Lang 2. High Tech life
Lang 2.1. Announcing a new device 3-4-5 levels 40-50 min.
GOAL. To learn some vocabulary features of high-tech language.
WARM-UP
TASK 1. Answer this quick survey on the presence of technology in our lives.
I. How old are your high tech products? (i.e. 5 years, 1.5 years. 3-month, not yet)
hand-held telephone Palm PDA desk PC iPod (or likewise) DVD CD
TV monitor portablePC audio in car Videocamera TCT GPS
II. Which ones have a presence in your classroom? …………………………………..……..
III. Which ones have been learning tools for your English? …………………………………..……..
LANGUAGE STUDY.
TASK 2. Underline all high tech expressions in this narrative passage
I was a low tech person until it happened. Probably the people to blame are two university teachers who asked for a team-up assignment with an uncanny deadline. This was absolutely crazy and made us -students- hate in some ways these teachers but, in my personal life had the side-effect of making Pablo and I almost a family, we spent a huge time together that year 2001 and we even borrowed personal expressions and habits from each other, it was a bitter, but sweet, experience :).
This new cooperative environment allowed me to admire PDAs, to find them useful and even to think of purchasing one. What most amazed me was seen what could Pablo could do in his PDA. I can mention these ones: He had friends' addresses, notes and meetings and everything was synchronized with his Desktop PC at home (inside MS Outlook, this is very important because you know that everything you write down in your PDA is safely stored home so if you lose it or something you can ever get the information back), he could check the best way to arrive from a place to another one in many cities, he could check how to go from a city to another, he could play chess against his PDA I really liked this ;), he could read e-books, news and more.
So I decided to buy a Zire71, which was not a bad choice for the money I had at the moment, at the end however my strained parents gave me the Palm Zire71 as a Christmas present before finishing my degree. However it was not until I began to use my own PDA that I realised the real power of these machines.
To begin with, to have a PDA in your pocket is like to have a desktop PC in your pocket, you can do almost anything you usually do in a desktop PC. The main uses in my Zire71 were: reading ebooks, reading the news, use of dictionaries (English-English, English-Spanish, Spanish-English, ..), use of calculator, listening to music (the only difference between a PDA and an iPod is that and iPod can carry on more songs because they have a built in harddrive, but if you only want to take with you a few LPs a PDA can suit you), agenda, notes, addresses and phone numbers, Word, Excel and Access documents, programs to know how to arrive from city A to city B and more. To have all these capabilities in your pocket is quite a difference and can make one's life easier.
TASK 3. This paragraph refers to a well known object.
You can also make personal notes next to B.O.O.K. text entries with an optional program-ming tool, the Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus, [...]
I. Can you relate this ‘programming tool’ to something in your classroom? What can it be? ………..
II. Perhaps you can do it if you add the final item: (a.k.a. P.E.N.C.I.L.S.) where a.k.a. stands for ‘also known as’. Have a go: ……………………..
TASK 4. Fill in the six following features using the words at the end:
1. specific nouns: .........................................................................
2. descriptive adjectives: .........................................................................
3. use of passive: .........................................................................
4. use of nominal adjectives: .........................................................................
5. Acronyms: .........................................................................
6. high-tech publicity phrases: .........................................................................
No wires / CD-ROM / compact device / technology / revolutionary breakthrough /
nothing to be connected / BOOK, be switched on / Just lift its cover!
batteries / Basic Orderly Organised Knowledge / circuits / portable
TASK 5. This sentences are part of a paragraph in a tech mag. Put them in order.
a) An optional "BOOKmark" accessory allows you to open the BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session -even if the BOOK has been closed.
b) The number is limited only by the number of pages in the BOOK.
c) Conversely, numerous BOOKmarks can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once.
d) Many come with an "index" feature, which pinpoints the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval.
e) BOOKmarks fit universal design standards; thus, a single BOOKmark can be used in BOOKs by various manufacturers.
right order: ….…+ ………+ …..… +………+ ..……
Lang 2.2. Portable & durable hand-held devices 3-4-5 levels 40-50 min.
GOAL. To discover the language of technology with a humourous text.
