The Reading / Listening - Google Meet - Level 3

Google has improved its video conferencing platform Meet to be able to compete with other platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. A new feature of Meet is that users can now see the faces of 16 people on their screen. Previously, users could only see four people on their screen at one time, but with Meet's new tiled layout, people can now see 16 participants at once. Meet's new gallery view comes at a time when more and more people are using video conferencing services across the world. Many people are contacting family and friends during lockdown; companies are holding online meetings; and schools and universities have changed their operations to be able to teach online.

Google said the improved Meet platform would help millions around the world in times of lockdown. It wrote: "Remote work has become increasingly necessary for public safety and wellbeing - which makes staying connected, even while we're apart, more important than ever." It added: "Each day, a rapidly growing number of people connect on Google Meet, and we want to make sure they have the features they need to share and be productive." Google said it would introduce more new features such as the ability to block out background noise. This will end the noise of keystrokes as other people type while online. Users will also be able to improve video quality if the lighting in their room is not sufficient.

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

    Google Meet - Level 0 Google Meet - Level 1   or  Google Meet - Level 2

Sources
  • https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/google-meet-update-takes-the-fight-to-zoom
  • https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/22/21231294/google-meet-gallery-tiled-view-roll-out-globally-zoom
  • https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/productivity-collaboration/introducing-tiled-view-and-other-top-requested-features-in-google-meet


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 :-)

Warm-ups

1. VIDEO CONFERENCING: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about video conferencing. Change partners often and share your findings.
2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, talk about these topics or words from the article. What will the article say about them? What can you say about these words and your life?
       Google / video conferencing / platforms / faces / screen / participants / connecting /
       lockdown / remote / necessary / features / productive / background noise / quality
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.
3. REMOTE WORKING: Students A strongly believe remote working should happen more in the future; Students B strongly believe the opposite.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.
4. ONLINE COMPANIES: What do you think of these companies? What are the best things about them? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

 

What You Think

The Best Things

Google

 

 

Facebook

 

 

Apple

 

 

Amazon

 

 

Wikipedia

 

 

YouTube

 

 

MY e-BOOK
ESL resource book with copiable worksheets and handouts - 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers / English teachers
See a sample

5. SCREEN: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word "screen". Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.
6. KEEPING IN TOUCH: Rank these with your partner. Put the best ways of keeping in touch at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

  • Video conferencing
  • E-mail
  • Letter
  • Phone call
  • Text
  • Social media
  • Face-to-face
  • Other ______

 

Vocabulary

    Paragraph 1

      1. improved a. A person who joins in with something.
      2. compete b. At an earlier time; before.
      3. previously c. Try to win something or be better than others by beating those who are trying to do the same thing.
      4. layout d. Organized activity by many people (usually in a company, school, army, etc.).
      5. participant e. Made or became better.
      6. contacting f. The way in which text or pictures are put on a page or computer screen.
      7. operations g. Communicating with or meeting people.

    Paragraph 2

      8. remote h. Someone's health, happiness, stress levels, etc.
      9. wellbeing i. Making a lot of things or getting a lot of results.
      10. connected j. Enough.
      11. feature k. Linked or joined.
      12. productive l. Stop something or someone from getting in something.
      13. block out m. A special part of something.
      14. sufficient n. Being far away.

 

Before reading / listening

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if 1-8 below are true (T) or false (F).

  1. You can see up to 16 faces on a Google Meet screen.     T / F
  2. The old version of Google Meet only allowed four faces on a screen.     T / F
  3. The article said more and more people are video conferencing.     T / F
  4. Universities are yet to change to online teaching.     T / F
  5. Google said its Meet platform would help millions of people.     T / F
  6. Google said Google Meet is finished and will not change.     T / F
  7. There will be no way to block out the sound of typing computer keys.     T / F
  8. The article said users will soon be able to chat in total darkness.     T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

  1. improved
  2. feature
  3. layout
  4. contacting
  5. operations
  6. increasingly
  7. connected
  8. productive
  9. end
  10. sufficient
  1. design
  2. finish
  3. communicating with
  4. more and more
  5. enough
  6. creative
  7. aspect
  8. running
  9. in touch
  10. advanced

