Talking point: Competition

This week's talking point is competition. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas flow more easily when you meet up with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.

Do you consider yourself to be a competitive person?
In what ways are you competitive (with family or friends, at work or school, in sport or games)?
Who is the most / least competitive person you know?
Which of these quotations do you agree most with?

Winning isn't everything, it's the taking part - Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing

'Challenges give meaning to life'. Do you agree?
Have you ever been  the first to achieve something?
Have you ever won the first prize in something?
Do you remember any occasions when you did something for the first time?
Do you excel at something?
Think about a moment in your life when you achieved a goal: What did you achieve? How difficult was it? What strategies did you use to achieve that goal?

To illustrate the point you are going to watch Laila talk about a time she did something personally challenging. Click on the image below to watch the video.

Talking point: Being the first

The umbrella topic for this week's talking point is being the first, and it revolves around the unit Firsts from Inside Out Advanced, Macmillan.

Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas flow more easily when you hold your talking session and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.

What's the idea underlying these two quotations?

• Winning isn't everything, it's the taking part.
• Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.

Which quotation do you identify with?
What famous pioneers or famous 'firsts' in history can you think of?
For example, Christopher Columbus was the first person to set foot on America, or Reinhold Messner was the first climber to reach the summit of the Everest without oxygen.

What about your country?
How did their feats change the world?
What do you think motivates pioneers when they try to achieve these feats?
What made these people different from their contemporaries?
Have you ever attempted to do something risky?
Have you ever been  the first to achieve something?
Have you ever won the first prize in something?
Do you remember any occasions when you did something for the first time?
What qualities do you have that are specially useful where you work/study, or in a team or club?
Have you ever held a special responsibility that made you feel important in a group or organisation?
 
To illustrate the topic, you can watch this short CNN video where Michelle Obama explains what being the First Lady involves.



You can read a full transcript for the CNN video clip here.