Speaking Course

Mobile Phones

Vocabulary • advance technology• portable electronic device: mobile phones, netbook,

USB flash drive• improve people’s lives /live a convenient life• personal/private information being leaked/stolen• hack into sb’s account• unwanted phone calls• install protective software• serious consequences

Functions of mobile phones• make phone calls• send text messages• remind sb of things to do• check email• browse the Internet• play games• take photos• listen to songs• watch videos

Risks

• lose personal information e.g. phone numbers, SMS, emails, photos, songs, games, videos being harassed / hurt one’s reputation/feelings

• sexy photos being publicised• lose money (the phone is worth $XXXX )• being blackmailed/disrupt sb’s lives

Dos and don’ts• delete or transfer information onto one’s

computer• safe to store games and songs on one’s

mobiles• install protective software• use encryption programme• take good care of our belongings

• X post personal pictures and videos on blogs, Facebook and Twitter

• X loosely place one’s phones

Group discussionYour group wants to respond to Patrick Yeung’s entry. Discusswith your group what to include in your response. You may

wantto talk about:

• What kind of personal information people usually store on mobile phones

• What kind of information people should and should not store on mobile phones

• What will happen if other people have access to the information

Individual response questionWhich kind of mobile phone would you buy for your father? One with many functions or one with only basic functions?

I would buy a mobile with many functions for my father. He might not be very interested in all of the functions, but I do think some of the functions would be quite useful for him. For instance, with the photo-taking function, he could take photos with Mum or his friends. I do that quite a lot. Although the quality of the photos might not be very good, it would still be fun to record some precious moments of life in the form of a photo. He could then transfer the photos to our computer and delete the photos from the phone. The Internet browsing function would also be helpful when he wants to check the news or the weather. He could still keep track of what’s happening around the world. In addition, he could listen to his favourite music on the phone when he’s travelling a long distance. To conclude, a mobile phone with many functions would definitely be more useful to my father and therefore, I’d prefer that to the very basic kind of mobile phone. Thank you.