Wednesday January 26, 2005
Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

In a press release earlier today the Internet search engine giant Google announced its entry into the arena of video searches. Just like anyone searches the Web for textual or pictorial information, we will soon be able to search for anything that has been on television. Google is greatly expanding its (and our) horizons to include access to content from millions of hours of archived television from American media companies, such as PBS, the NBA, Fox News, and C-SPAN. Larry Page, co-founder of Google, says, “What Google did for the web, Google Video aims to do for television.” In other words, we are seeing the beginning of another information technology revolution. The Google Video press release stated, “Entering a query such as iPod will return a list of relevant television programs with still images and text excerpts from the exact point in the program where the search phrase was spoken.” It works by searching for keywords from the captions at the bottom of the screen for the hard of hearing, and could do likewise with the subtitles in movies The service is currently at an early stage, but is set to become as natural a part of our connected lives as requesting a search is today. Page says, “We are working with content owners to improve this service.” For more information and to use this innovative new service, visit http://www.google.com/video.

Lesson & plan in Word.doc     Example Class Handout in .pdf

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about Google / Yahoo search / msn search / Google video / archived TV information / IT revolution / the Internet …
To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. GOOGLE BRAINSTORM: Ask students to tell you any words they associate with Google. Put these words on the board and leave as a springboard for student conversation / chat.

3. MY INTERNET HISTORY: Talk about the Internet with your partner / group. Tell the history of your using it, from the very first searches, to the most exciting or useful searches, right up to the last searches.

4. GOOGLE USEFULNESS: Discuss how useful Google (and/or the Internet) is in your life. Which of the following would you apply to Google:
‘I can’t live without it’, ‘It’s a major part of most days’, ‘I’d be lost without it’, ‘It’s extremely important to me’, ‘I agree it’s useful, but not an essential part of life’, ‘It has its uses’, ‘It’s not something I really need’, ‘It’s not at all useful to me’.
Repeat the above for how important GoogleVideo will become, and other techno daily necessities like mp3, video games, mobile phone, digital camera, electronic dictionary, satellite TV etc etc etc.

5. GOOGLE CLASSROOM: Become a search engine for ten minutes. Write down on a piece of paper one ‘search’ you would like to do. Swap papers with your partner. Talk to as many other students as you can requesting information (or their knowledge) on your partner’s search. Report back to your partner on the information you have received for their search.

NOTE: This activity can be used as a warm-up for any theme-based class. E.g.‘Today we will start with a wedding / grammar / Valentines search activity’.

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘video’, and ‘search’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:
(a)  Google has announced it will start its own television network.  T / F
(b)  We will soon be able to search for anything that has been on television.  T / F
(c)  Google is expanding to include access to content from television stations around the world.  T / F
(d)  We are seeing the beginning of another information technology revolution.  T / F
(e)  It works by searching for keywords from online TV program guides. T / F
(f)  The service is currently at an early stage.  T / F
(g)  It is set to become as natural part of our connected lives as requesting a search is today.  T / F
(h)  We cannot use this innovative new service for another year or so. T / F

3. SYNONYM MATCH: Students match the following synonyms from the article:

(a)	press	broadening
(b)	release	identical
(c)	giant	similarly
(d)	pictorial	passage
(e)	expanding	issue
(f)	revolution	media
(g)	excerpt	cutting edge
(h)	exact	graphical
(i)	likewise	metamorphosis
(j)	innovative	colossus

 

4. PHRASE MATCH: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	press	technology revolution
(b)	search	its (and our) horizons
(c)	we will soon	this service
(d)	greatly expanding	engine
(e)	In other	release
(f)	information	hearing
(g)	at the bottom	of the screen
(h)	hard of	of our connected lives as …
(i)	become as natural a part	words
(j)	improve	be able to search for anything

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

GoogleVideo.com tunes into TV

In a press release __________ today the Internet search engine giant Google announced its entry into the arena of video searches. Just like anyone searches the Web for textual or pictorial information, we will __________ be able to search for anything that has been on television. Google is greatly expanding its (and our) horizons to include __________ to content from millions of hours of archived television from American media companies, such as PBS, the NBA, Fox News, and C-SPAN. Larry Page, co-founder of Google, says, “What Google did for the web, Google Video __________ to do for television.” In other words, we are seeing the beginning of another information technology revolution. The Google Video press release stated, “Entering a __________ such as iPod will return a list of relevant television programs with still images and text excerpts from the __________ point in the program where the search phrase was spoken.” It works by searching for keywords from the captions at the bottom of the screen for the hard of __________, and could do likewise with the subtitles in movies The service is currently at an early stage, but is set to become as natural a part of our connected lives as requesting a search is today. Page says, “We are working with content owners to improve this service.” For more information and to use this __________ new service, visit http://www.google.com/video.

aims         soon         query         innovative         hearing         earlier         exact         access

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH:  Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5. ‘VIDEO’/ ‘SEARCH’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:
(a)  Do you use the Internet often?
(b)  Are you an Internet freak or just a regular user?
(c)  What do you usually search for?
(d)  Do you have a favourite search engine?
(e)  What page shows when you connect to the Internet? Why that page?
(f)  How would your life be different without the Internet
(g)  Has the Internet changed the quality of your life?
(h)  What do you think of Google’s video search?
(i)  What will you be using GoogleVideo.com for?
(j)  How useful would a Google watch be (it can perform searches wherever you are, on the spot)?
(k)  What are your favourite Internet sites?
(l)  What do you really really really hate about the Internet?
(m)  And what do you really really really love about the Internet?
(n)  What will be the future of the Internet?
(o)  Teacher / Student additional questions

7. GOOGLE WATCH:  Students create in pairs an advertising campaign for the new Google watch (or any other Google-something) and present to the class. Vote for the best presentation and discuss the merits of all the presentations.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or the Google search field to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find more information on Google Video. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. GOOGLE POSTER: Create a poster about Google and life.

4. LETTER TO TIM: Write a letter to Tim Berners-Lee, the man who ‘invented’ the Inter net, telling him about your thoughts on his creation.

TRUE / FALSE

TRUE / FALSE:

(a)  Google has announced it will start its own television network.  F
(b)  We will soon be able to search for anything that has been on television.  T
(c)  Google is expanding to include access to content from television stations around the world.  F
(d)  We are seeing the beginning of another information technology revolution.  T
(e)  It works by searching for keywords from online TV program guides. F
(f)  The service is currently at an early stage.  T
(g)  It is set to become as natural part of our connected lives as requesting a search is today.  T
(h)  We cannot use this innovative new service for another year or so. F

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	press	media
(b)	release	issue
(c)	giant	colossus
(d)	pictorial	graphical
(e)	expanding	broadening
(f)	revolution	metamorphosis
(g)	excerpt	passage
(h)	exact	identical
(i)	likewise	similarly
(j)	innovative	cutting edge

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	press	release
(b)	search	engine
(c)	we will soon	be able to search for anything
(d)	greatly expanding	its (and our) horizons
(e)	In other	words
(f)	information	technology revolution
(g)	at the bottom	of the screen
(h)	hard of	hearing
(i)	become as natural a part	of our connected lives as …
(j)	improve	this service

 

GAP FILL:

GoogleVideo.com tunes into TV