Monday, December 10, 2012
About Failing
English IV
Mauricio Andia
Larry Smith is an economist and he talked about this topic in Canada. This talk had a great impact on me. I really enjoyed it and I even showed it to my parents because this is a very controversial topic among my family.
He said that we have to find our passion if we want to be successful. If we don´t do that, we´ll get tired of our lives. In fact, our life won´t make any sense if we don´t find our true passion.
He also said that if we want to be successful and have a great job, we don´t have to work harder and harder in a boring job just because dad and mom told us to do so. Unfortunately, this doesn´t happen in real life.
In addition, he said that even if we discover our passion, we might fail because we are human beings and we are young. Larry said that our passion has to become part of life. It should be something like marriage, so it should be the biggest thing in our life. This is why it´s so difficult to find our true passion. In fact, most people will never find it.
This speech had a lot of impact on me because I´m about to graduate and I´m a little scared of the future, so this topic was very inspiring to me. I don´t want to fail in my life. Nobody does.
I also loved the way Larry Smith ended his speech. He said, “You won´t be successful and happy, at least…at least…” It is on us to complete his sentence. We have the answer.
About Business and Music
English IV
Luis Nogales
Beethoven Businessman
Beethoven was a great businessman because he was the first musician who created a way to sell music. Before him music could only be heard in concerts.
This talk had an impact on me because music is my passion and my favorite bands have strong feelings about making money out of their music. But when I saw this talk I was shocked because I had never thought that music could be created with a financial purpose.
My second point is that Beethoven was an amazing person, but I had never seen him as something else and the fact that he was also a businessman makes me feel better because something I was afraid of was to get apart from music, my passion because of my major, economics.
The last reason is that this talk about Beethoven was my first TED talk ever. I had never seen any TED talks before that one. It was great to find a website where people express their ideas.
About Music
English IV
Claudia Jove
One topic that I liked was the one about a man who talked about music. This topic was interesting because this man showed me how I can create music with some things that I have in my house, for example pencils or brushes. If you use your imagination you can create melodies that sound great.
I was also interested in this topic because I love music! And I listen to music because it relaxes me. When I have free time, I like to create music with some pencils. I sometimes like playing my brother´s guitar. I honestly don´t know how to play this musical instrument, but I like to listen to some melodies I create. On my next vacation I will take some music lessons, so I can learn how to play the guitar.
When I was a child I was member of a music band “Pink.” We chose this name because my friends and I adored this color. As any other children, we played together and one of our favorite games was to play music. We used to sing songs from TV shows. We thought we will become the next music stars. I miss those times!
In conclusion, I think that all TED talks were interesting and in some cases I was able to learn a lot because TED speakers are people just like us and they try to make us understand that we can do amazing things. It´s on us to do that!
About Education
English IV
Darwin Nissttahuz
I believe that the talk that has had more impact on me was the one about the importance of creativity at schools. The speaker of that presentation explained that some current teachers have a square mind because they teach with the idea that they know everything and students know nothing. When teachers behave this way students don´t have the opportunity to relate to their teachers and enjoy the learning process.
Education is passive in many schools because teachers just write all they know on the board while students feel forced to copy all that information. It is difficult to see this reality because all schools educate people following the same kind of thought.
The speaker also explained that when we use creativity and motivate students, we contribute to their imagination and we can help students find new skills.
In conclusion, school teachers have to motivate students to be more creative because it´s important to get a good education.
About Success
English IV
Yasmine Sadud
The TED talk that has had more impact on me was the one about success. The speaker talked about how once people get success they stop doing all the things that made them successful. This talk had had an impact on me because of three reasons.
The first reason is that this talk taught me that we have to fight for our goals and dreams even though this might take a long time. Some people dream of having a big company and they´re waiting to get successful in a short period of time, but this is not easy at all.
A second reason is that we get motivated by this talk because if we work hard, we will reach as many goals as we want. I think nothing is impossible and many people believe the same. Big companies, for example “Coke” sets a good example on how to try to apply new strategies to be successful.
The last reason is that this doesn´t happen only with companies. This could happen in every aspect of your life. For example, if you want to become a great singer, you have to take classes. You should practice and practice and then you can sing perfectly, but if you quit classes, because you believe that you already know everything, you might start singing terribly. The truth is that if you stop practicing, you can lose your singing skill. This sounds weird, but it has happened to me. This is when people begin to lose opportunities.
In conclusion, we don´t have to stop pursuing our goals even if we think we already have everything we wanted.
About Design
Adriana Monasterios
English IV
The TED talk that has had more impact on me was the one about a designer. This designer inspired me a lot because he is a very different person. He can´t see colors, so he only sees things in black and white and even though he can´t see colors, he is able to design. He can do it so much better now because he has a device that is connected to his brain. I don´t really know how it works, but it´s kind of a camera. This presentation has had an impact on me because I think that we shouldn´t give up. He is a great example of this. We should fight for what we love, no matter what. Also, he shocked me because he made fun of himself saying that the clothes he was wearing were colorful even though he couldn´t see them. So, I think that we all should laugh at ourselves sometimes. And the last reason I enjoyed this talk was the fact that he is a famous designer. He inspired me to do my best to become a successful graphic designer. To conclude, I think that we should be happy with whom we are just like he does.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Stereotypes of Bolivia
Stereotypes of Bolivia
Adiva Sanjinez
The world is full of different stereotypes. There are stereotypes in every society, culture, and country. But what is a stereotype? Stereotypes are qualities assigned to groups of people related to their race, nationality and sexual orientation, to name a few; the problem is that sometimes when you generalize a group of people with stereotypes you can be discriminating them. Sometimes people have different ideas about foreign countries; those are stereotypes that can be good or bad. Many tourists who come for vacations to Bolivia, my country, are expecting to see all the stereotypes that they have heard. Some of the most degrading stereotypes, that I’m going to explain in the next paragraphs, are the reasons why people from other countries have wrong ideas about how the life of a Bolivian is.