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

  1. be able to compete
  2. users can now see the
  3. Previously, people could only
  4. more and
  5. universities have changed their
  6. in times of
  7. necessary for public safety
  8. more important
  9. a rapidly growing
  10. block out background
  1. number of people
  2. more people
  3. operations
  4. and wellbeing
  5. see four people
  6. than ever
  7. with other platforms
  8. noise
  9. lockdown
  10. faces of 16 people

Gap fill

Put these words into the spaces in the paragraph below.
screen
time
feature
operations
platform
during
layout
services

Google has improved its video conferencing (1) ____________ Meet to be able to compete with other platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. A new (2) ____________ of Meet is that users can now see the faces of 16 people on their (3) ____________. Previously, people could only see four people on their screen at one time, but with Meet's new tiled (4) ____________, people can now see 16 participants at once. Meet's new gallery view comes at a (5) ____________ when more and more people are using video conferencing (6) ____________ across the world. Many people are contacting family and friends (7) ____________ lockdown; companies are holding online meetings; and schools and universities have changed their (8) ____________ to be able to teach online.

Put these words into the spaces in the paragraph below.
apart
productive
times
sufficient
connect
type
safety
block

Google said the improved Meet platform would help millions around the world in (9) ____________ of lockdown. It wrote: "Remote work has become increasingly necessary for public (10) ____________ and wellbeing - which makes staying connected, even while we're (11) ____________, more important than ever." It added: "Each day, a rapidly growing number of people (12) ____________ on Google Meet, and we want to make sure they have the features they need to share and be (13) ____________." Google said it would introduce more new features such as the ability to (14) ____________ out background noise. This will end the noise of keystrokes as other people (15) ____________ while online. Users will also be able to improve video quality if the lighting in their room is not (16) ____________.

Listening — Guess the answers. Listen to check.

1)  Google has improved its video conferencing ______
     a.  platforms Meet
     b.  preform Meet
     c.  platform Meet
     d.  plait frame Meet
2)  A new feature of Meet is that users can now see the ______ people
     a.  faces of 16
     b.  face is of 16
     c.  face seas of 16
     d.  face sis of 16
3)  Previously, people could only see four people on their ______ time
     a.  screen at once
     b.  screen at only
     c.  screen at one
     d.  screen at won
4)  Many people are contacting family and friends ______
     a.  dour ring lockdown
     b.  enduring lockdown
     c.  daunting lockdown
     d.  during lockdown
5)  schools and universities have changed their operations to be ______ online
     a.  able for teach
     b.  able to teach
     c.  able on teach
     d.  able up teach

6)  the improved Meet platform would help millions around the world ______ lockdown
     a.  in times of
     b.  end times of
     c.  on times of
     d.  two times of
7)  Remote work has become increasingly necessary for public ______
     a.  safe tea and wellbeing
     b.  safely and wellbeing
     c.  safe tee and wellbeing
     d.  safety and wellbeing
8)  Each day, a rapidly growing number of people ______ Meet
     a.  connects on Google
     b.  connect ton Google
     c.  connect on Google
     d.  connection Google
9)  it would introduce more new features such as the ability to block ______
     a.  clout background noise
     b.  out background noise
     c.  at background noise
     d.  outs background noise
10)  improve video quality if the lighting in their room ______
     a.  is not sufficiently
     b.  is not sufficient
     c.  is not sufficiency
     d.  is not insufficient

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

Google has improved its video conferencing platform Meet to be able to compete with (1) ___________________ as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. A new feature of Meet is that users can now see (2) ___________________ 16 people on their screen. Previously, people could only see four people on their (3) ___________________ time, but with Meet's new tiled layout, people can now see 16 participants at once. Meet's (4) ___________________ comes at a time when more and more people are using video conferencing services across the world. Many (5) ___________________ family and friends during lockdown; companies are holding online meetings; and schools and universities have changed (6) ___________________ be able to teach online.

Google said the improved Meet platform would help millions around the world in (7) ___________________. It wrote: "Remote work has become increasingly necessary for public (8) ___________________ - which makes staying connected, even while we're apart, more important than ever." It added: "Each day, (9) ___________________ number of people connect on Google Meet, and we want to make sure they have the features they need to share (10) ___________________." Google said it would introduce more new features such as the ability to block (11) ___________________. This will end the noise of keystrokes as other people type while online. Users will also be able to improve video quality if the lighting in their room (12) ___________________.

