23 Aug How to live before you die

Pre- task:

What advice would you give to a recently graduated university student? What advice do you think Steve Job gave to a group of Stanford students?

Task:

1) The speech is structured in three parts. Watch the complete video and identify them. Identify the main idea in each part.

2) Who were Steve Jobs´parents? Why did his biological mother want him to go to college?

3) Did he graduate from college? Why/why not?

4) What did he do when he dropped out of college?

5) Why does he talk about trusting your instincts? What does “connecting the dots” mean?

6) Why was he fired from his own company?

7) Why did he decide to stay in the valley?

8) What did he learn from his disease?

9) What does he say about The Whole Earth Catalogue?

10) What is his last message?

Post-task:

Why do you think that this speech has become so famous? What´s special about it?

Comment from the teacher:

This is one of Steve Jobs´ most famous speeches because of its truly inspirational nature. Even though the core of its message isn´t new to any of us. We´ve all heard it before and, at some point, it may sound as a cliché: “Follow your instincts and your heart”.

What makes this speech special then? From my point of view, the success of this speech is undoubtedly connected with his personal anecdotes and experiences.