First there is the stereotype of extreme poverty which is the most common one. A lot of people think that everyone in Bolivia endures extreme poverty. That’s not true, although there are a lot of poor communities in Bolivia, there are some people who have a lot of money. Take for example the southern part of La Paz. What do you see there? You can see a lot of beautiful and really big houses that a poor country couldn’t afford. You can also find some of the most expensive cars. So how is it possible to find these extravagant belongings if we are such a poor country? Every country endures poverty, but that does not mean that the whole country is poor.
Another stereotype is that all Bolivians are ignorant because of the low quality education. Maybe there are some schools and universities that have to improve their teaching, especially public schools. But there are some schools, for example San Ignacio, Montessori and German school that can compete with international schools. Also a lot of Bolivian students have been awarded scholarships or grants in some of the most important universities abroad and they have managed to be the best in their courses. For instance, Adrian Campero, a German school graduate, that is studying physics at Harvard University and is the president of Harvard Organization for Latin America. So not all Bolivians are ignorant, there are a lot of intelligent people who have done such important things, but no one remembers them because of this stereotype. There are some communities in Bolivia that don’t have good education but if we can change that our country could improve and more people would have the opportunity to succeed.
The last stereotype is about the sense of responsibility. People think that all Bolivians have problems with the sense of responsibility. Responsibility is a duty or obligation to satisfactorily perform or complete a task (assigned by someone, or created by one's own promise or circumstances) that one must fulfill, and which has a consequent penalty for failure. An example of why people think that Bolivians don’t take their responsibilities seriously is the tendency of being always late, that is known as “Bolivian schedule”. Another example is how Bolivians have the tendency of leaving everything for the last minute. That’s why they have a lot of problems managing their time. Finally, a lot of people don’t trust in a Bolivian’s word because they never do what they promise. But not all Bolivians are like that. I think that Bolivians are really hard-working. For example people who don’t have a lot of money have to work a lot of extra hours to support their family. Bolivians have to work a lot to be considered good workers internationally and in our own country because nobody believes that we could be good workers.
In conclusion, stereotypes like extreme poverty, ignorance and lack of education and finally the lack of sense of responsibility don’t help our country. It makes us look bad because not every person in Bolivia is like that. What people from other countries see is only the bad side of our country. If they could see how well educated and hard working we are, they would give us more opportunities. We have to find a way to eliminate these stereotypes and make people see us like a country that wants to improve and grow.
Adiva Sanjinez
The world is full of different stereotypes. There are stereotypes in every society, culture, and country. But what is a stereotype? Stereotypes are qualities assigned to groups of people related to their race, nationality and sexual orientation, to name a few; the problem is that sometimes when you generalize a group of people with stereotypes you can be discriminating them. Sometimes people have different ideas about foreign countries; those are stereotypes that can be good or bad. Many tourists who come for vacations to Bolivia, my country, are expecting to see all the stereotypes that they have heard. Some of the most degrading stereotypes, that I’m going to explain in the next paragraphs, are the reasons why people from other countries have wrong ideas about how the life of a Bolivian is.
First there is the stereotype of extreme poverty which is the most common one. A lot of people think that everyone in Bolivia endures extreme poverty. That’s not true, although there are a lot of poor communities in Bolivia, there are some people who have a lot of money. Take for example the southern part of La Paz. What do you see there? You can see a lot of beautiful and really big houses that a poor country couldn’t afford. You can also find some of the most expensive cars. So how is it possible to find these extravagant belongings if we are such a poor country? Every country endures poverty, but that does not mean that the whole country is poor.
Another stereotype is that all Bolivians are ignorant because of the low quality education. Maybe there are some schools and universities that have to improve their teaching, especially public schools. But there are some schools, for example San Ignacio, Montessori and German school that can compete with international schools. Also a lot of Bolivian students have been awarded scholarships or grants in some of the most important universities abroad and they have managed to be the best in their courses. For instance, Adrian Campero, a German school graduate, that is studying physics at Harvard University and is the president of Harvard Organization for Latin America. So not all Bolivians are ignorant, there are a lot of intelligent people who have done such important things, but no one remembers them because of this stereotype. There are some communities in Bolivia that don’t have good education but if we can change that our country could improve and more people would have the opportunity to succeed.
The last stereotype is about the sense of responsibility. People think that all Bolivians have problems with the sense of responsibility. Responsibility is a duty or obligation to satisfactorily perform or complete a task (assigned by someone, or created by one's own promise or circumstances) that one must fulfill, and which has a consequent penalty for failure. An example of why people think that Bolivians don’t take their responsibilities seriously is the tendency of being always late, that is known as “Bolivian schedule”. Another example is how Bolivians have the tendency of leaving everything for the last minute. That’s why they have a lot of problems managing their time. Finally, a lot of people don’t trust in a Bolivian’s word because they never do what they promise. But not all Bolivians are like that. I think that Bolivians are really hard-working. For example people who don’t have a lot of money have to work a lot of extra hours to support their family. Bolivians have to work a lot to be considered good workers internationally and in our own country because nobody believes that we could be good workers.
In conclusion, stereotypes like extreme poverty, ignorance and lack of education and finally the lack of sense of responsibility don’t help our country. It makes us look bad because not every person in Bolivia is like that. What people from other countries see is only the bad side of our country. If they could see how well educated and hard working we are, they would give us more opportunities. We have to find a way to eliminate these stereotypes and make people see us like a country that wants to improve and grow.
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