Are the machines taking over?

You are going to 

• discuss our relationship with technology
• listen to a BBC radio clip about automation and do a comprehension activity
• look at the future continuous

1) Discuss

• How many machines, devices and gadgets do you use every day?
• What is artificial intelligence?
• What is automation?
• How many automated processes or tasks can you think of?
• When can you hear an automated voice?
• Do you prefer to pay at a self-service check-outs or a normal one when you go shopping?
• Do you think automation is a good thing?
• Do you think machines will replace human workers?
• Are machines getting smarter?
• What relationship will humans have with machines and technology in the future?
• Will we be living and working with robots in the future?

2) Listen.
Listen to this clip from BBC Radio 4's "Today" on "The rise of automated machines." 
A) Take notes.What do you learn about the following?

• The number of self-service check-outs in Britain
• The earliest automated machine
• The importance of automation to business
• Intelligent machines

listen to ‘The rise of automated machines’ on Audioboo

B) Listen again and do the quiz.

Printable worksheet here




3) Discuss
How will we be living in the future?
Practise the Future Continuous
Look at the presentation and discuss the pictures.

Future Continuous from David Mainwood

4) Discuss

• How do you see the future? Are you an optimist or a pessimist?
• Do you think the widespread use of technology has risks for humanity?
• Should we be careful about how technology is affecting our lives?
• Do you agree that in the future "The machines replacing humans might end up being better at being human that we are"?
• Do you think machines will replace humanity or radically transform us? 

 5) Write
Choose one

• We live in an age of technological revolution. How is technology affecting our lives today and should we be fearful of the effects it will have on life in the future?

• We are becoming increasingly dependent on computers. They are used in businesses, hospitals, crime detection and even to fly planes. What things will they be used for in future? Is this dependence on computers a good thing or should we be more suspicious of their benefits? Use specific details and examples in your answer (IELTS).

 



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"Going To" for prediction - Look at the photos and say what is going to happen

You are going to

• practise going to for predictions and certainty
• look at some photos and speak

Discuss
Look at the photos in the presentation below
What do you think is going to happen in each one?

Going to from David Mainwood

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Jump and Slide 3 (Quiz Game - Pre-Int)

An pre-intermediate level quiz game to practise making questions in the past, present and future.

Individuals or teams see an answer and must ask the correct question.
A version for beginners is here Jump and Slide (Quiz Game - Beginners / Elem)
An elementary version is here Jump and Slide 2 (Quiz Game - Elementary)

Students should see the questions / answers "board" projected on an interactive whiteboard (if so they can come out and "touch" the numbers to play) or on a screen.
Students could also play it on tablets if available.


Note
1) You can download the "board" below and print it as A3. Teams throw a dice, land on a square and answer the corresponding question. If correct, they move a piece (as in a traditional snakes and ladders style game) until they arrive at the "end".

2) Or you can do it as revision quiz without the board
It can be downloaded as a ppt file below and adapted.

See below for game instructions



Board
This image can be downloaded below for printing.

Play

1. Click anywhere to start
2. Throw a dice. 
3. Move your piece. 
4. When you land on a square (on your printed sheet), click on the number in the game below and ask the right question. 
5. Click again anywhere on the screen to see if your answer is correct.
6. Click the blue triangle (bottom right) to go back to the home "game" page.
7. Continue until you reach the end.

Downloads
Game sheet is jpg here (right click and "save as") or word doc here
A version of the game as a ppt file is here

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section below




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What's on your Bucket List?

You are going to

• listen to Oli Milroy talking about making a "bucket list"
• talk about future plans / dreams / targets / achievements
• practise the future perfect

Teacher's note; the gap-fill exercise can be done before the listening. Students try to fill in the spaces and then listen to check their answers.







1) Discuss

• What are your plans for the future?
• Where do you see yourself in 12 months / five years / ten years?
• Is there anything you really want to do / see / experience in life?
• What's a bucket list?

Use
I have always wanted to...
I really want to try... (-ing)
I'd love to...
It's my dream to...
I wish I could...
Wouldn't it be great to...?


A bucket list is a list of things to do before you die. It comes from the slang expression "To kick the bucket" which means to die.







2) Listen
"Bucket List"
Listen to Oli Milroy.
Oli is an Olympic Torchbearer and Arctic Explorer. He is 19 years old.

• What 3 questions does he ask at the beginning?
• Why did he make his own bucket list?

listen to ‘Pause For Thought with Oli Milroy’ on Audioboo

from BBC Radio Devon



Fill in the gaps below with a word. Listen again to check or if you have problems

Printable worksheet here
Answers to questions above - highlight below
To push himself out of his comfort zone and learn something new about himself
- Do you know yourself?
- Do you know what you want from life?
- How will you judge whether your life has been a success?





3) Discuss

• Do you agree with Oli?
• How should we live life?
• Should we experience as much as possible?

4) Speak
The Future Perfect

• What is te future perfect
• How do we make it?
• What do we use it for?

 Look at he presentation below. Make some sentences using the pictures as prompts.

Future Perfect from David Mainwood

5) Practise
Make your own bucket list.
What will you have achieved / done / seen in 12 months / 5 years etc?
Where will you have been to?

