American English File 1 Student eBook

1. VOCABULARY: phones and the internet 

a. Look at the phone screen below. How many of the apps and functions do you have on your phone? 

b. Match icons in a to activities 1-13. Which can you use when you aren't online? 

1.share a photo (on a social media website)
2. download an app
3. Skype a friend
4. send a text message
5. upload a video
6. message a friend
7. post a tweet
8. send an email
9. take a photo
10. get directions
11. read a book
12. get in shape
13. listen to a song

c. 11.9 Listen and repeat activities 1-13. 

d. 11.10 Match the words and pictures. Listen and check.

(__) attachment    (__) log in    (__) wi-fi        (__) Bluetooth    (__) search 

2. LISTENING & SPEAKING 

a. 11.11 Listen to three people (A--C) talking about their phones. What's the first thing they say they use their phones for? 

b. Listen again. Which speaker (A--C)...? 

1. (__) doesn't want the newest phone 
2. (__) often checks train times on his/ her phone 
3. (__) doesn't have an iPhone 
4. (__) prefers normal books to e-books 
5. (__) likes playing games on his/ her phone 
6. (__) gets a new phone when the contract lets him/ her 
7. (__) uses an app to track his/ her money 
8. (__) has an app that he/ she only uses at night 
9. (__) uses an app to help with his/ her diet 

c. Answer the questions with a partner.

1. What phone do you have? How often do you change phones? 
2. What three things do you do the most on it? 
3. Is there anything on the list in 1 b that you never do on your phone? Why not? 
4. Do you have any apps apart from the ones in 1a that you use a lot? What are they? 
5. Do you have any unusual apps on your phone? What are they? 

3. READING

a. Look at photos 1--6. What can you see? 

          

b. Read the article and check. What did people use each thing for? 

Life before the internet
This morning in the office somebody mentioned "carbon paper." "What's that?" our intern Francesca asked. She genuinely had no idea. For all of you who are too young to remember, we used carbon paper to make one or two copies of a document as it was typed. That's where the term "cc" or "carbon copy" came from. After that conversation, we started to remember life before the internet. Can you remember any of these?

FAX MACHINES 
Sending an email is so easy these days, but some years ago, when you needed to send something to somebody urgently and the mail was too slow, you sent a fax. When they were introduced in the 1970s, people thought they were a technological miracle. "You can print something and send it over the phone in seconds! Magic!" 

THE YELLOW PAGES
If you needed to make an appointment with your hair stylist or call for Chinese take-out, what did you do? You looked up the phone number or address in a big fat yellow book - the Yellow Pages. Amazingly, it still exists online. 

ENCYCLOPEDIAS 
When you needed information for your homework, or to win an argument, you looked it up in an enormous encyclopedia - sometimes ten or twelve books of information in alphabetical order. Some people had them at home, or they went to a library. 

WALKMANS 
This is how we listened to music. A Walkman was a lot heavier than an MP3 player! And if you didn't have the cassette or CD ofa song, you couldn't listen to it.

A THOMAS GUIDE
If you had a meeting or job interview, or you wanted to go to a new restaurant in a part of town you didn't know, what did you always take with you? Your Thomas Guide maps. And your reading glasses to read the street names, because they were so small! 

c. Talk to a partner. Do you do any of these things? How often? Why (not)? 

4. GRAMMAR: definite article

a. Look at the three sentences. Do you agree? Say why (not). 

► Men use the internet more than women. 
► The best place for children to learn how to use new technology is at school. 
► It's bad manners to use your phone when you're having lunch or dinner. 

b. Look at the sentences in a again. Complete the rules with "Use the" or "Don't use the."

1. _______________ before superlatives. 
2. _______________ when you talk about people or things in general.
3. _______________ before meals and some general place,e.g.lunch,work,college.
4. _______________ when there is only one of something (sun, world, etc.). 

c. Grammar Bank: definite article

11.12

1. the 
Can you close the window, please? 
Can you check their address on the internet? 
It's the best restaurant I know. 
2. no article 
Men are usually more interested in sports than women. 
She's my mother's cousin. That's Tom's chair! 
What time did you have breakfast? 
Jim goes to school by bus. 
Karen's studying physics in college. 

 

1. We use the: 
► when it is clear what we are talking about, e.g., Close the window.= the window that is open. 
► when there is only one of something, e.g., the internet, the sun, etc. 
► before superlative adjectives, e.g., the biggest, the best, etc. 

2. We don't usually use the: 
► when we talk about people or things in general. 
Men are more interested in sports than women. (general) 
BUTThe women in this class work harder than the men. (specific) 
► before possessive 's. 
She's my mother's cousin. NOTShe's the my mother's cousin
► with: 
meals: have breakfast, lunch, dinner, etc. 
by + transportation: go by car, travel by train, etc. 
general places: work, school, college, bed, home.

Exercise a: Underline the correct word or phrase. 

How much time do you spend on internet / the internet? 
1. My brother is in college / in the college studying math. 
2. I love traveling by train / by the train. 
3. We're going to visit my aunt on weekend / on the weekend. 
4. Let's stay at home / at the home tonight. I don't want to go out. 
5. I love reading novels / the novels. 
6. Yolanda is best / the best student in our class. 
7. I love clear nights when you can see moon / the moon. 
8. That's the man / a man I told you about yesterday. 
9. Can you open a door / the door for me, please? 
10. He had breakfast / the breakfast late this morning. 

Exercise b: Complete with the or  -- . 

It's the longest river in the world. 
1. What time do you finish ___________ work? 
2. I don't like ___________ people who talk loudly at the movies. 
3. ___________ children behaved very badly yesterday. 
4. Lorena doesn't like ___________ dogs. 
5. Where do you usually have ___________ lunch during the week? 
6. ___________ sun came out, so we went for a walk. 
7. Can you pass ___________ salt, please? 
8. My brother chose ___________ most expensive ice cream. 
9. Last year, we went on vacation by ___________ car. 
10. ls James in ___________ office today? He wasn't in yesterday. 

5. PRONUNCIATION & SPEAKING: the 

a. 11.13 Listen to the phrases below. How is the pronounced in the two groups? Why?

1. the alphabet      2. the president 
the end                      the sun 
the internet               the world 

b. Practice saying the phrases. 

c. Work in pairs. A choose a circle, think of three things, places, etc. and tell B. B respond and ask for more information. Then change roles. Be careful to only use the when it's necessary!