Saturday January 29, 2005
Pre-Intermediate +

THE ARTICLE

Hollywood and the movie industry yesterday took its latest step in trying to battle movie piracy and illegal file sharing – enlisting the help of Mums and Dads. Yes, parents are being encouraged to get involved in the fight against copyright infringement and the illegal downloading of movies via peer-to-peer (P2P) software. The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has released software called Parent File Scan to allow parents to search the computers of their kids and then delete any illegal programs or files and thus avoid the risk of prosecution against copyright infringement. MPAA boss, Dan Glickman said, We cannot allow people to steal our motion pictures and other products online, and we will use all the options we have available to encourage people to obey the law," According to the MPAA web site, “Parent File Scan software helps consumers check whether their computers have peer-to-peer software and potentially infringing copies of motion pictures and other copyrighted material. Removing such material can help consumers avoid problems frequently caused by peer-to-peer software.” The MPAA assures parents no information would be passed on to it, “The information generated by the software is made available only to the program’s user, and is not shared with or reported to the MPAA or any other body.” Glickman said, “Many parents are concerned about what their children have downloaded and where they've downloaded it from.” Maybe many children have similar concerns about their parents.

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

POSSIBLE WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about movies / P2P / file sharing / piracy / parental responsibility / parental spying / Big Brother / George Orwell…
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. TECH JARGON: Explain the following technical terms. Do you have / use any of them? Are they good?

ADSL     /     ISDN     /     AOL     /     blog     /     SD ROM     /     CD-RW     /     CPU     /     DVD     /     Ghz     /    HTML     /     http     /     ISP     /     LAN     /   MP3     /     MPEG     /     PC     /     PDA     /     pdf     /     PS2     /     PSP     /     URL     /     WAP     /     WWW     /     WYSIWYG

3. RU A PIRATE?: Talk about illegal downloading and copyright infringement. Who has photocopied a non-copiable book / taped music from the radio or friends’ CDs / videotaped movies from the TV / downloaded music or movies on the Internet / bought fake goods …? Find the biggest infringer.

4. OPINIONS: Discuss the following opinions with your partner / group. Find out which are the most commonly held opinions:
(a)  Parents should not be asked to spy on their kids like this.
(b)  The MPAA and the music industry is fighting a losing battle – kids (and adults) will always find software to download stuff.
(c)  The movie industry must protect itself – if everyone downloads everything free. Movie studios make no money and cannot make movies. We all lose eventually.
(d)  Movies are too expensive. Lower the cost of cinemas and DVDs and piracy will be reduced.
(e)  File sharing is the same as stealing from a store. People should go to prison for illegal downloading.
(f)  Movie stars and Rock stars make too much money. They are not really hurt by piracy.
(g)  What’s on a child’s computer is their own private matter. Parents have no right to search for and delete files.
(h)  Parents should check what their children are watching just to make sure the content is OK.
(i)  Breaking copyright laws is not new – everyone photocopies from copyrighted books, tapes music and videotapes movies. File sharing is just the next step.

PRE-READING IDEAS

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

2. TRUE / FALSE: Students look at the headline and predict whether they believe the following statements are true or false:
(a)  The movie industry is trying to fight piracy.  T / F
(b)  The movie industry is enlisting the help of Mums and Dads.  T / F
(c)  Parents will arrest their children for file sharing.  T / F
(d)  Computer software called Parent File Scan allows parents to search the computers of their kids.  T / F
(e)  Parents must report to the police any illegal programs or files found.  T / F
(f)  All information found using Parent File Scan is automatically mailed to the police.  T / F
(g)  Many parents are concerned about what their children have downloaded. T / F
(h)  Many children are concerned about what their parents have downloaded. T / F

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

(a)	industry	theft
(b)	battle	guarantees
(c)	piracy	people
(d)	infringement	choices
(e)	illegal	fight
(f)	prosecution	business
(g)	options	under violation
(h)	obey	being sued
(i)	consumers	follow
(j)	assures	unlawful

 

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

(a)	movie	passed on
(b)	file	prosecution
(c)	get	sharing
(d)	copyright	about what their children have downloaded
(e)	avoid	software
(f)	the risk of	law
(g)	obey the	industry
(h)	peer-to-peer	infringement
(i)	no information would be	the risk
(j)	Many parents are concerned	involved

