Tech giants woo 15-year-old whizzkid

The Reading / Listening - Level 4

Facebook and Google are competing for the talents of 15-year-old app developer Ben Pasternak. He developed an app for a game called Impossible Rush. It has been downloaded more than 500,000 times since October. The addictive game was higher than Twitter in the App Store. Pasternak was invited by Facebook’s internship department for a tour of its headquarters. Google also asked him to visit its campus. Ben could be one of their developers one day.

Pasternak is one of 450 young entrepreneurs at an event called Hack Generation Y. The high-schoolers, from ten different countries, will work on a 36-hour project to make a sellable product. They will listen to famous speakers from the tech world. The event organiser said Pasternak was "clearly ambitious" and showed the world, "that age is just a number". He added that Pasternak's iPhone app was "extremely impressive" for a 15-year-old.

Try the same news story at these levels:

Level 5 or Level 6

Sources

http://news.sky.com/story/1413485/tech-giants-woo-15-year-old-app-whizzkid
http://tribune.com.pk/story/826918/15-year-old-whizzkid-attracts-google-and-facebook-with-new-app/
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/tech-giants-facebook-google-battle-it-out-teen-tech-whizz-kid-ben-pasternak-1484927
http://techaeris.com/2015/01/24/google-facebook-battle-15-year-old/

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

The Activities

MATCHING

PARAGRAPH ONE:

1.	Facebook and Google are	a.	headquarters
2.	He developed an app	b.	competing
3.	downloaded	c.	developers one day
4.	The addictive	d.	for a game
5.	invited by Facebook's internship	e.	more than 500,000 times
6.	a tour of its	f.	its campus
7.	Google also asked him to visit	g.	game
8.	Ben could be one of their	h.	department

MY e-BOOK

ESL resource book with copiable worksheets and handouts - 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers / English teachers

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PARAGRAPH TWO:

1.	Pasternak is one of 450	a.	different countries
2.	an event	b.	from the tech world
3.	from ten	c.	impressive for a 15-year-old
4.	work on a 36-	d.	organiser
5.	make a sellable	e.	young entrepreneurs
6.	listen to famous speakers	f.	product
7.	The event	g.	called Hack Generation Y
8.	extremely	h.	hour project

LISTEN AND FILL IN THE GAPS

Facebook and Google (1) ___________________ the talents of 15-year-old app developer Ben Pasternak. He (2) ___________________ for a game called Impossible Rush. It has been (3) ___________________ 500,000 times since October. The addictive (4) ___________________ than Twitter in the App Store. Pasternak was invited by Facebook's internship department (5) ___________________ headquarters. Google also asked him to visit its campus. Ben could be one (6) ___________________ one day.

Pasternak is one of 450 (7) ___________________ at an event called Hack Generation Y. The high-schoolers, (8) ___________________ countries, will work on (9) ___________________ to make a sellable product. They will listen to (10) ___________________ the tech world. The event organiser said Pasternak (11) ___________________ and showed the world, "that age is just a number". He added that Pasternak's iPhone app (12) ___________________ for a 15-year-old.

APPS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about apps in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.

Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

WRITE QUESTIONS & ASK YOUR PARTNER(S)

Student A: Do not show these to your speaking partner(s).

a)	________________________________________________________
b)	________________________________________________________
c)	________________________________________________________
d)	________________________________________________________
e)	________________________________________________________
f)	________________________________________________________
g)	________________________________________________________
h)	________________________________________________________

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Student B: Do not show these to your speaking partner(s).

a)	________________________________________________________
b)	________________________________________________________
c)	________________________________________________________
d)	________________________________________________________
e)	________________________________________________________
f)	________________________________________________________
g)	________________________________________________________
h)	________________________________________________________

FREE WRITING

Write about apps for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner's paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

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