Comprehension questions

  1. Which two platforms will Meet compete with?
  2. How many participants can fit on one screen with Google Meet?
  3. How many faces could be seen on the older version of Meet?
  4. What services did the article say people were using more of worldwide?
  5. Who did the article say was holding online meetings?
  6. What did Google say was increasingly necessary?
  7. What did Google say it wants to make sure people have?
  8. What did Google say it would introduce more of?
  9. What kind of background noise will be blocked out in the future?
  10. What will users see improvements in despite insufficient lighting?

Multiple choice quiz

1) Which two platforms will Meet compete with?
a) Houseparty and Skype
b) Zoom and Houseparty
c) Zoom and Microsoft Teams
d) Skype and Zoom
2) How many participants can fit on one screen with Google Meet?
a) 16
b) 14
c) 12
d) 10
3) How many faces could be seen on the older version of Meet?
a) 4
b) 6
c) 8
d) 12
4) What services did the article say people were using more of worldwide?
a) health services
b) video conferencing services
c) moving services
d) cooking services

5) Who did the article say was holding online meetings?
a) ordinary people
b) tech people
c) teachers
d) companies

6) What did Google say was increasingly necessary?
a) bandwidth
b) remote work
c) cheaper Internet
d) masks
7) What did Google say it wants to make sure people have?
a) features they need
b) masks
c) hand sanitiser
d) movies
8) What did Google say it would introduce more of?
a) new websites
b) a new mail service
c) new features
d) a text service
9) What kind of background noise will be blocked out in the future?
a) music
b) computer fans
c) barking dogs
d) keystrokes
10) What will users see improvements in despite insufficient lighting?
a) video quality
b) sound
c) darkness
d) connection speeds

Role play

Role  A – Video Conferencing
You think video conferencing is the best way to keep in touch. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their ways. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): social media, phone call or text.

Role  B – Social Media
You think social media is the best way to keep in touch. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their ways. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): video conferencing, phone call or text.

Role  C – Phone Call
You think phone call is the best way to keep in touch. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their ways. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): social media, video conferencing or text.

Role  D – Text
You think text is the best way to keep in touch. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their ways. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): social media, phone call or video conferencing.

After reading / listening

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words...

'video'

  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • and 'conference'.

  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • ________________
  • • Share your findings with your partners.

    • Make questions using the words you found.

    • Ask your partner / group your questions.

    2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

    •Share your questions with other classmates / groups. •Ask your partner / group your questions.

    3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

    4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

    5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

    • compete
    • previously
    • layout
    • gallery
    • across
    • teach
    • help
    • necessary
    • important
    • share
    • noise
    • lighting

    Student survey

    Write five GOOD questions about this topic 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.

    (Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

    Discussion - Google Meet

    STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

    1. What did you think when you read the headline?
    2. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'video'?
    3. What are your experiences of video conferencing?
    4. What is the best video conferencing platform?
    5. What do you think of video conferencing?
    6. Is video conferencing better than using telephones?
    7. How many faces should we be able to see on the screen?
    8. What are the advantages of video conferencing?
    9. What advice do you have for Google Zoom bosses?
    10. Is it better to learn online or in classrooms?

    STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

    1. Did you like reading this article? Why/not?
    2. What do you think of when you hear the word 'conference'?
    3. What do you think about what you read?
    4. How is video conferencing helping people?
    5. What do you think of working remotely?
    6. What features does a video conferencing platform need?
    7. How was your last video chat?
    8. What do you think of background noise?
    9. What are the disadvantages of video conferencing?
    10. What questions would you like to ask Google bosses?

    Discussion — Write your own questions

    STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

    (a) ________________

    (b) ________________

    (c) ________________

    (d) ________________

    (e) ________________

    STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

    (f) ________________

    (g) ________________

    (h) ________________

    (i) ________________

    (j) ________________

    Language — Cloze (Gap-fill)

    Google has (1) ____ its video conferencing platform Meet to be able to compete with other platforms such (2) ____ Zoom and Microsoft Teams. A new feature of Meet is that users can now see the faces of 16 people on their screen. Previously, people could only see four people (3) ____ their screen at one time, but with Meet's new tiled layout, people can now see 16 participants at (4) ____. Meet's new gallery view comes at a time when more and more people are using video conferencing services across the world. Many people are (5) ____ family and friends during lockdown; companies are holding online meetings; and schools and universities have changed their operations to be (6) ____ to teach online.

