This week, the Thinking in English Community is discussing billionaires and the mega-wealthy in our conversation clubs.
Billionaires often appear in the news, social media, and popular culture, but they also raise important questions about money, power, fairness, and responsibility. Talking about wealth gives us a great opportunity to practise expressing opinions, agreeing and disagreeing politely, and discussing complex social issues in clear English.
This conversation club is inspired by the recent Thinking in English bonus episode Is It Possible to Be an Ethical Billionaire?, which explored whether extreme wealth can exist without harming others and what responsibility comes with it.
Here are 10 conversation questions to get you talking about billionaires, money, and influence in today’s world!
The Thinking in English Conversation Club takes place every TUESDAY and THURSDAY at 12pm, 6pm, and 23pm UK time!
You can find more details on how to participate here!
Conversation Questions:
- When you hear the word billionaire, who or what do you think of?
- Would you like to be a billionaire? Why or why not?
- How much money do you think is “enough” to live a good life?
- If you suddenly became a billionaire, what would you do first?
- Do you think luck or hard work is more important in becoming very rich?
- Can people become billionaires without hurting others?
- Should billionaires pay higher taxes than other people? Why or why not?
- Do you think mega-wealthy people have too much influence on politics or society?
- Is it possible to be a “good” billionaire? What would that look like?
- Make your own questions
Vocabulary
- billionaire (noun): a person whose wealth is worth at least one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000)
- wealth (noun): a large amount of money, property, or valuable possessions
- financial security (noun phrase): having enough money to live comfortably without constant worry
- quality of life (noun phrase): the overall standard of comfort, health, and happiness in someone’s life
- suddenly (adverb): happening unexpectedly or very quickly
- hard work (noun): consistent effort and dedication put into achieving goals
- luck (noun): success or failure that happens by chance rather than effort
- ethical (adjective): morally right; following accepted principles of fairness and honesty
- mega-wealthy (adjective): extremely rich; having an unusually large amount of wealth
- influence (noun): the power to affect decisions, opinions, or actions
- taxes (noun): money paid to the government to support public services
- social responsibility (noun phrase): the idea that individuals or companies should act in ways that benefit society
Resources
Conversation Club Times
12pm Conversation Club Around The World
- London, United Kingdom Tue/Thur at 12:00 GMT
- Mexico City, Mexico Tue/Thur at 06:00 CST
- Bogota, Colombia Tue/Thur at 07:00 COT
- Santiago, Chile Tue/Thur at 09:00 CLST
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Tue/Thur at 09:00 BRT
- Rome, Italy Tue/Thur at 13:00 CET
- Warsaw, Poland Tue/Thur at 13:00 CET
- Istanbul, Turkey Tue/Thur at 15:00 EEST
- Taipei, Taiwan Tue/Thur at 20:00 CST
- Tokyo, Japan Tue/Thur at 21:00 JST
18pm Conversation Club Around The World
- London, United Kingdom Tue/Thur at 18:00 GMT
- Mexico City, Mexico Tue/Thur at 12:00 CST
- Bogota, Colombia Tue/Thur at 13:00 COT
- Santiago, Chile Tue/Thur at 15:00 CLST
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Tue/Thur at 15:00 BRT
- Rome, Italy Tue/Thur at 19:00 CET
- Warsaw, Poland Tue/Thur at 19:00 CET
- Istanbul, Turkey Tue/Thur at 21:00 EEST
- Taipei, Taiwan Wed/Fri at 02:00 CST
- Tokyo, Japan Wed/Fri at 03:00 JST
23pm Conversation Club Around The World
- London, United Kingdom Wed/Fri at 23:00 GMT
- Mexico City, Mexico Tue/Thur at 17:00 CST
- Bogota, Colombia Tue/Thur at 18:00 COT
- Santiago, Chile Tue/Thur at 20:00 CLST
- Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Tue/Thur at 20:00 BRT
- Rome, Italy Wed/Fri at 00:00 CET
- Warsaw, Poland Wed, Wed/Fri at 00:00 CET
- Istanbul, Turkey Wed/Fri at 02:00 EEST
- Taipei, Taiwan Wed/Fri at 07:00 CST
- Tokyo, Japan Wed/Fri at 08:00 JST
Model Answers & Vocabulary
To help you prepare for the Thinking in English conversation club this week, I have created vocabulary lists and some model answers.
The model answers are split into intermediate, upper-intermediate, and advanced level responses. Hopefully this will give you an idea on the differences in quality between intermediate and advanced responses, and perhaps inspire your own answers to these questions!
B1 (Intermediate)
Model Answers
Vocabulary
B2 (Upper Intermediate)
Model Answers
Vocabulary
C1 (Advanced Level)
Model Answers
Vocabulary
See you all at this week’s conversation club!
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Further Questions?
