Performance Plus for the HKDSE — All-in-one Exam Practice (Vol.

2) (2nd Edition) Set 6 Paper 2

Part B Question 2
Learning English through Sports Communication
Last week, you attended a talk given by a famous sportsman in Hong Kong. Write a review of the talk for the
school magazine, describing what the sportsman did to become famous, what he talked about and how the
audience responded to his talk.

Topic Analysis
Your Role A student
Last week, you attended a talk given by a famous sportsman in Hong
Situation / Task Requirements
Kong
• Describe what the sportsman did to become famous and what
Sub-topics he talked about
• Describe how the audience responded to him
Text Type Review of a talk
Target Audience Teachers and students
• Formal/Semi-formal
Language and Tone
• Use the simple past tense to talk about past events
Purpose of Writing To review a talk

Topic-related Vocabulary
articulate athlete budding challenge
champion competition competitive convincing
eager excellence inspiration inspiring
motivational talk tough to compete to not let anything hold you back
to stand up for to strive for

Writing Plan
Write an appropriate title
Title
• Run for your life
Give background information about the talk (e.g., who the speaker was, where
Introductory paragraph
the talk was held and who attended the talk)
Give details about the sportsman (e.g., he was an Olympic athlete; he
competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil)
Say what he talked about
• We should all compete within our own ability.
Body paragraphs
• Do not give up easily.
How the audience responded to his talk
• The young athletes were hugely motivated by him.
• They paid attention to him / They were inspired by him.

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Performance Plus for the HKDSE — All-in-one Exam Practice (Vol. 2) (2nd Edition) Set 6 Paper 2
• At the end of his talk, the sportsman answered some questions.
Closing paragraph
• He is an inspiration to young people.

Sample Essay
Run for your life

Last week, I listened to a man who runs for his life and makes a living from running for his life.
Olympic athlete Lai Chun Ho gave a motivational talk the other day to the Causeway Bay Little Athletics
Club and it was truly inspiring and a shame that more budding athletes were not in attendance.

Many people remember Ho from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil where he ran a personal best of
10.63 seconds for the 100 metres to be placed a creditable seventh in his heat. While he did not progress to
the next round, he was able to run the fastest he has ever run and that was the theme for his motivational
speech.

He started by addressing some 50 young athletes from the club by saying that we should do the best
with what we have been given. So he said whether we were overweight, or short, or tall, or physically
challenged or perfectly healthy, we should all compete within our own ability. He followed this up by saying
that few athletes make it through to the Olympics but that competing and participating in any sport is very
important for us all.

Lai Chun Ho mentioned that if our only aim was to compete in the Olympics, most of us would give up
along the way. A very small percentage of athletes make it to the Olympics or into an FA Cup football team
but this should not stop us from striving for excellence and always attempting to do our best.

He then referred to an old saying: ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going’ and by this he meant
that as the competition gets tougher, the athlete has to train harder and run smarter.

At the end of his talk, he answered questions from the gathering of eager young athletes. A few
questions were asked about how he got into the sport and what it was like to compete in the Olympics in
Brazil. Lai Chun Ho answered all of them patiently. He was articulate, convincing and humorous. All of his
young fans were hugely motivated by him.

Lai Chun Ho is a truly amazing athlete. He is fun, loving and down-to-earth. He is not afraid to voice
his opinion and he stands up for what he believes in. In thanking Lai Chun Ho, the club president Mr. Chong
said that the athlete was an inspiration to the young runners.

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