    Google said the improved Meet platform would help millions around the world in (7) ____ of lockdown. It wrote: "Remote work has become increasingly necessary for public safety and (8) ____ - which makes staying connected, even while we're apart, more important than ever." It added: "Each day, a (9) ____ growing number of people connect on Google Meet, and we want to make sure they have the features they need to share and (10) ____ productive." Google said it would introduce more new features such as the ability to block out background noise. This will end the noise of keystrokes as other people type (11) ____ online. Users will also be able to improve video quality if the lighting in their room is not (12) ____.

    Which of these words go in the above text?

    1. (a)     proof     (b)     proved     (c)     approved     (d)     improved    
    2. (a)     has     (b)     was     (c)     is     (d)     as    
    3. (a)     at     (b)     on     (c)     of     (d)     to    
    4. (a)     only     (b)     one     (c)     once     (d)     won    
    5. (a)     contacting     (b)     conducting     (c)     contracting     (d)     construing    
    6. (a)     able     (b)     ability     (c)     arable     (d)     abled    
    7. (a)     era     (b)     watches     (c)     clocks     (d)     times    
    8. (a)     wellbeing     (b)     being     (c)     well-off     (d)     well done    
    9. (a)     rapid     (b)     rapidly     (c)     rapids     (d)     rapidity    
    10. (a)     been     (b)     was     (c)     be     (d)     being    
    11. (a)     what     (b)     which     (c)     while     (d)     how    
    12. (a)     actively     (b)     sufficient     (c)     breathing     (d)     dependent

    Spelling

    Paragraph 1

    1. be able to ocmepet with other platforms
    2. the faces of 16 people on their enersc
    3. people can now see 16 ntcpitpsarai
    4. Meet's new eryallg view
    5. people are ottcacnnig family and friends
    6. universities have changed their satnriopoe

    Paragraph 2

    1. eermot work has become increasingly necessary
    2. a idlaryp growing number of people
    3. they need to share and be ivcdetrupo
    4. introduce more new taesfuer
    5. the noise of eyseskkotr as other people type
    6. the lighting in their room is not iifsncuetf

    Put the text back together

    (...)  time, but with Meet's new tiled layout, people can now see 16 participants at
    (...)  of 16 people on their screen. Previously, people could only see four people on their screen at one
    (...)  share and be productive." Google said it would introduce more new features such as the ability
    (...)  meetings; and schools and universities have changed their operations to be able to teach online.
    (...)  once. Meet's new gallery view comes at a time when more and more people are using video conferencing services across
    (...)  to block out background noise. This will end the noise of keystrokes as other people type
    (...)  the world. Many people are contacting family and friends during lockdown; companies are holding online
    (...)  connected, even while we're apart, more important than ever." It added: "Each day, a rapidly growing
    (...)  of lockdown. It wrote: "Remote work has become increasingly necessary for public safety and wellbeing - which makes staying
    1  ) Google has improved its video conferencing platform Meet to be able to compete with other platforms such
    (...)  while online. Users will also be able to improve video quality if the lighting in their room is not sufficient.
    (...)  number of people connect on Google Meet, and we want to make sure they have the features they need to
    (...)  as Zoom and Microsoft Teams. A new feature of Meet is that users can now see the faces
    (...)  Google said the improved Meet platform would help millions around the world in times

    Put the words in the right order

    1. platform   .   has   improved   video   conferencing   its   Google
    2. can   the   16   people   .   of   see   faces   Users
    3. conferencing   video   More   using   services   .   are   people
    4. family   people   contacting   and   friends   .   Many   are
    5. be   to   operations   able   to   teach   .   Changed   their
    6. help   would   The   world   .   platform   millions   around   the
    7. for   become   safety   .   Remote   necessary   has   work   public
    8. people   rapidly   of   A   connect   .   number   growing
    9. need   .   have   features   they   Make   they   the   sure
    10. able   quality   .   be   will   Users   video   improve   to

    Circle the correct word (20 pairs)

    Google has improved / improvement its video conferencing platform Meet to be able to complete / compete with other platforms such as / was Zoom and Microsoft Teams. A new feature of Meet is that users can now see the faces of 16 people on its / their screen. Previously, people could only see four people on their screen at once / one time, but with Meet's new tiled layout, people can now see 16 participants at once. Meet's new gallery view / viewpoint comes at a time when more and more people are using / used video conferencing services across the world. Many people are contracting / contacting family and friends during lockdown; companies are holding online meetings / meeting; and schools and universities have changed their operations to be able to reach / teach online.

