Conversation Class # 1

Teacher: Andrea M.Bianchi

FAMOUS FAILURES THAT

WILL INSPIRE YOU

A) Match the following paragraphs with the characters that

appear bellow and insert their names in the yellow blanks that
appear in the paragraphs.

1. J. K ROWLING

2. MICHAEL JORDAN

3. STEVE JOBS

4. WALT DISNEY

5. STEVEN SPILBERG

B) Now complete the texts with a suitable verb tense! (watch out! Some of them are in Passive
Voice)

A) (_________) Everyone_________ (know)__________as Apple's former founder. There_______(be) a time,

however, when __________wasn´t sucessful at all. The Lisa computer _________(sell) poorly and in 1985 he
___________(remove) from the Macintosh division. The move came from the board of directors and the CEO
John Scully; someone Jobs __________(choose) for the position a few years earlier. Soon after, ____________left
Apple to found a new company called NeXT. With the successes of the Macbook, iPod, the iPhone and iPad,
and a little animation company called Pixar, ___________turned a mountain of failures into a successful story.
After leaving a company he had helped found, he ________(refuse) to give up on creating products with value.
NeXT was a pivotal stepping stone for __________, and it __________(allow) him to keep moving forward. The
company wasn't a roaring success at the beginning, but__________brought a lot of the technology and
innovation from NeXT back to Apple later on. “Just because you encounter a setback—or end up on another
path – it doesn´t mean you´re stuck or that you won´t ever be succesful. Keep innovating, creating, and
believing in what you do. You'll get back on track eventually, and it's possible you'll be even better off than
before.”

(_________) It’s hard to believe but_____________, the author and creator of Harry Potter, has enough failures
under her belt to make it onto this list of famous failures. Before Harry Potter ________(be) ever published,
__________was on welfare while unemployed and divorced. It was during this time that she _________(jot
down) the idea of Harry Potter on a napkin. But she __________(need) to bring her idea to life. So she
_______(write) her first Harry Potter book. And it _____________(rejected) by 12 publishers. Despite the
rejections, ______________went on to publish her book six months after that. She’s the ninth best-selling
fiction author in the world, and she has sold over 500 copies of her books. The entire Harry Potter franchise
alone is worth $25 billion. Her books have been turned into movies. Her characters have been added to
merchandise and , today, her busines worth _________(believe) to be around $650 million.

(___________) “ I_____________(miss) more than 9000 shots in my career. I_________(lose) almost 300 games.
Twenty six times, I´ve been trusted to take the game winnig shot and missed. I_________(fail) over and over
and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed”. _________ never gave up and he triumphed over
adversity.

(______________)is remembered for his many successes - for Mickey Mouse, for Donald Duck, for Disneyland.
But he also _______(see) his share of hard failures including a bankruptcy, a mental breakdown, and the loss
of control over his creation Oswald The Lucky Rabbit. He _____(discuss) these failures frankly. He once said,
“You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”
There are advantages to failure, in other words. As___________himself put it: “It is good to have a failure while
you’re young because it teaches you so much. For one thing it makes you aware that such a thing can
happen to anybody, and once you’ve lived through the worst, you’re never quite as vulnerable afterwards.”
Walt also explained his formula for overcoming failure. “To some people, I _______(be) kind of a Merlin who
takes lots of crazy chances, but rarely makes mistakes. I________(make) some bad ones, but fortunately, the
successes have come along fast enough to cover up the mistakes. When you have go to bat as many times
as I have do, you’re bound to get a good average. That’s why I keep my projects diversified.”

(________)Due to poor grades in high school, _______________(reject) from the University of Southern California
three times. YES! THREE times! He eventually _____(attend) another school, only to drop out and become a
director before finishing school.Thirty-five years after starting his degree, ______________went back to school
in 2002 to finally complete his work and earn his BA. "I wanted to accomplish this for many years as a thank-
you to my parents for giving me the opportunity for an education and a career," _____________said in a
statement: "And as a personal note for my own family — and young people everywhere — about the
importance of achieving their college education goal.

REFLECTIONS Teacher: Andrea M. Bianchi

Conversation Class
#1

a) Choose the person you admire/liked the most. Write 3 interesting facts about how he/she failed.
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b) How did this person overcome his/her failure?

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c) What kind of adivice would you give to someone that has recently failed in something ( relationships/
career or any other personal goal)?
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d) Let´s debate!
Is it possible to be prepared for failure? Or is it just part of life?
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Why is failure always considered to be something negative? Have you ever had an “epic failure” and learnt
many things afterwards?
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What´s the best way to cope with failure in life?
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C) Write a short paragraph ( 80 -100 words) Possible topics: A ) My epic failure B) I

failed & I learnt C) It is impossible not to fail .