这周CAE精品班做TED演讲推荐的孩子有穆斯林家庭背景，所以他选择了一个这样的演讲：“你听说过一个伊朗裔美国人吗？”，他还在课上教大家用阿拉伯语说“谢谢”。每个孩子把他们看世界的角度分享给同学，这正是我设计TED演讲分享的重要原因之一。但是我有一点儿小担心，这个演讲一定涉及美国敏感的政治话题，却是中国孩子没有体验的，他们看得懂吗？

    这天晚上，从儿子的房间里不时地传出哈哈大笑声，并混杂着一个人在说英语，我忍不住进去看他在干什么，原来他是在看这个TED演讲。虽然已到结尾，但我即刻被吸引，于是和儿子重新看了一遍，一起笑个不停。向大家推荐，看一个伊朗裔美国人如何用幽默喜剧风格讲述沉重的种族歧视的话题。

   下面是部分孩子写的观后感，全部是原文。

1.      Well, many people know about the color bar which happened in the past. I thought it won't happen any more. But after I saw the talk, I know that somebody in American discriminate people from  Asia and Africa.Maz told me in his talk by his special humor. Americans maybe afraid of them, because for example, the 9.11 event. Muslim did those things but not every people from Asia and Africa. And not all the bandits are Muslim. Humans are the same when we born. We can't say who is good and who is bad, we can't.

2.      Well, this TED talk is about the Iranians in America and it is also very far from our life because it mentions lots of political problems. The speaker is an actor and comedian. He reckons that the Iranians in America often get prejudiced from others although the Iranians are visitors to the USA. The Iranians think that Americans can’t treat them as the normal people for example, when he saw an Indian with beard who’s wearing simple clothes standing near the door of a hotel, he felt that Indian might be his driver, but the Indian said angrily the speaker would be his driver. Obviously the Indian got prejudiced, wasn’t it? Though the speaker spoke in a funny way, but absolutely he has mentioned a big problem in his country. I like him as well.

3.      This is another excellent ted talk. Maz Jobrani inspired me and possibly many other people with his comedy skills – I’ve almost laughed my head off. Maz’s concise anecdotes are mostly relevant to the stereotypes between the Muslim world (especially Iran) and the western world. I conclude Maz’s idea as “have laughter instead of stereotypes”, which, I have to say, is rather naïve and idealistic. But, use a phrase mentioned in the talk, “It’s the thought that counts”. Why do different races, different religions or different nations have stereotypes? Where is the root of all this lay? I guess they’re all because of misinterpretation. Events, drastic events and even some events done unintentionally, reinforce all those misinterpretations. I can hardly think of an antidote for this chaos and I guess not all people can laugh away stereotypes – or else we’ll just gather some comedians and let them save the world. But what is important is that someone can stand out and try to put an end to the stereotypes – they might avert further problems. So why not laugh for a while?

4.      This talk is really funny and I have laughed many times. In this talk the speaker encourages people to visit Middle East and to learn great things about these places, such as the buildings. He thinks most of the Muslims are good but some Americans discriminate Muslims. They are absolutely wrong. Many of the Middle East people are kind and successful; they are useful for the society. There is a lot of high technology in many Middle East countries. From this talk I know we should treat the Muslims who are good as well as we can. The Middle East’s country is equal to the other countries in the world.

5.      This week, I watched some Ted talks and were particular inspired. I love some of the viewpoints the speaker made. The speaker said that all the religions, the thinking behind that was to create positive, globally-resonating storylines that could be tied to the same things that other people were pulling mean messages out of because then the person that's using religion for the wrong purpose just becomes a bad man with a bad message. As far as I am concerned, that is really right. Why there are so many religions now, what is it for? I suppose that it is for letting us be a better person, letting us to have a better life, letting us have a better world. Every coin has two sides; there are also some negative things about religions, for example, some religions do not allow females to learn. From my point of view, everyone has the right to abandon unreasonable religions, because that will only make us bad. Everyone should be pleased with the religions,  that is the most significant viewpoints the speaker made. 

6.      This weekend, I watched a TED talk called: Maz Jobtani: Did you hear the one about the Iranian-American. It’s about an actor called Maz Jobtani, who is an Iranian-American. He wants to say that, being an American, he has many privileges. But because he was born in Iran, he also has many troubles even if he is an American citizen. He feels that people’s rejection to the Muslims in the Middle East is phenomenal. One day when he was in Kuwait with some friends, the border patrol let all his friends pass the customs and kept him. He is an actor, and in Hollywood many casting directors think that he-an Iranian-has to play bad parts as well. He doesn’t mind that, and many of the troubles he had, but he wants to argue that there are good people everywhere. Many people have wrong attitudes towards Muslims in the Middle East. Maz wants to tell these people: some Muslims have done some bad things, like flying a plane to an American building, but not all the Muslims. Many places in the Middle East are good places, and many people there are rich and kind. He wants to break some people’s stereotypes, to see the Middle Easterners and the Muslims in a positive way. And I agree with him. In my opinion, we cannot give a final conclusion to someone or something before we have known them very well. That is really naïve. We need to think the others in a positive way- actually, there are good people everywhere.

7.      This video is about an Iranian-American talking about the stereotypes which are held by western people to Middle Easterners. In this video, the speaker (Maz Jorbrani) gives some funny examples about the stereotypes, such as all Muslim are terrorists. He transfers the information through a humorous and hilarious way, instead of a furious way. However, it is very impressive and makes people think. In my opinion, stereotypes are everywhere in this world. I think it is the funniest TED I have ever seen.