In 12 months I will have...
By the time I'm 30 I will have...






6) Listen and read
Here's a song by Nelly Furtado called "Bucket List". Does it give you any ideas for your bucket list?

There are many talented people who haven't fulfilled their dreams because they over thought it, or they were too cautious, and were unwilling to make the leap of faith. 

- James Cameron

The only thing that will stop you from fulfilling your dreams is you. - Tom Bradley

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. - C.S. Lewis

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New Year's Resolutions with Bob Dylan

You are going to

• discuss new year's resolutions
• listen to some popular new year's resolutions and do a gap-fill
• listen to a radio clip about the history of new year's resolutions and do a comprehension quiz

1) Discuss

• Do you make new year resolutions?
• Do you promise yourself to learn some something new, do something better or stop doing something bad in the next 12 months?
• What do you think are the best kind of resolutions to make?
• What are your resolutions for the new year?
• Will you keep them or will you break them?
• What do you think are the most common resolutions that people make?
• Why do we make new year resolutions?

2) Listen
Listen to Bob Dylan on the Theme Time Radio Hour read the most popular new year's resolutions.

• What are they?

Listen again
Fill in the gaps with the right word

3) Discuss

• What do you think of the resolutions in the list?
• Which ones would be good for you?
• Which ones are the least selfish?

4) Listen
Making New Year's Resolutions dates back to medieval times ( = from the 5th to the 15th centuries AD)

• What sorts of resolutions do you think people were making in medieval times?

Listen to the clip below from BBC Radio 4's Today program and find out.

listen to ‘Resolutions used to 'predict future'’ on Audioboo

Listen again and do the quiz below

Printable worksheets here


5) Discuss

• Do you think making a resolution can predict the future?
• Do you think making a resolution can change the future?
• Do you think making a resolution can change the world?

Who is Bob Dylan?
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, poet and artist. He has been an influential figure in popular music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s. A number of Dylan's early songs, such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'", became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dylan



Here is one of Bob Dylan's most famous songs. It's called "The Times They Are a-Changin'"
Watch the clip and read the lyrics below

The times they are a-changin from Tony Fox on Vimeo.

You can double click on any word to see a definition

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth saving
Then you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changing

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no telling who that it’s naming
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a-changing

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside and it is raging
It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changing

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly aging
Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changing

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fading
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changing

Copyright © 1963, 1964 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1991, 1992 by Special Rider Music http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/times-they-are-changin#ixzz2GfiA5vMU

6) Discuss
He sings "If your time to you is worth saving, then you better start swimming or you’ll sink like a stone"

• What do you think he means? 
• How much do you think changing the world depends on changing ourselves (ie changing our own decisions, actions and resolutions)?
  
• So what are you going to change this year?

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Even More

The Times They are A-Changing gap fill exercise
http://www.lyricstraining.com/play/7790/bob_dylan/the_times_they_are_achangin


New Year's Resolutions
http://messages.365greetings.com/holiday/new-year/new-years-resolutions.html

http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/01/01/four-famous-new-years-resolution-lists-jonathan-swift-susan-sontag-marilyn-monroe-woody-guthrie/


More Bob

Plans for Leap Year Day

You are going to

• listen to radio clip about Leap Year Day and answer some questions
• listen to going to and present continuous used for plans and arrangements

1) Discuss

• What is Leap Year Day?
• Why is it special?
• Do you have any traditions connected with Leap Year Day?
• Do you do anything special on Leap Year day?

2) Listen to this radio clip

What are the people going to do?
Listen and do the matching exercise below



From BBC Radio 4 PM http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qskw





3) Discuss
Do the activities seem special to you?
What is special about the people who are doing them?


4) Now answer these questions

5) Discuss

• Are you going to do anything special for Leap Year Day?
• When is the next Leap Year Day?
• How much time have you got to prepare?

6) More on Leap Year Day

http://www.englishblog.com/2012/02/leap-year-day.html

Printable version here

Looking at the Future - Activities and Achievements (Future Continuous and Perfect)

You are going to

• look at and practise the future continuous for describing future activities
• look at and practise the future perfect for describing future achievements
• watch a video which makes some predictions about the future
• order some sentences while watching the video 
• discuss future activities and achievements

1) Discuss / Practise Future Continuous
Look at the presentation and follow the instructions

Future Continuous from David Mainwood

2) Read, discuss and put in order
Read the list of predictions for the future

1. Discuss. What do you think? How many will come true?
2. Choose 10 and say when you think they will happen (Soon? In 2020? In the distant future?... )
3. The predictions are not in order. Put the 10 predictions you think will come true in order with the year you think they will happen. Two are done as examples

Our Future?

