TSU English 15 SBP

ENGLISH

TEACHER SUPPORT UNIT 15

Technology and You

English Teacher Support Unit 15

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Technology and You

Before we start…….

This is the last in the series of 15 TSUs. By now your students are probably able to express their views on a number of themes using a lot more English than when they began on the first TSU. This TSU gives your students many opportunities to express their views and ideas in writing. At this point it may be a good idea to take stock of the students writing skills. The following questions may help you.

• How many students can create simple sentences?

• Can they create various kinds of sentences like statements, questions, exclamations, etc?

• Are they familiar with various forms of writing like stories, descriptions, dialogues, etc?

• What kind of mistakes do they often make?

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• Can you add more questions to this list?

The Fifteenth TSU

The growth of technology in various fields has been very rapid in recent years and its huge impact on our lives is there for everyone to see. Young people are observant and our students are certainly aware of the changes that technology has brought in. It is not easy to talk about the impact of technology as 'good' or 'bad'. Technological progress affects the lives of people in very mixed ways and people experience both the positive and negative aspects of it in their everyday lives. So the theme 'Technology and You’ gives you a chance to generate interesting and lively discussions in the class. Here are some areas we can explore with our students.

• Listing the fields or areas which technology has influenced

• Changes that have happened in these fields

• Are the changes good or bad?

• What future changes might there be?

• Visualising and describing future gadgets and technologies

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What other areas do you think your students will be interested in. Why don't you add them to the list above?


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Activity – 1: The Spread of Technology (group work)

Have a discussion about the fields or areas in which technology is used. Ask the following questions to generate discussion.

• Which fields now use a lot of technology? • What developments in the field of information technology have occurred in the last five years? • What facilities do we have now to transfer information around the globe? • What are the positive outcomes of the growth of technology? • What are the negative effects?

Let them students come up with ideas. Then draw this table on the board.

Field or area Machines and gadgets Positive impacts Negative impacts

Ask 'What do I have to write in the first column?'

Fill in the column using the answers given by students.

Divide the students into groups of five. Allot each group a field. Let them sit in groups and fill in the rest of the columns. Health, transport, education, agriculture, sports and entertainment are some of the areas you can allot to groups.

Ask students the following questions so that you can together decide on the process by which the group work will be done. This is a good way to get students to take decisions about their work.

• How much time do you need to complete this task? • Do you want to refer to any books or newspaper articles? • Can you search for videos suitable to your area of work? • Do you need chart papers and markers or sketch pens to document your findings? • Who is going to present the group's work and results? • Shall we invite students from other classes and teachers to listen to your presentation?

Give students sufficient time to do their work, supply necessary materials and decide on the time for their presentations. Encourage other groups to ask questions. Please don’t forget to extend whatever help the groups ask for. Exhibit any charts they make in the classroom.

Inviting other class students and teachers will make the activity interesting and authentic.

(If students are interested in the activity, you can ask 'Is there any area in which technology has not made an impact? Or 'Is there any field where technology should not be used?'

Did it work?

interesting difficult boring

What is the focus of this activity?...................................................

Did you make any modifications or try out variations?...............................................................................................................................................................................................................


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Activity – 2: Impact of technology in agriculture (open discussion)

Present the following situation.

India is the second largest country in the world. The population of the country is 126 crores. We have to feed them all. How do we make sure that we grow enougho food? Would technology help us to do this? Here are some questions you could discuss.

• Would it help to use chemical fertilizers? • What are the consequences of using chemical fertilizers? • Do you know of organic ways of controlling pests? • What are the other ways to increase food production? • What are the ways to overcome water scarcity? Would it help to dig borewells? • What about building big dams? • In what ways can we use solar energy in agriculture?

Ask students to talk about their own experiences regarding the above questions.

After the discussion, you can ask students to write a brief note on any of the areas discussed. They can then present their ideas and other students can be asked to comment. The groups then incorporate suggestions, rework and edit their earlier notes.

Did it work?


Activity – 3: Technological wonders (group work)

Here is an interesting news item you can read out to the students. Read it slowly sentence by sentence. If you feel some parts of the article are difficult for them to understand, explain in Odia.

DHANUPALI: It was a promise delivered floor by floor. In just 48 hours, an entrepreneur has constructed a 10-floor building in Dhanupali a suburban town in Sambalpur of Odisha.

The red and grey faced building, Instacon, stood tall on an industrial plot in Dhanupali, 05 kilometres from Sambalpur town today, two days after Odisha Chief Minister Mr. Naveen Pattnaik had laid its foundation stone.

Work on the building's construction started around 4:30 pm on Thursday. By Friday evening, the building saw seven floors in that place.




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As the deadline of 48 hours approached, all the 10 floors of the building were in place even though the glass-panes on the windows and other fittings inside were still being put by the workers and engineers.

The building used pre-fabricated material, including 200 tonnes of steel.

"Our effort was to put the 10-storeyed structure in that place within 48 hours. We wanted to prove that this could be done. That feat was achieved well within 48 hours. Just some finishing touches remain. This is only a sample structure," an official of Synergy Thrislington infrastructure company told IANS at the site.

Entrepreneur Jayanta Patel, who heads the Rs1,000-crore infrastructure company, had promised that the 10-storied building would be completed within 48 hours.

"This will be the first building of its kind in the country to be built in just 48 hours. The model has been cleared for Zone-V seismic area, the highest risk area (for earthquakes)," Jayanta Patel, who owns the JW Golden Palace Hotel in Sambalpur, had said earlier.

Three floors of the building were constructed in just six hours on Thursday.

(If students ask for the meaning of hard words, don’t explain immediately. Instead ask them to guess the meaning. Help them by giving clues and hints. You can read out the sentences before and after the words or phrases. Use direct explanation only as the last resort. The skill of guessing the meaning through the context is an essential skill to improve one's reading.)

After reading the news, develop a discussion by asking the following questions. • How did technology help the company to build a ten-storey building in just two days? • How would it be different from the usual process of constructing a house? What are the machines

could they have used? • How many workers would have been employed? • What preparations would have been made before the construction?

Let students share their views. Then you can read out the remaining part of the news.

Over 200 skilled workers, technicians, engineers and equipment were engaged in the building construction. The material being used was manufactured in the past two months in a nearby factory.

"No bricks and sand have been used. The outer wall is a double-skinned PUF panel. The cost is almost the same as that of conventional construction material. It saves a lot of time that goes into construction otherwise," said officials at the site.

Jayanta Patel said that the idea to construct such a building came to him when he was constructing his own house, which took two years to complete - thanks to truant workers.

As a follow up task ask students to discuss other surprising things made possible by technology. You many need to give them a few days to collect this information. Let students work in groups of four or five.

• They can select any area they find interesting • Ask them to plan out how they would gather the information - would they look up newspapers or

magazines. Where would they get these, etc. • Ask the students to prepare a note. • They must then read it out within the group and improve upon it. • Finally they present the news in class.


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If students are interested in the information shared by other groups, you may give them some time to make notes after each presentation.

Did it work?


Activity – 4: The Internet (Individual writing) A. Ask the following questions and develop a discussion about the internet.

• Have you used the internet for any purpose? What have you used it for? • How does the internet work? • How has the internet made life easier for us? • What are the negative aspects of the internet? • “You can bring the world into your room.” How true is this statement?

(If students are not able to come up with answers like 'Paying bills, booking tickets, online shopping…etc' you can tell them about the uses of the internet.) B. Google glass Search the internet for 'Google glass'. You can print out the following picture. Show it to the students. If it is not available describe the device in simple sentences. The following notes may help you. Google glass is like a pair of glasses that you can wear. It has been invented by the company called Google. The Google glass has several innovative features. It is like a small cell phone, etc. After a brief description you can read out the features given below.




