LESSON OVERVIEW

In this lesson about technology, students watch an animated video about a fully automated world and learn some vocabulary to talk about technological progress.

VOCABULARY & DISCUSSION

The lesson starts with a warm-up in which students discuss whether they agree with a quote about machines. Then, students read eight facts about technological progress, including the number of mental health apps, the number of people addicted to social media, and the number of Americans who think that self-driving cars will never be reliable enough. Students need to choose the correct meaning of some highlighted words (e.g. automated, digital, reliable, addicted). They also have to say which of the eight facts they find the most surprising or shocking. Students will need the words to talk about the animated video in the second part of the lesson. Finally, students use the words from the previous exercise to complete gaps in a list of eight advantages and disadvantages of technology. They include technology at work and in private life. Students also need to say which advantages or disadvantages they disagree with and why. 

ANIMATED VIDEO & SPEAKING

Before watching the video, students look at the title and discuss what the story might be about. After the first viewing, they retell the story using four sentence beginnings (e.g. The world in the video…, Because of the technology in the video, people…). During the second viewing of the animated video, students answer two questions. After the video, students need to say what they think about the ideas presented there. They also discuss the future of automation and how they feel about it. Finally, they have some speaking practice. Their task is to look at a list of technologies from the video (e.g. smart mirror, driverless cars, medical robot) and talk about one of them. There are some questions to which students can use as a guide to speaking.