    Google said the improved Meet platform would help millions around the world in times of / off lockdown. It wrote: "Remote work has become increasingly needy / necessary for public safety and wellbeing - which makes staying connected / connection, even while we're apart / partying, more important than ever." It added: "Each day, a rapidly growing number of people correct / connect on Google Meet, and we want to make sure they have the features they need to share and have / be productive." Google said it would introduce more new features such as the ability to / for block out background noise. This will end the noise off / of keystrokes as other people type while online. Users will also be able to improve / prove video quality if the lighting in their room is not sufficiently / sufficient.

    Talk about the connection between each pair of words in italics, and why the correct word is correct.

    Insert the vowels (a, e, i, o, u)

    G__ g l_ h_s _m p r_v_d _t s v_d__ c_n f_r_n c_n g p l_t f_r m M__ t t_ b_ _b l_ t_ c_m p_t_ w_t h _t h_r p l_t f_r m s s_c h _s Z__ m _n d M_c r_s_f t T__ m s . A n_w f__ t_r_ _f M__ t _s t h_t _ s _ r s c_n n_w s__ t h_ f_c_s _f 1 6 p__ p l_ _n t h__ r s c r__ n . P r_v___s l y , p__ p l_ c__ l d _n l y s__ f__ r p__ p l_ _n t h__ r s c r__ n _t _n_ t_m_, b_t w_t h M__ t ' s n_w t_l_d l_y__ t , p__ p l_ c_n n_w s__ 1 6 p_r t_c_p_n t s _t _n c_. M__ t ' s n_w g_l l_r y v__ w c_m_s _t _ t_m_ w h_n m_r_ _n d m_r_ p__ p l_ _r_ _s_n g v_d__ c_n f_r_n c_n g s_r v_c_s _c r_s s t h_ w_r l d . M_n y p__ p l_ _r_ c_n t_c t_n g f_m_l y _n d f r__ n d s d_r_n g l_c k d_w n ; c_m p_n__ s _r_ h_l d_n g _n l_n_ m__ t_n g s ; _n d s c h__ l s _n d _n_v_r s_t__ s h_v_ c h_n g_d t h__ r _p_r_t__ n s t_ b_ _b l_ t_ t__ c h _n l_n_.

    G__ g l_ s__ d t h_ _m p r_v_d M__ t p l_t f_r m w__ l d h_l p m_l l__ n s _r__ n d t h_ w_r l d _n t_m_s _f l_c k d_w n . I t w r_t_: " R_m_t_ w_r k h_s b_c_m_ _n c r__ s_n g l y n_c_s s_r y f_r p_b l_c s_f_t y _n d w_l l b__ n g - w h_c h m_k_s s t_y_n g c_n n_c t_d , _v_n w h_l_ w_' r_ _p_r t , m_r_ _m p_r t_n t t h_n _v_r . " I t _d d_d : " E_c h d_y , _ r_p_d l y g r_w_n g n_m b_r _f p__ p l_ c_n n_c t _n G__ g l_ M__ t , _n d w_ w_n t t_ m_k_ s_r_ t h_y h_v_ t h_ f__ t_r_s t h_y n__ d t_ s h_r_ _n d b_ p r_d_c t_v_. " G__ g l_ s__ d _t w__ l d _n t r_d_c_ m_r_ n_w f__ t_r_s s_c h _s t h_ _b_l_t y t_ b l_c k __ t b_c k g r__ n d n__ s_. T h_s w_l l _n d t h_ n__ s_ _f k_y s t r_k_s _s _t h_r p__ p l_ t y p_ w h_l_ _n l_n_. U s_r s w_l l _l s_ b_ _b l_ t_ _m p r_v_ v_d__ q__ l_t y _f t h_ l_g h t_n g _n t h__ r r__ m _s n_t s_f f_c__ n t .