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Just say the word and Google Glass will take a picture or record a video – you will never have to touch the hardware. The photos and videos will be stored on the 4GB flash memory of the device, and can also be shared on social networking websites or emailed.

Google Glass will show you text messages as well as emails you receive and allow you to reply to them via voice commands.

If you are in the habit of Googling things a lot, you will find that your task has been made easier by the new Glass. You simply need to ask a question and the device will pull the answer from the internet. For example, you can ask when the Taj Mahal was built or to give you a few photographs of the monument and the device will provide appropriate replies on the small screen in front of your eye.

The widely used Google Maps are integrated into Glass, so that users will be able to chart the course of their journey or look up locations or establishments via voice commands.

Google Glass can show the world what you are seeing – live! If you are attending a family function, your child’s school play or a concert, you can share the feed with your friends and family in real-time and make them a part of the experience.

Google Now, the digital voice assistant from the search giant, has been integrated in this device. It will keep track of your daily habits, such as when you leave for office or the route you take. It will give you alternate routes if there is traffic on the way or give you weather updates periodically, among various other functions.

This is a neat feature that may come in handy when you travel abroad. You simply need to ask Google Glass to translate a phrase or sentence from one language to another and it will speak that out.

After reading this, ask: What other future gadgets can you think of? What would they look like? What facilities would be available in it? etc.

Ask students to imagine a future gadget and describe it.

Give them enough time to do this task. Then, allow them to present their innovations. You can ask them to illustrate their gadgets.

Before they do their presentations, give them suggestions to improve their descriptions. Ask them to rewrite their descriptions incorporating your suggestions. Collect the students' work and publish as a class magazine or booklet.

Did it work?





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Activity – 5: Technological Innovations through Human History There have been many interesting innovations in throughout history that have caused major changes in our lives. Here are some points that can help you develop a discussion on this topic.

• What was the first most useful technological innovation that changed the course of human life? • How did the wheel change the course of our lives? • What other innovations do you consider the most significant? • How did the invention of electricity help us? • What would have been the reaction of people when they saw the first electric bulb? •

Add some more questions. Ask students to find and read interesting books about inventors and their work. You too could read out interesting passages to the students. Would they find it interesting? Biographies of inventors like Thomas Alva Edison, Einstein, Alexander Fleming, etc. can be read out. If Odia books are available, ask students to read them and give a brief talk about the book or some interesting events described in the book.

Did it work?


Activity – 6: Technology that Saves Lives Technology not only makes life better, but also helps to save precious lives. There are several innovations that have taken place in the medical field. This activity can help your students think and talk about these technological breakthroughs.

• Have you been to a hospital and seen some of the machines that are used? • Can you name some of medical equipment? What are they used for? • Have you seen a X-ray film and report? What does an X-ray machine tell a doctor? • Have you heard of organ transplants? • What do you think is the most important innovation in the medical field? • • Add more questions and have a discussion in class. Later ask students to do the following activities. • Describe the experience of a first encounter with a doctor • Collect news reports about medical innovations • Discuss and write about the facilities a good hospital should have




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Did it work?


Activity – 7 Technology videos

It would be interesting to watch videos related the growth of technology. If your school has an internet facility search for some interesting videos. If you come across some good ones, download and save them. Would you be able to show your students some of the videos? You can use some of these techniques to maximise learning from videos.

• Give a brief account of the video they are going to watch. • Stop the video at an interesting point and ask students what would happen next. • After students have watched the video, ask them to explain what they had watched.

Here is an example you can watch. It is about transplanting a thirty-foot tree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkaU2a-091E

Did it work?


At the end...

With this, we come to the end of the TSUs. We hope you have been able to use the activities in class. Do write your comments about whether you found the TSUs helpful and how your students have benefited from the activities. You could also make a note of the variations you have created or how you have adapted the activities to suit your classroom situation. You could also write down some of the difficulties and problems you faced while implementing the activities.





TSU English 15 SBP

Education

Transcript of TSU English 15 SBP