WARM UP (with a pinch of humourous wit).
TASK 1. Do these activities. Q1. How were your parents entertained in the XXth century?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……
Q2. Read this tech passage (the last paragraph of a text you will read soon) that deals with entertainment and guess which modern device is publicised: ……………………………
Portable, durable, and affordable, the B.O.O.K. is being hailed as the entertainment wave of the future. The B.O.O.K.'s appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform. Look for a flood of new titles soon.
LANGUAGE STUDY
TASK 2. Can you relate the device described in the introduction of a leaflet to something you have in the classroom ? ……………………..
Announcing a new device:
Basic Orderly Organised Knowledge
The B.O.O.K. is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: No wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use even a child can operate it. Just lift its cover!
Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere - even sitting in an armchair by the fire - yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc.
TASK 3. To understand how the device works, Q1 can you guess what object is described with the first - in this peculiar English’ – paragraph?
Each Basic Orderly Organised Knowledge is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. These pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence. Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs in half.
Q2. After reading these three lines, write what you guessed: .........................
Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now BOOKs with more information simply use more pages. This makes them thicker and harder to carry, and has drawn some criticism from the mobile computing crowd.
TASK 4. Fill in these linguistic features trom the text in previous task:
1. specific nouns: .........................................................................
2. descriptive adjectives: .........................................................................
3. use of passive: .........................................................................
4. use of nominal adjectives: .........................................................................
5. Acronyms: .........................................................................
6. high-tech publicity phrases: .........................................................................
7. others: ................................................. .........................................................................
TASK 5. Our last paragraph has some ‘high level of information density’ but doesn’t prevents readability. Copy the words you see for the first time.
Each sheet is scanned_ optically, registering_information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet. The BOOK may be taken up at any time and used by merely opening it. The BOOK never crashes and never needs rebooting, though like other display devices it can become unusable if dropped overboard. The "browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish.
................................................. .........................................................................
TASK 6. Can you answer these easy questions?
Write three devices that can crash: ...................... .................. .....................
Find antonyms for breakable, fragile .......................... difficult access .........................
Find synonyms for:
reading .................................. understanding ......................................
numbered pages .................................. turn the page over .............................
be taken up at any time...........................................................
Annex 1
Announcing a new device:
Basic Orderly Organised Knowledge (BOOK)
The BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: No wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It's so easy to use even a child can operate it. Just lift its cover!
Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere - even sitting in an armchair by the fire - yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc. Here's how it works...
· Each BOOK is constructed of sequentially numbered sheets of paper (recyclable), each capable of holding thousands of bits of information. These pages are locked together with a custom-fit device called a binder which keeps the sheets in their correct sequence. Opaque Paper Technology (OPT) allows manufacturers to use both sides of the sheet, doubling the information density and cutting costs in half.
· Experts are divided on the prospects for further increases in information density; for now BOOKs with more information simply use more pages. This makes them thicker and harder to carry, and has drawn some criticism from the mobile computing crowd.
· Each sheet is scanned optically, registering information directly into your brain. A flick of the finger takes you to the next sheet. The BOOK may be taken up at any time and used by merely opening it. The BOOK never crashes and never needs rebooting, though like other display devices it can become unusable if dropped overboard. The "browse" feature allows you to move instantly to any sheet, and move forward or backward as you wish.
· Many come with an "index" feature, which pinpoints the exact location of any selected information for instant retrieval. An optional "BOOKmark" accessory allows you to open the BOOK to the exact place you left it in a previous session -even if the BOOK has been closed. BOOKmarks fit universal design standards; thus, a single BOOKmark can be used in BOOKs by various manufacturers. Conversely, numerous BOOKmarks can be used in a single BOOK if the user wants to store numerous views at once. T he number is limited only by the number of pages in the BOOK.
· You can also make personal notes next to BOOK text entries with an optional programming tool, the Portable Erasable Nib Cryptic Intercommunication Language Stylus (PENCILS).
· Portable, durable, and affordable, the BOOK is being hailed as the entertainment wave of the future. The BOOK's appeal seems so certain that thousands of content creators have committed to the platform. Look for a flood of new titles soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment