Professional English Online

www.cambridge.org/elt/pro

READING

Big Google is watching you

Teacher's notes
Level

3 Reading activity

B1/B2 (Intermediate to Upper-intermediate)

(15 minutes)
Ask the students to read the article again and
answer the comprehension questions.

Warmer
(1015 minutes)
Write ``privacy'', ``data protection'' and ``Google'' on
the board. Elicit from students what they mean in
general, and to them personally. Then ask the
students to discuss the following:
. How privacy and data protection relate to Google.
They may raise the issue of Google gaining more
personal data about people through their various
products such as Gmail, Google Groups and
Google Calendar.
. What they know about data protection laws in
their country.
. Whether they feel they are losing their privacy in
today's digital age (for example their online
behaviour if they take part in online discussions).

1 Vocabulary activity
(5 minutes)
Answers:
1c 2g 3d 4e 5h 6a 7b 8f

2 Pre-reading activity
(10 minutes)
Ask students to look at the questions and then read
the article to check their answers.

Answers:
a. Jaiku
b. Nokia
c. Locate and communicate with people in your
address book, and send information to the Jaiku
website.
d. It wants to expand from offering mostly online
products to offering mobile-phone based products
and services. It may also be interested in the
person behind Jaiku, Jyri Engestro
m.
e. Google will be able to see where you are at
anytime as soon as you turn on your mobile
phone.

4 Discussion activity
(20 minutes)
Depending on the size of the class either have a
whole-group discussion or divide the class into
groups of 4 or less and ask them to discuss the
points from the Speaking activity.
During the discussion take notes of any mistakes
students make without interrupting. Write the
more common errors on the whiteboard and then,
to conclude the speaking activity, go through them
with the group providing feedback where necessary.

Answers:
a. True: `The move will fuel rumours that Google
plans to build on its dominance of the internet by
expanding into the mobile phone space'.
b. Probably false: ` . . . either by launching its own
phone or developing a proprietary operating
system.' but this may just be a rumour.
c. True: ` . . . soon, it will know where you are
whenever your mobile phone is switched on.'

Professional English Online # Cambridge University Press 2008

PHOTOCOPIABLE

Professional English Online

www.cambridge.org/elt/pro

READING

Big Google is watching you

Aims
.

Tasks

Read and then answer questions on an

article about Google
Understand key vocabulary taken from the
article

Match words taken form the article with

their correct denition
Discuss issues of privacy and data
protection on the Internet

1. Match the word on the left with the correct meaning on the right.
1. Omnipresence (n.)

a. To introduce a new product

2. Acquire (v.)

b. Belonging to one person or company

3. Social networking (n.)

c. Being everywhere all the time

4. Stream (v.)

d. Tools and programmes for groups of people to communicate

5. Fuel (v.)

e. Access data from the Internet without downloading

6. Launch (v.)

f. To take quickly

7. Proprietary (adj.)

g. To buy

8. Snap up (v.)

h. To increase or strengthen

2. With a partner decide if the following statements are true or false.

a. At the moment most of Google's products are online, but Google is trying to offer more
services for mobile telephones.
b. Google has no plans for designing their own mobile telephone.
c. In future, Google may always know where you are as soon as you turn on your mobile
telephone.
When you have nished, read the article and see if your answers were correct.
3. Now read the text again and answer the following questions.
a. What is the name of the company that Google has recently bought?
b. Jyri Engestro
m started the company. Who did Mr. Engestro
m work for before this?
c. What can you do with the new service?
d. Why has Google bought the company?
e. According to the article, what will Google be able to do in the near future?

Professional English Online # Cambridge University Press 2008

PHOTOCOPIABLE

Professional English Online

www.cambridge.org/elt/pro

READING

Google Goes Mobile

You can run, but you can't hide. Google took
its latest step towards omnipresence on
Wednesday, by acquiring a Finnish rm that
provides social networking via mobile
phones.
Jaiku, a start-up founded by Nokia bofn Jyri
Engestro
m last year, allows mobile users to
locate and communicate with the contacts
in their address book, and also stream
information and web feeds to the Jaiku site.
The move will fuel rumours that Google
plans to build on its dominance of the
internet by expanding into the mobile
phone space, either by launching its own
phone or developing a proprietary operating
system.
Jaiku's technology seems to overlap with
some of Google's existing products (Maps,
Reader, Blogger, Calendar and so on). So it

might be that the search giant sees it as a

natural complement to its existing portfolio
as it tries to push more and more
application to mobile users.
Equally it could be that it is more interested
in snapping up the talent behind Jaiku
Engestro
m, for one, is seen as one of the
main gurus of the social networking
revolution.
Or of course, it could just be part of the
company's continuing plan for total world
domination. At least at the moment you can
largely escape Google by turning off your
computer soon, it will know where you
are whenever your mobile phone is switched
on . . .
Link
http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/

4. In groups, discuss the following points:

.

Do you think it is good for large companies like Google to buy smaller ones? What are the
positive and negative points of these acquisitions?
In the UK, a disk containing the personal and nancial details of 25 million people was
recently lost by the government. What might happen if a company like Google (which has a
lot of personal details of millions of people) is hacked, or loses its data?
Do you like the idea that Google will be able to nd you when you turn on your mobile
phone?

Professional English Online # Cambridge University Press 2008

PHOTOCOPIABLE