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 succeeded”. _________ 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 bankruptcy, 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, success has come
along fast enough to cover up the mistakes. When you have had to start from scratch as many times as I have
done, 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.

C) Vocabulary. Analyse the words that appear in red and try to guess the meaning from the context.

Better off – on welfare- drop out – achieve – start from scratch jot down -

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 .