7/28/2019 Big Google

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Big Google is watching you

Teacher's notes

Level

B1/B2 (Intermediate to Upper-intermediate)

Warmer

(1015 minutes)

Write ``privacy'', ``data protection'' and ``Google'' on

the board. Elicit from students what they mean in

general, and to them personally. Then ask the

students to discuss the following:

. How privacy and data protection relate to Google.They may raise the issue of Google gaining more

personal data about people through their various

products such as Gmail, Google Groups and

Google Calendar.. What they know about data protection laws in

their country.. Whether they feel they are losing their privacy in

today's digital age (for example their online

behaviour if they take part in online discussions).

1 Vocabulary activity

(5 minutes)

Answers:

1 c 2 g 3 d 4 e 5 h 6 a 7 b 8 f

2 Pre-reading activity

(10 minutes)

Ask students to look at the questions and then read

the article to check their answers.

Answers:

a. True: `The move will fuel rumours that Google

plans to build on its dominance of the internet by

expanding into the mobile phone space'.b. Probably false: ` . . . either by launching its own

phone or developing a proprietary operating

system.' but this may just be a rumour.

c. True: ` . . . soon, it will know where you are

whenever your mobile phone is switched on.'

3 Reading activity

(15 minutes)

Ask the students to read the article again and

answer the comprehension questions.

Answers:

a. Jaiku

b. Nokia

c. Locate and communicate with people in your

address book, and send information to the Jaiku

website.

d. It wants to expand from offering mostly online

products to offering mobile-phone based products

and services. It may also be interested in the

person behind Jaiku, Jyri Engestrom.

e. Google will be able to see where you are at

anytime as soon as you turn on your mobile

phone.

4 Discussion activity

(20 minutes)

Depending on the size of the class either have a

whole-group discussion or divide the class into

groups of 4 or less and ask them to discuss the

points from the Speaking activity.

During the discussion take notes of any mistakes

students make without interrupting. Write the

more common errors on the whiteboard and then,

to conclude the speaking activity, go through them

with the group providing feedback where necessary.

Professional English Online # Cambridge University Press 2008 PHOTOCOPIABLE

READINGProfessional English Onlinewww.cambridge.org/elt/pro

7/28/2019 Big Google

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Big Google is watching you

Aims

. Read and then answer questions on an

article about Google. Understand key vocabulary taken from the

article

Tasks

. Match words taken form the article with

their correct denition. Discuss issues of privacy and data

protection on the Internet

READING

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1. Match the word on the left with the correct meaning on the right.

1. Omnipresence (n.) a. To introduce a new product

2. Acquire (v.) b. Belonging to one person or company

3. Social networking (n.) c. Being everywhere all the time

4. Stream (v.) d. Tools and programmes for groups of people to communicate

5. Fuel (v.) e. Access data from the Internet without downloading

6. Launch (v.) f. To take quickly

7. Proprietary (adj.) g. To buy

8. Snap up (v.) h. To increase or strengthen

2. With a partner decide if the following statements are true or false.

a. At the moment most of Google's products are online, but Google is trying to offer more

services for mobile telephones.

b. Google has no plans for designing their own mobile telephone.

c. In future, Google may always know where you are as soon as you turn on your mobile

telephone.

When you have nished, read the article and see if your answers were correct.

3. Now read the text again and answer the following questions.

a. What is the name of the company that Google has recently bought?

b. Jyri Engestrom started the company. Who did Mr. Engestrom work for before this?

c. What can you do with the new service?

d. Why has Google bought the company?

e. According to the article, what will Google be able to do in the near future?

7/28/2019 Big Google

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Google Goes Mobile

You can run, but you can't hide. Google tookits latest step towards omnipresence on

Wednesday, by acquiring a Finnish rm that

provides social networking via mobile

phones.

Jaiku, a start-up founded by Nokia bofn Jyri

Engestrom last year, allows mobile users to

locate and communicate with the contacts

in their address book, and also stream

information and web feeds to the Jaiku site.

The move will fuel rumours that Google

plans to build on its dominance of theinternet by expanding into the mobile

phone space, either by launching its own

phone or developing a proprietary operating

system.

Jaiku's technology seems to overlap with

some of Google's existing products (Maps,

Reader, Blogger, Calendar and so on). So it

might be that the search giant sees it as anatural complement to its existing portfolio

as it tries to push more and more

application to mobile users.

Equally it could be that it is more interested

in snapping up the talent behind Jaiku

Engestrom, for one, is seen as one of the

main gurus of the social networking

revolution.

Or of course, it could just be part of the

company's continuing plan for total world

domination. At least at the moment you canlargely escape Google by turning off your

computer soon, it will know where you

are whenever your mobile phone is switched

on . . .

Link

http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/

READING

4. In groups, discuss the following points:

. Do you think it is good for large companies like Google to buy smaller ones? What are the

positive and negative points of these acquisitions?. In the UK, a disk containing the personal and nancial details of 25 million people was

recently lost by the government. What might happen if a company like Google (which has a

lot of personal details of millions of people) is hacked, or loses its data?

. Do you like the idea that Google will be able to nd you when you turn on your mobile

phone?

Professional English Online # Cambridge University Press 2008 PHOTOCOPIABLE

Professional English Onlinewww.cambridge.org/elt/pro