Speaking - Monolog(ue)s - Bullfighting

Bullfighting. Some vocabulary and ideas

A 5-minute presentation on bullfighting. Notice approach (point of view), structure and resources put in use to tackle the topic.

Common bull fighting terms

1. Toro: Bull
2. Plaza de toros: Bullring
3. Corrida: Bullfight
4. Matador, Star Bullfighter
5. Torero, Bullfighter (general term applicable to any person who engages in the ultimate death of the bull)
6. Picador: Lancer (on horseback)
7. Banderillero: Bullfighter on foot, who inserts/pierces barbed wooden decorated sticks into the bull's neck muscle
8. Traje de luces: suit of lights (colourful sequinned suit worn by bullfighters)
9. Veronica: A type of pass whereby the cape is drawn over the bull's head while the man holds a posture.
10. Novillos: A novice bullfighter is called a novillero and fights not in a corrida, but in a novillada with young bulls (novillos)

Ideas and useful language:

Man gored to death at running of the bulls in Pamplona: A charging bull gored [the bull charges against sb/sth] a young Spanish man to death today at Pamplona's San Fermin festival, the first such fatality in nearly 15 years. Nine others were injured in a particularly dangerous and chaotic chapter of the running of the bulls.

Against bullfighting: It's cruelty to animals/the bovines. It inflicts pointless suffering on the animals involved. They suffer and die just to give you pleasure. Leisure based on making animals suffer is degrading for human beings

Pro-bullfighting: It's an art. It is part of a cultural heritage. People eat meat in many places and nobody complains of cruelty to animals.

Some information on the topic:

In 2004, Barcelona declared itself "an anti-bullfighting city," and earlier this year an animal-protection law prohibiting new bullrings went into effect throughout the entire North-eastern region of Catalonia.

It is estimated that the total number of people watching bullfights in Spain reaches one million every year.

Only one species of bull of an ancient race that is only conserved in Spain, the toro bravo, is used for Bull Fights.

72% of Spaniards have no interest in bullfighting: only 8% of Spaniards consider themselves bullfighting fans (Gallup poll 2006)

Bullfighting was ordinary entertainment in all Europe a very long time ago, and it has only continued to be so in Spain, South of France and Portugal. The other countries banned it after considering it cruel and barbaric.