    Punctuate the text and add capitals

    google has improved its video conferencing platform meet to be able to compete with other platforms such as zoom and microsoft teams a new feature of meet is that users can now see the faces of 16 people on their screen previously people could only see four people on their screen at one time but with meets new tiled layout people can now see 16 participants at once meets new gallery view comes at a time when more and more people are using video conferencing services across the world many people are contacting family and friends during lockdown companies are holding online meetings and schools and universities have changed their operations to be able to teach online

    google said the improved meet platform would help millions around the world in times of lockdown it wrote remote work has become increasingly necessary for public safety and wellbeing  which makes staying connected even while were apart more important than ever it added each day a rapidly growing number of people connect on google meet and we want to make sure they have the features they need to share and be productive google said it would introduce more new features such as the ability to block out background noise this will end the noise of keystrokes as other people type while online users will also be able to improve video quality if the lighting in their room is not sufficient

    Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

    GooglehasimproveditsvideoconferencingplatformMeettobeabletoco
    mpetewithotherplatformssuchasZoomandMicrosoftTeams.Anewfea
    tureofMeetisthatuserscannowseethefacesof16peopleontheirscreen
    .Previously,userscouldonlyseefourpeopleontheirscreenatonetime,b
    utwithMeet'snewtiledlayout,peoplecannowsee16participantsatonce
    .Meet'snewgalleryviewcomesatatimewhenmoreandmorepeopleare
    usingvideoconferencingservicesacrosstheworld.Manypeoplearecon
    tactingfamilyandfriendsduringlockdown;companiesareholdingonlin
    emeetings;andschoolsanduniversitieshavechangedtheiroperations
    tobeabletoteachonline.GooglesaidtheimprovedMeetplatformwould
    helpmillionsaroundtheworldintimesoflockdown.Itwrote:"Remotewo
    rkhasbecomeincreasinglynecessaryforpublicsafetyandwellbeing-
    whichmakesstayingconnected,evenwhilewe'reapart,moreimportan
    tthanever."Itadded:"Eachday,arapidlygrowingnumberofpeoplecon
    nectonGoogleMeet,andwewanttomakesuretheyhavethefeaturesthe
    yneedtoshareandbeproductive."Googlesaiditwouldintroducemoren
    ewfeaturessuchastheabilitytoblockoutbackgroundnoise.Thiswillend
    thenoiseofkeystrokesasotherpeopletypewhileonline.Userswillalsob
    eabletoimprovevideoqualityifthelightingintheirroomisnotsufficient.

    Free writing

    Write about Google Meet for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

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    Academic writing

    Video conferencing is better than telephone calls. Discuss.

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    Homework

    1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google's search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.
    2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about this news story. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.
    3. VIDEO CONFERENCING: Make a poster about video conferencing. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?
    4. ONLINE LIFE: Write a magazine article about using video conferencing in more and more areas of our life. Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against this.
    Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).
    5. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.
    6. LETTER: Write a letter to an expert on video conferencing. Ask him/her three questions about it. Give him/her three of your ideas on how video conferencing can make our life better. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

    A Few Additional Activities for Students

    Ask your students what they have read, seen or heard about this news in their own language. Students are likely to / may have have encountered this news in their L1 and therefore bring a background knowledge to the classroom.

    Get students to role play different characters from this news story.

    Ask students to keep track of this news and revisit it to discuss in your next class.

    Ask students to male predictions of how this news might develop in the next few days or weeks, and then revisit and discuss in a future class.

    Ask students to write a follow-up story to this news.

    Students role play a journalist and someone who witnessed or was a part of this news. Perhaps they could make a video of the interview.

    Ask students to keep a news journal in English and add this story to their thoughts.

    Also...

    Buy my 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers eBook. It has hundreds of ideas, activity templates, reproducible activities for:

    • News
    • Warm ups
    • Pre-reading / Post-reading
    • Using headlines
    • Working with words
    • While-reading / While-listening
    • Moving from text to speech
    • Post-reading / Post-listening
    • Discussions
    • Using opinions
    • Plans
    • Language
    • Using lists
    • Using quotes
    • Task-based activities
    • Role plays
    • Using the central characters in the article
    • Using themes from the news
    • Homework

    Buy my book

    $US 9.99

    Answers

    (Please look at page 26 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

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