The eight secrets of success

TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a set of global conferences run by a non-profit foundation (the Sapling Foundation). Its mission is to disseminate ‘ideas worth spreading.’ It provides videos of talks free of charge on the Internet at ted.com. People who go to TED conferences are sometimes nicknamed ‘TED-sters’.

Richard St John is an author and ‘TED-ster’ and here presents a talk on how to be successful.

PRE-LISTENING STRATEGIES:

Prediction

Look at the title and predict the main ideas of the video. Write down 8 things you think a person needs to become successful.

WHILE-LISTENING STRATEGIES:

Listening for the main idea

Watch the video. Note down the 8 secrets. How many did you predict?

Listening for key information

The following notes contain some key facts from the video.

Read the notes, and predict the missing words. Then, watch the video again and complete the notes.

1. Passion means working for _______, not for money.

2. Have ______ while working hard.

3. Being good at something takes ___________.

4. Focus means concentrating on _______ thing.

5. You need to push to get through ____________ and self-doubt.

6. Serve means giving something of ____________ to someone else.

7. Having ideas comes from doing ________ things.

8. You need to persist to overcome ___________.

POST-LISTENING ACTIVITIES:

Discussion

Find a study friend to discuss the talk with. Summarise the content, then discuss the following questions.

1. Which quality do you think is the most important? Why?

2. The speaker does not mention luck. Do you think you need luck to be successful?

Grammar Practice: Prepositions

One difficult area of English grammar is prepositions.

• We use prepositions to indicate time and place.

e.g. I’ll meet you on Saturday at 5pm. Let’s meet in the hotel lobby, next to the lifts.

• We use prepositions in phrasal verbs.

e.g. I was nervous when the plane took off, but calmed down once we were in the air.

• We use prepositions in combination with some verbs and adjectives.

e.g. verb + preposition: You need to focus on your studies.

e.g. adjective + preposition: My sister is very good at tennis.

These uses of prepositions are fairly fixed. We can’t say ‘You need to focus at your studies’ for example. So as you learn verbs and adjectives, learn what prepositions we can use with them.

Click here for an interactive tapescript to help you practice prepositions.

FOLLOW-UP:

Write a paragraph about your ambition. Include:

• what your ambition is

• why you want to achieve it

• how you will succeed

Glossary

Pay attention to how the word is combined with other words in context. Do not learn the meaning of the word without sentences. Vietnamese should be the last resort after you have tried all the learning strategies.

• Workaholic (n): someone who chooses to work so much that they do not have time for anything else (Người nghiện việc)

• Frolic (v): to play happily (Vui đùa, nô đùa)

• Figure (v): to have a particular opinion after thinking about a situation (Cho rằng, nhận thấy rằng)

Idioms and Expressions

• Make it / make something of your life: to be successful in your life: có thể làm được, có thể thành công

• Make someone/something tick: make someone behave in the way that they do: khiến ai đó cư xử như vậy

Informal spoken expressions

• Jeez!: expression of surprise or disbelief (Từ dùng để diễn tả sự ngạc nhiên hoặc không thể tin được)

• Damn: really, very (swear word used to show intensity of feeling) (Rất là (từ chửi rủa dùng để diễn tả cường độ cảm xúc mạnh))

• Gotta: have to, must (Phải (từ chỉ được dùng trong văn nói))

• Crap: nonsense or unfair criticism (Thứ vớ vẩn, rác rưởi)

• Asshole: stupid or unpleasant person (Kẻ ngu ngốc, linh tinh, chẳng ra gì)

• Bucks: dollars (Đồng đô la (dùng trong văn nói))

Note: "damn," "crap" and "asshole" are very informal and can give offence.

Lưu ý: Những từ “damn", crap", và "asshole” thường thiếu trang trọng, bạn nên cẩn thận khi dùng vì có thể gây xúc phạm đến người nghe.

Answers

Main Ideas

1. Passion

2. Work

3. Good

4. Focus

5. Push

6. Serve

7. Ideas

8. Persist

Key Information

1. Passion means working for love, not for money.

2. Have fun while working hard.

3. Being good at something takes practice.

4. Focus means concentrating on one thing.

5. You need to push to get through shyness and self-doubt.

6. Serve means giving something of value to someone else.

7. Having ideas comes from doing simple things.

8. You need to persist to overcome failure.

This material is provided by the Australian Centre for Education and Training (ACET).