Fadia’s footwear

Since a local enterprise competition encouraged her to create a product, 18-year-old Fadia from Basira hasn’t looked back. The 150 JOD that was given to her in the competition enabled her to produce sandals made from recycled materials. Her father let her use his workshop to try out different designs, and her first batch brought her a 100 JOD profit! Most entrepreneurs tend to succeed because they follow their instinct, like Fadia. At times, they risk losing everything, but they fail to be deterred by this and continue to follow their conviction. Fadia has never stopped believing in her dream. She envisaged producing affordable, reasonably priced sandals that would reuse previously discarded plastics, and she has managed to do that. She is grateful her parents didn’t make her follow a fixed educational path (she decided against going to university) and to one customer who had difficulty believing that Fadia, at 18, could possibly be running her own business! I can’t help admiring Fadia’s creativity and tenacity. She’ll go a very long way, and will have to get used to being a very successful businesswoman. Students (like Fadia used to be) need encouraging to find fulfilment that a more traditional educational path cannot always provide.

 

1. SPEAKING In pairs, discuss the questions.

   1. Who is the most successful person you know personally? Do you admire them? Say why.

   2. What qualities does a person need to become successful? Say why.

Answers Students’ own answers

 

2. Read the text. Does Fadia have any of the qualities you mentioned in Exercise 1?

Suggested answers Follows instinct, believes in her dream, creativity, tenacity

 

Gerunds and infinitives

3. THINK BACK Put the underlined verbs or verb phrases from the text in the correct categories.

verb, e.g. appreciate / deny / admit (to) / can't bear + gerund	verb, e.g. choose / happen + infinitive with to
verb, e.g. hope / force / help + object + infinitive with to	verb, e.g. notice + object + infinitive without to

Answers verb + gerund: risk, stop, envisage, decide against, have difficulty, can’t help, get used to, need

verb + infinitive with to: tend, fail, continue, manage

verb + object + infinitive with to: encourage, enable

verb + object + infinitive without to: let, make

4. 10.3 What difficulties might someone who has become successful face? Listen to an entrepreneur talking about his success to a group of students and compare your answers.

Suggested answers lack of money, failing to maintain ideas or lost creativity, have self-doubt, be afraid of failing

5 🎉 10.4 There are various forms of both the gerund and the infinitive depending on time aspect and verb pattern. Complete the sentences with the correct forms of the verbs in brackets. Listen and check.

1 I was lucky ______ (give) a reasonable amount of money by my parents.
2 Despite ______ (work) on the film for ages, I hadn’t expected to be rewarded.
3 It was wonderful ______ (work) on something I loved.
4 Although I was a success, I needed ______ (maintain) it.
5 I remembered ______ (tell) once about an author who’d said ‘You’re only as good as your last book’.
6 Most successful people will admit ______ (experience) self-doubt at points in their career.
7 One temptation is to avoid ______ (take) risks so that you don’t fail.
8 Everyone would prefer ______ (turn out) success after success.
9 Success needs ______ (put) into perspective.
10 Otherwise, you risk ______ (remember) for one thing only.

Answers 1 to have been given 2 having been working 3 to have been working 4 to maintain 5 having been told 6 to having experienced 7 taking 8 to be turning out 9 to be put 10 being remembered

 

6 Look at the sentences in Exercise 5 again. Which forms:
a are gerunds or infinitives? ______
b are active or passive? ______
c refer to a time before another time in the past? ______

Answers a gerunds: 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10 infi nitives: 1, 4, 8, 9 b active: 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 passive: 1, 5, 9, 10 c 1, 2, 3, 5, 6

 

7 Read the pairs of sentences and decide if they have the same meaning.

1 a I regret to say that there is no more work for you.
b I regret saying that there is no more work for you.
2 a The teacher went on to tell us about the new project.
b The teacher went on telling us about the new project.
3 a Starting a new job means getting up early in the morning.
b To start a new job means getting up early every morning for it.
4 a I propose to discuss the issue with the boss.
b I propose discussing the issue with the boss.

Answers 1 a present meaning b happened in the past 2 a started speaking about a new topic b continued speaking about a new topic 3 same meaning 4 a speaker states what he/she intends to do b speaker makes a suggestion

 

8 In pairs, think of examples of the following situations and talk about them.

1 Something you can’t bear people doing.
2 Something you are ashamed of having done in your life so far.
3 An opportunity you were lucky to have been given when you were younger.
4 An event you regret attending over the last few months.
5 A mistake you went on to make again in recent days.
6 What trying to achieve your dream will mean for you.

Answers Students’ own answers