Writing An Article - "The Amazon Echo"

You are going to 

• watch an advertisement
• answer some questions
• discuss technology
• write an article / review

Discuss

• What computer technology do you have / use?
• What activities do we use ICT (information and communication technology) for?
• What is your favourite device / app / website / online activity?

Watch
Watch the commercial for the Amazon Echo below
Answer

• What does it do?
• What questions do people ask?
• Would you like one?

Answers
How many of the questions can you answer?
Highlight below
What is it?
Is it for me?
How's it going?
Is it on?
Can it hear me right now?
What does it do?
What time is it?
Is that where we are going to put it?
How tall is Mount Everest?
How can it know so much?
How many teaspoons are in a table spoon?
What day is it?
What does a dog say after a long day at work?
How do you spell "cantaloupe"?




Discuss

1. What is it? How would you describe it one word?
2. What does it do? Give a summary of what it does in one sentence.
3. Is it important? Will it be popular? Why?
4. Is it useful? What are the advantages of having this product? Give 5 examples of the most important / useful things it does.
5. Does it have any drawbacks / disadvantages / negative aspects? Can you think of any problems it might have?
6. What do you think of it? Would you buy one? Do you think the Amazon Echo will be useful / popular? Could you use it to learn English?

Answers
Highlight below

1. A device called the Amazon Echo
2. It answers questions and performs a number of tasks
3. Student opinions
4. Student ideas - eg It answers questions, tells jokes, plays music, is an alarm clock and takes shopping orders ...
5. Arguments between family members? Privacy concerns? Is it listening to you? What does it know about you? Can it be hacked into?
6. Student opinions

Write
Write an article about the Amazon Echo (150 - 180 words)
Plan your writing

1. How many paragraphs will you use?
2. You can use your answers to the questions above to help you. How would you organize your answers into paragraphs?

Highlight below for answers
4 Paragraphs
Paragraph 1 = questions 1,2,and 3
Paragraph 2 = question 4
Paragraph 3 = question 5
Paragraph 4 = question 6




Read
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/with-amazons-echo-you-are-never-alone/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmoorhead/2014/11/11/amazon-echo-what-you-need-to-consider-before-buying/



 
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