Task 1. Listen to five different people talking about communication in the digital world.
Match the ideas to the speakers. There are TWO EXTRA ideas that you do not need to
use.
Speaker 1
a. Has recently learned about some of the negative effects of excessive
online communication.
Speaker 2
b. Is suffering from the fear of missing out.
Speaker 3
c. Has witnessed great changes in the way we communicate over recent
years.
Speaker 4
d. Thinks that the amount of time teens spend online is alarming.
Speaker 5
e. Is quite happy for any photos of themselves to be posted online.
f. Thinks limiting teenagers’ access to technology is unfair.
g. Wishes people would talk more in person.
Task 2. Read the text and answer to the questions.
A CLASSROOM OF THE MIND
You're sitting at your desk. A teacher is writing on the chalkboard. A bus rumbles past the
window. Kids are yelling in the playground outside. A paper airplane whizzes overhead.
The school principal steps into the room, looks around, and walks out. A book falls off the
desk next to you. Suddenly, the teacher hands you a pop quiz. Unlike the classroom, the
technology is real. It's an innovative application of virtual reality, a type of technology that
uses computer programs to simulate real-world (or even fantasy) situations. Wearing
virtual-reality gear, you can find yourself sitting in a classroom, touring a famous museum,
wandering across a weird landscape, zooming into space, or playing with a cartoon
character. You don't have to leave your room.
Movie directors and video game producers have been using computers for years to create
ever more realistic special effects. Some companies are now building three-dimensional
fantasy worlds in which players, linked by computer networks, appear to meet and go on
quests together. Virtual-reality gear that delivers images and sounds directly to your eyes
and ears makes these fake worlds seem lifelike. Some psychologists are also getting into
the act. They see virtual reality technology as a useful tool for learning more about why
people act as they do. It could help psychologists better identify and come up with
solutions for behavior problems, for example.
"We've spent the last 100 years looking for certain laws in how people interact with the
real world," says clinical psychologist Albert "Skip" Rizzo. "Now, we've got a powerful
tool that lets us create worlds, control things, and see how people perform. This is a
psychologist's dream." Rizzo works in the school of engineering at the University of
Southern California in Los Angeles, where he developed the Virtual Classroom and a
related program called the Virtual Office.
1. What is virtual reality? Who typically uses it?
2. Why have psychologists started to see virtual reality as a useful tool?
3. What is ADHD? What are some of its symptoms?
4. To test kids for ADHD, how might the virtual classroom be better than classic A-X
tests?
5. How might the virtual classroom be used to treat kids with ADHD?
6. What adults might benefit medically from virtual reality technology?
7. How can virtual reality help kids undergoing painful medical procedures?
Task 3. Discuss the following questions in group. While providing responses use active
and passive simple present and past forms and past perfect simple forms where relevant.
1. Do you think the virtual classroom would be more efficient than other tests to evaluate
students' problems?
2. Do you think that the virtual classroom would increase or reduce the number of kids
who take medication for ADHD? Why?