. Make sure they practice the grammar and
vocabulary learnt in the lesson and to try and use the case study material in their
argument. (SS) - (SS) 10 mins

www.businessenglishstudy.com 7
 www.businessenglishstudy.com

EXERCISE ANSWERS
LISTENING 1:
1. Portuguese league, the English league and the Italian league, European Champion’s
League and the UEFA Cup
2. Players, tactics, and team dynamics
3. He is a great communicator and his players always know exactly what he wants
4. They will make you a success too.

GRAMMAR:
1. “Can I help you?”
2. I can’t find my phone, where is it?
3. The team can’t compete, because it is not strong enough.
4. The airport is closed, but they can catch a train.
5. You can’t ask Paul, he is in Japan.

EXERCISE 2:
1. Can I speak to the manager?
2. Can you speak German?
3. You can’t smoke in the office.
4. Can I open the window?
5. I can’t use the machine.

BUSINESS WORDS: OPPOSITES

1. Ignore a. respect
2. Strong b. weak
3. Employ c. sack
4. Love d. hate
5. Special e. ordinary
6. Win f. lose
7. Success g. failure
8. Selfish h. helpful

READING EXERCISE:
José Mourinho: ‘The special one’
"I love the team not the individual. Players don’t win, teams win."
The Portuguese coach, José Mourinho, is a real success as a manager. He has won the
league title with Porto in Portugal, Chelsea in England and Internationale in Italy, in 2009. He
has also a winner of the UEFA cup and Champion’s League.
Mourinho is confident. He believes he can win, and, more importantly, he believes his players
can win. José Mourinho demands every player helps the team and must not be selfish.
He replaces any player who ignores this demand. “I believe in the power of team spirit and
teamwork,” says Mourinho. “I love players who love to win. They not only win for 90 minutes
in the game, but they win every day, in every moment of their lives. They have strong
personalities.”
The football club employs me because they want the team to win. If the team loses I will be
sacked. This is true in football and this is true for all successful jobs.

LISTENING 2:
1. Yes, he is very organised
2. He replaces them
3. No, he only wants them to work hard for the team
4. “I see good managers and I see bad managers. Some managers can win many things
and other managers can’t win anything.
5. No, he doesn’t think he is arrogant, “because I am a winner,” he said. “I am a champion
and I am the special one.”
www.businessenglishstudy.com 8