Author: Justin Donlon

Conversation Classes

Sight – A Short Film and Conversation Lesson about…

September 16, 2015September 16, 2015
by Justin Donlon

Sight is a short film about augmented reality so in honour of such a great topic Multimedia English created a conversation lesson about modern technology.

Discuss these general questions with your teacher

Sight Intro Questions:

What’s your favourite gadget?

How many apps do you have on your phone?

What’s your favourite one?

Are apps really useful?

Do smart phones really make our lives easier?
If you could invent a gadget what would it be?
Gaming – do you have an Xbox or Playstation? Do you like it?

Vocabulary in the film

If you were to visit NY where would you go sightseeing?

What’s your favourite beverage?

How often does your computer or a program crash?

If someone says “you really get me” what does it mean?

In regards to drinking alcohol, what is a nightcap?

When was the last time you made “a toast“?

What is a junkie? What is a creep?

Please watch the film and try to listen for the new vocabulary.

Comprehension Questions:

What’s the name of the dating program he uses?
Can you tell me one of the girl’s interests? (activity/hobby/passtime) How does he select from the menu and pay?
How did she discover his secret?
Do you think she is real?

General : Please try to use the new vocabulary in your answers

What is Sight?
What is augmented reality?
Would you like to have Sight?
What would you use Sight for?
Do you think it could help you pick which cloths to wear?

General Discussion:

Would you like to do another conversation lesson about modern technology?

Are we integrating with computers more and more every year?
How far do you think we should integrate?
Can you think of any practical ways which you could use augmented reality? How might a technology like this be misused?
Is it a clever substitute for TV?

Exercise: Create sentences / example / new context for the following words and phrases:

sightseeing beverage crash

get me

a nightcap

a toast

a junkie

a creep

Phrasal Verb exercise using the verb “get”

We already used the phrasal verb “get me”. Now change the preposition and try to use them in new contents.

For example: “Try to put “get it” into a sentence. Do you get it?

Get can be used with many prepositions, up, down, in, out, off, on, into,

Conversation Classes

How honest are you?

September 14, 2015
by Justin Donlon

How honest are you?

$13, 238.86 left in an NYC Taxi. by Casey Neistat

Intro Questions:

Have you ever lost anything in a taxi?

Did you every lost something and got it back?

What do you do if you find something in a taxi?

Can you trust taxi drivers?

What would you do if you found €5000 in an envelope in a taxi?

What would you do if you found €5000 in an envelope on the street?

Comprehension Questions:

What’s the first line on the web page that really matters?

What happened to Casey?

How long had it been before he realised he had forgotten his bags?

What was the first thing he did?

What happened the next day?

Why was it a big deal to lose his bags?

What was the first time he could see the taxi driver’s face?

How much did he reward the taxi driver?

Complete the sentence “It was a lot more than I could afford but a lot less than he …………….”

Discussion:

Have you every found something and given it back?

Did it make you feel good?

Have you every found something that was impossible to return?

Do you agree with Casey in the end when he says “it’s people like him that makes this city honest?”

Do you think some nationalities are more honest than others? Which?

QUIZ: Honestly? How are honest are you?

1. A cashier mistakes your €5 for a €10 and gives you an extra €5 back. Do you speak up?

– Nope, it’s not your mistake!
– Yes, you give her the $5 back

2. Your sister /friend asks you if she looks fat in that outfit. Yup, she does. Do you fess up?
– No, you tell her that she looks fine. You don’t want to upset her.
– You tell her straight up that it’s not very flattering.

3. You dent a car in a parking lot in the middle of the night. What do you do?
– You take off quickly.
– You leave a note with all your info.

4. Your friend is cheating on his girlfriend, who also happens to be a friend of yours. When she mentions that your best friend’s been acting strange lately, you:
– Tell her about the cheating
– Keep out of it

5. You’re late to a job interview for a position you’re really hoping to get. You:
– Claim that you got caught behind a horrible accident
– Apologise for being late, but give no excuses

6. Downloading movies and music illegally is:
– Something you’d never do
– A great way to get free stuff

Multi Media Classes

TED Talk – David Pogue: 10 top time-saving tech…

September 11, 2015August 14, 2019
by Justin Donlon

Tech columnist David Pogue shares 10 simple, clever tips for computer, web, smartphone and camera users. And yes, you may know a few of these already — but there’s probably at least one you don’t.

Questions:

What are the three different meanings for the word “tip”?

Do you have any good tips that help you with productivity?

Do you prefer PC or Mac?

Vocab & Phrases (discuss the meaning of each word with your teacher)

risky

kick you out (of the nest)

You’re supposed to learn this stuff how?

Just by osmosis

to scroll down

the scroll bar

a waste of time

filling in

Here’s something that drives me crazy

frickin’ instructions,

I’m not bitter

it turns out

a keyboard shortcut

a unit and currency conversion

dragging

a newbie

Shutter lag is the time between your pressing the shutter button and the moment the camera actually snaps.

the focus and the exposure,

but if you pre-focus with a half-press, leave your finger down, no shutter lag!

hit the letter B key, B for blackout, to black out the slide

W key for whiteout, and you white out the slide, and then you can hit W again to unblank

You are going to watch a full presentation.

This listening is for general comprehension. Please try to take notes.

10 top time-saving tech tips

Questions 2.

What’s your favourite tips?
Which ones did you NOT know?
Will you be using some these new tips?
Do you have an answering machine / voice message?
What is a keystroke?
He calls them Google stunts, what does he mean?
Do you suffer from shutter lag?
Do you like the B for blackout tip? Could it be useful?

You are going to listen to the presentation again but this time with the transcript from the presentation.

I’ve noticed something interesting about society and culture. Everything risky requires a license, so learning to drive, owning a gun, getting married.

That’s true in everything risky except technology. For some reason, there’s no standard syllabus, there’s no basic course. They just sort of give you your computer and then kick you out of the nest. You’re supposed to learn this stuff how? Just by osmosis. Nobody ever sits down and tells you, “This is how it works.” So today I’m going to tell you 10 things that you thought everybody knew, but it turns out they don’t.