The Wi-Fi Is Down. Can Your Students Say So?
A student can use a phone all day and still not know how to ask for a charger in English. The word outlet has never come up in class. Neither has on mute, even though they hear it every week.
The new Technology & Devices category fills those gaps with three sets of ten words. Set 1, Everyday Devices and Power, is free to use with no account required. Set 2, Using Tech Online, and Set 3, Problems and Fixes, are available to subscribers.
Three sets, one idea
Set 1 covers the objects on the desk and what keeps them running. Set 2 moves online, to apps, passwords, and downloads. Set 3 handles the moments when something freezes, crashes, or will not connect. The sets are pitched at beginner to intermediate students, though more advanced learners often find familiar things they have never learned to name in English. Being comfortable with technology is not the same as being able to explain a problem with it.
Every set runs its ten words through eight sections. They fall into three groups.
Learn the words
The first three sections are deliberate study: meaning, form, and the difference between a word that fits and one that almost fits.
Learn It — a large photograph, the pronunciation, and a meaning that appears on tap.
Name It — an image, a short situation, and four choices. A movie is coming from the internet onto your phone: upload or download?
Use It Right — a sentence with one highlighted word. Right or wrong? If wrong, which word belongs there?
Meet them in real language
The next three put the words inside conversations and recordings, where students have to follow the message to find the word.
Chat Gap — a text conversation between two friends with the target words missing. Students say the word, then tap to check.
Video Challenge — short clips from real movies and TV shows. Students catch the word in a real voice at real speed.
Listen & Answer — a caller on a help line describes a problem. The class proposes a fix before revealing the solution, with an optional transcript for checking anything they missed.
Use them, then check
The last two ask students to produce the words and show what stayed.
Describe It — a Taboo-style speaking game with a forbidden word and an optional timer. Can they describe website without saying page?
Final Test — twelve questions across matching, multiple choice, gap fill, and listening.
A printable PDF worksheet comes with each set, with a matching section, an answer bank, and an answer key, for homework or a warm-up the following lesson.
Spread it across the week
The eight sections do not need to happen in one sitting. Introduce the words on Monday, come back through Chat Gap and Listen & Answer midweek, and finish with Describe It and the test. Each return asks the class to do something different with the same ten words, giving students more chances to remember and use them.
The Video Challenge uses clips from real FNF movies and TV shows, while Listen & Answer has students deal with a tech problem before seeing the solution. How are the clips and help-line situations chosen to match the vocabulary level of each set?