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

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

Parents to help fight file sharing

Hollywood and the movie industry yesterday __________ its latest step in trying to battle movie piracy and illegal file sharing – enlisting the help of Mums and Dads. Yes, parents are being __________ to get involved in the fight against copyright infringement and the illegal downloading of movies via peer-to-peer (P2P) software. The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has __________ software called Parent File Scan to allow parents to search the computers of their kids and then delete any illegal programs or files and thus avoid the __________ of prosecution against copyright infringement. MPAA boss, Dan Glickman said, We cannot allow people to steal our motion pictures and other products online, and we will use all the __________ we have available to encourage people to obey the law," According to the MPAA web site, “Parent File Scan software helps consumers check whether their computers have peer-to-peer software and potentially infringing copies of motion pictures and other copyrighted __________. Removing such material can help consumers avoid problems frequently caused by peer-to-peer software.” The MPAA assures parents no information would be passed on to it, “The information __________ by the software is made available only to the program’s user, and is not shared with or __________ to the MPAA or any other body.” Glickman said, “Many parents are concerned about what their children have downloaded and where they've downloaded it from.” Maybe many children have similar concerns about their parents.

encouraged      risk         took         reported         released         material        generated        options

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. ‘PARENT’/ ‘PIRATE’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:

(a)  Do you illegally download movies or music from the Internet?
(b)  Do you think it’s wrong to download movies or music from the Internet?
(c)  Do you think about the loss of income suffered by the actors and others in the movie industry?
(d)  Do you infringe other copyright laws, such as photocopy books or magazines, tape music from the radio, burn CDs, videotape movies etc?
(e)  Should parents have the right to access their children’s computers?
(f)  Are movie theatres and DVDs too expensive?
(g)  Would you use Parent File Scan?
(h)  What other things would you worry about when (your) kids use a computer?
(i)  What do you think of the argument that people will always go to the movies, so P2P isn’t a problem?
(j)  What punishment should people receive for infringing copyright?
(k)  Should book publishers follow the movie industry and encourage parents to tear up any illegal photocopies their children have?
(l)  Do you think this new Parent File Scan software will be effective in reducing piracy?
(m)  Teacher / Student additional questions

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 filesharing. Share your findings (and files ?) with your class next lesson.

3. DOWNLOAD GUIDELINES: Create a list of guidelines outlining what can and cannot be downloaded.

4. LETTER TO DAN: Write a letter to MPAA boss Dan Glickman telling him what you think of his new Parent File Scan software.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE

(a)  The movie industry is trying to fight piracy.  T
(b)  The movie industry is enlisting the help of Mums and Dads.  T
(c)  Parents will arrest their children for file sharing.  F
(d)  Computer software called Parent File Scan allows parents to search the computers of their kids.  T
(e)  Parents must report to the police any illegal programs or files found.  F
(f)  All information found using Parent File Scan is automatically mailed to the police.  F
(g)  Many parents are concerned about what their children have downloaded. T
(h)  Many children are concerned about what their parents have downloaded. ?

DEFINITIONS:

(a) step (n)
(ii) one stage of many actions or processes that are taken to achieve or reach a goal

(b) piracy (n)
(ii) the illegal use or copying of copyrighted or patented material such as music, books, movies, computer software etc

(c) file sharing (n)
(ii) the process of sharing data (music or video files) on the Internet

(d) copyright (n)
(i) the legal right an author, composer, musician, writer has to their material

(e) infringement (n)
(i) something that breaks the law

(f) obey (v)
(ii) to do what someone tells you to do

(g) peer-to-peer (adj)
(i) a form of Internet communication that allows people sharing the same system to communicate with each other or share information and data

(h) assures (v)
(i) to make someone believe you, to remove any doubts someone has

(i) body (n)
(ii) a group of people formed into an organization such as a company

(j) concerns (n)
(i) the things that people are worried about

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	industry	business
(b)	battle	fight
(c)	piracy	theft
(d)	infringement	violation
(e)	illegal	unlawful
(f)	prosecution	being sued
(g)	options	choices
(h)	obey	follow
(i)	consumers	people
(j)	assures	guarantees

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	movie	industry
(b)	file	sharing
(c)	get	involved
(d)	copyright	infringement
(e)	avoid	the risk
(f)	the risk of	prosecution
(g)	obey the	law
(h)	peer-to-peer	software
(i)	no information would be	passed on
(j)	Many parents are concerned	about what their children have downloaded

GAP FILL:

Parents to help fight file sharing