Today's talking point deals with sporting personalities. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below, so that ideas flow more easily and you can deal with vocabulary problems beforehand.
Think of ten sports where you have to compete against an opponent, and ten sporting activities you can do alone.
Which sports do you like to take part in?
Which sports do you like to watch?
What do you do to keep fit?
Do you have a particular sportsperson that you admire? Who? Why?
What do you think the life of a professional sports person is like? What are the highs and lows?
What sort of person do you have to be to succeed in sport? Why do you think they do it?
Do you know any examples of sports people burning out? What were the pressures on them?
Why do sportspeople sometimes cheat? How can sportspeople cheat in different sports?
What ways of enhancing their performance do sportspeople have?
Do you think performance-enhancing drugs and dietary supplements or medicines should be illegal in sports?
Do you think steroid use in sports is unethical? Why or why not?
Who’s responsible for the fact that an athlete dopes? Just the sportsperson?
How does steroid use in sports differ from cosmetic surgery in beauty pageants?
To gain further insight into the topic you can watch the beginning of Oprah interview to Lance Armstrong in January this year. You can read the transcript here.