•  2015 - We will be using translating apps to speak foreign languages
•  We will be "cloud computing" (storing all our data and using apps on the internet)
•  People will be using bionic limbs
•  Petrol vehicles will have become obsolete
•  Personal flight will have become normal transport
•  We will be living on the Moon
•  Robot companions will be living with us
•  Robot servants will be working for us
•  Renewables will have overtaken fossil fuels
•  We will be travelling on interstellar spacecraft
•  Cars will be driving themselves
•  Earth population will have peaked at 20 Billion
•  Nuclear fusion will have met our energy needs
•  2050 Men and women will have landed on Mars
•  We will have discovered other Earth-like planets
•  We will be recording every moment of our lives
•  Most people will have moved to other planets
•  We will have worked out how to unify quantum theory
•  We will have become "cosmosapiens" living in the universe
•  We will be experiencing "augmented reality"  
•  All tyranny will have ended
•  We will be growing human spare parts

3) Watch the video to see if you are right.
Answers below

4) Discuss the video

Do you agree with the predictions? Why / Why not?

Can you discuss or comment on them?

For example
I can't believe that cars will be driving themselves in 2040
I hope all tyranny will have ended by 2040
If we use translators we won't need to study foreign languages
If robots do all the work what will we do?
People may / might / could be living on the Moon sooner than 2050

5) Discuss / Practise Future Perfect

Look at the predictions again. What tenses are they?
Which ones are Future Continuous?
Which ones are Future Perfect?

What's the difference between the Future Continuous and the Future Perfect?


Look at the presentation and practise the Future Perfect

Future Perfect from David Mainwood

6) Discuss your targets and predictions

What are your targets and predictions for the future?
Targets

• What will you be doing in the next 12 months?
• What will you have achieved by this time next year?

Predictions for 1 year ahead

• What will be in fashion?
• What will we be talking about and doing?
• What will be in the news?

Don't forget to use the Future Continuous and the Future Perfect where possible.

7) Writing

What are the positive and negative effects of the progress of science and technology on our lives? What influence will they have on our future?

8) Reading

What do you think are the 20 top predictions for the next 100 years?

Find out what BBC readers thought here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16536598
How likely are they to come true?
How many do you agree with?
Take notes and discuss or comment on them (as in ex 4)

9) More grammar practice

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/futurecontinuous.html
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/futureperfect.html

Answers - highlight below

1. 2015 We will be using translating apps to speak foreign languages
2. 2018 We will be "cloud computing" (storing data and using apps on the internet)
3. 2010 We will be experiencing augmented reality
4. 2015 Robot servants will be working for us
5. 2030 Robot companions will be living with us
6. 2030 Tyranny will have ended
7. 2030 Renewables will have overtaken fossil fuels
8. 2030 Petrol vehicles will have become obsolete
9. 2040 Personal flight will have become normal transport
10. 2040 Cars will be driving themselves
11. 2040 We will have worked out how to unify quantum theory
12. 2050 Nuclear fusion will have met our energy  needs
13. 2050 People will be using bionic limbs
14. 2050 Men and women will have landed on Mars
15. 2050 We will be living on the Moon
16. 2055 We will have discovered Earth-like planets
17. 2100 We will be recording every moment of our lives
18. 2100 We will be growing human spare parts
19. 2100 Earth population will have peaked at 20 Billion
20. 2500 Most people will have moved to other planets
21. 3000 We will be travelling on interstellar spacecraft
22. 10000 We will have become cosmosapiens

What will happen if..? (1st Conditional)

You are going to practise the 1st conditional by 

• looking at some some photos and asking / answering questions
• looking at a health and safety picture and predicting some dangers

1) Discuss / Find out

• What is health and safety?
• What is the 1st conditional
• When do we use it?
• How do we make it?

Answers. Highlight here

Health and safety = People try and look at present dangers and predict accidents before they happen

We use the 1st conditional to talk about things which we can see now will be probable in the future.

If + Verb in Present, + Future

What will happen if you practise?
If you practise, you will learn


2) Practise
Watch the presentation. Ask and answer questions about the photos using the 1st Condional. Click the page to go.

What will happen if... (1st Conditional) from David Mainwood

3) Discuss / Write
Look at the picture. What dangers can you see?
How many sentences can you make using the 1st conditional?
eg If someone opens the door, the woman will fall off the chair.

Picture source http://www.cnxnotts.co.uk/pdfs/kangaroo/partners/WRL/OopsOuchAargh.pdf

4) More practice

Conditionals 1 and 2 here http://efllecturer.blogspot.com/2011/04/conditionals-1-and-2.html

http://efllecturer.blogspot.com/2011/12/what-would-happen-if-2nd-conditional.html

More health and safety language http://www.esolcourses.com/topics/health-and-safety.html

Find / take some photos of your class / college / home and make sentences about any dangers you see.
Make a health and safety leaflet. Remember to use some 1st Conditionals If you..., you will...



Some suggested answers for the picture - highlight below

• If someone opens the door, the woman will fall off the chair
  
• If she falls, she will hurt herself
• If the kettle falls off the cupboard, boiling water will burn someone.
• If the woman at the desk touches the electic fire, she will burn her feet
• If the electric fire gets too hot, it will burn the desk or start a fire
• There are boxes and a cup on the floor. If the man trips on them, he will drop the box
• The man is smoking. If the cigarette ash falls in the box, it will start a fire
• There are too many plugs in the socket. If they get too hot, they will start a fire
• If someone opens the door, he will trip on the wires
• There are too many books and files on the high shelf. If it breaks, they will fall and break the computer or hurt someone.