Download English for Skills 1

English for Skills Course Outline 18 Weeks
SW 2012
KEY WORD BINGO
Watch and listen to this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pECR2gGL9sg
Identify these key words. The speaker has an accent and speaks very quickly – you will need to
listen to it more than once
instant messaging
voicemails
Email
video conferencing
paging
conventional telecommunications
text
image guidance manoeuvring
face book
twitter
surveillance and monitoring
international space station
3G phone
remote controlled
vocal aperture
telemedicine
COMMON PREFIXES IN INTERNET USE
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet-related_prefixes
E-, cyber- and virtual are often used in names coined for “electronic” or computer-related
counterparts of a pre-existing product or service.
E-, standing for the word electronic, is used in the terms e-mail (electronic mail), e-commerce
(electronic commerce), e-business (“electronic” business), e-banking (electronic banking) and
e-book (electronic book). Cyber- is a prefix derived from “cybernetic,” which comes from the
Greek adjective κυβερνητικός meaning skilled in steering or governing (Liddell and Scott, GreekEnglish Lexicon).
It is used in the terms cyberspace, and cyberpunk, but has been largely surpassed by e.
Virtual is correctly used in virtual reality, in that virtual reality simulates reality and in many ways
approaches reality. The word virtual means “nearly,” “almost” or “simulated.” Thus the key to
accurate use of virtual as an adjective is that the thing represented by the word virtual modifies
must not be the actual or real version of itself.
Virtual describes that which approaches or simulates. Virtual reality is not actual reality;
hence the label is appropriate. But such erroneous uses as “virtual communication” (for
electronic communication) are entirely inaccurate because electronic communication is
actual communication; therefore, it is not virtual. It is e-communication. It can even be cybercommunication where typed information is converted to an audio format for the recipient,
although arguably that would be e-communication with cyber-speech.
Students: Write a short essay describing how you communicate using some or all of the above
methods. Conclude you essay with your thoughts about the future of virtual communication. How
will we communicate in 100 years’ time?
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