Digital Literacy: Using Technology Part 3

Digital Literacy: Technology Part 3

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack

Rowan: My name’s Rowan

Rich: and I’m Rich and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast.

Jack: In the Premier Skills English podcast, we talk about football and help you with your English. 

Rowan: Don’t forget you can find the transcript for all our podcasts on the Premier Skills English website.

Rich: This week’s podcast is connected to something called digital literacy. Over the course of the season, some of our podcasts are going to focus on different areas of digital literacy. 

Jack: You may have heard the word literacy before. Literacy is basically the ability to read and write. If you can read and write you are literate.

Rowan: But it has another slightly different meaning. Literacy can also be used to describe skills or knowledge in other areas; not just reading and writing.

Rich: Yes, we might talk about financial literacy which is the ability to manage your money or finances. We might also hear the term computer literacy which is connected to your technical ability and knowledge of computers.

Jack: Computer literacy includes things like your ability to use computer programmes like Microsoft Office or Excel, Google Docs or other computer programmes as well as knowledge of computer hardware and software.

Rowan: Digital literacy is much broader - much wider than computer literacy. As well as technical ability, digital literacy includes your ability to find and evaluate online information and also your ability to collaborate online and create your own online information.

Rich: So this is our first podcast that focuses on digital literacy. There is a separate podcast section on the Premier Skills English website where you’ll be able to find all these podcasts and the transcripts and extra activities that go with them. 

Jack: We know that most of you, our listeners, will be very familiar with technology and the online world. The reason for our roleplays is that there is a lot of language which we think is very useful to explore and which may be less familiar to you.

Rowan:  We decided that a good starting point for our series of podcasts on digital literacy is functional skills. When we talk about functional skills within digital literacy we are talking about the actual ability to use different technologies.

Rich: We’ve decided to talk about mobile phones in this week’s podcast and some possible problems some people may have when using them.

Jack: You will hear this week’s podcast in three different parts, we will have a task for you to do after each part which will give you a chance to talk about what we have discussed and the language which we will introduce.

Rowan: If you are listening to us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or any other podcast platform, you should also check out our website.

Rich: On the Premier Skills English website, you’ll find the transcript, examples and activities to help you understand the language, and a task for you to complete with other listeners.

Jack: And don’t forget to listen to the end of the podcast because we have a new football phrase for you to guess!

SOCIAL

Jack: Before we start this week’s roleplay we’d just like to thank everyone for all their comments on the Premier Skills English website. It’s great to know that you’re enjoying the podcasts and all of the free learning materials we have on the site.

Rich: We’d like to give a shout-out to four of our listeners and tell everyone what they’ve been saying.

Rowan: The first person we have to mention is Tiago Delazari from Brazil. Tiago commented on the website for the first time last week. He told us that he had listened to over 400 of our podcasts starting a long, long time ago. He says he’s now going to do all the tasks that we have on each podcast. We look forward to reading all your comments, Tiago!

Jack:  I’d like to say hi to Shokufeh from Iran. She was one of many who told us about their most exciting football match that we asked you to tell us about in our football English podcast about new clubs. Shokufeh told us about the first Manchester United match she ever saw.

Rich: Finally I’d like to say thanks to Wsanta from Argentina and Isshin from Japan who both pointed out that I forgot to cover up last week’s football phrase in the transcript. If anyone sees a mistake on one of our pages please let us know in the comments section and we’ll change it straight away.

Rowan: Speaking of the football phrase … 

Last Week’s football Phrase

Jack: OK, our football phrase. If you’ve not listened to the podcast before, every week we set our listeners a challenge. We explain a football phrase or word and you have to guess what it is.

Rich: When you know the answer, go to the podcast page on the Premier Skills English website and write the word or phrase in the comments. If you’re correct we’ll announce your name on next week’s podcast.

Jack: Thanks for all your answers and guesses last week. The first listener with the correct answer was WSanta from Argentina. Well done Walter!

Rowan: Congratulations also go to: Isshin from Japan, Mehmet Sisan, HSN and MoBeckham from Turkey, Emmanuel from France, Gerardo94 from Cuba, Marynchukdenys1984 from Ukraine, Marco Zapien, Pacedill and Vic from Mexico, Tiago Delazari from Brazil, Idzingirai from Zimbabwe and last but not least Gitaandari from Indonesia.

Rich:  Later on, at the end of the podcast, we’ll have this week’s football phrase for you but for now here’s the answer to last week’s challenge.

Jack: Last week’s football phrase was kick-off. This phrase can be a phrasal verb or a noun and it’s what happened last weekend - the Premier League season kicked off - it started. Kick-off was at 8 o’clock last Friday when newly-promoted Brentford beat Arsenal.

Rowan: Did you get it right or are you kicking yourself that you didn’t?

Introduction to roleplay

Rowan: As we said earlier, this roleplay is about technology and how good we are with it. 

Jack: Rich has a problem with his mobile phone and asks Rowan for some help. As you already know, Rowan is a technical whizz and Rich is a bit of a technophobe.

Rich: After the roleplay, we’ll look at some language we can use to give instructions and also some words and phrases connected to technology.

Rowan: But while you listen we want you to answer a question.

Jack: The question is: What is Rich having problems with? 

Roleplay

Rich: Hey, Rowan. Would you mind giving me a hand with something?

Rowan: Sure, what’s the problem?

Rich: Well, I have these new headphones - they weren’t cheap and …

Rowan: And you can’t get them to work

Rich: How did you guess? That’s right - they don’t have any cables.

Rowan: Wireless headphones, Rich. They’ll use Bluetooth.

Rich: Well, how do I connect them to my phone?

Rowan: You need to pair them to your phone.

Rich: Pair them to my phone? How do I do that?

Rowan: Hopefully the headphones are charged up as they won’t work otherwise and you need to be close to the headphones and go to your settings on your phone.

Rich: Look you can see me on the video - phone in one hand, headphones in the other.

Rowan: Good, well, make sure your headphones are turned on and go to settings on your phone. Tap device connection and then turn on Bluetooth if it isn’t already.

Rich: Got it.

Rowan: Now you should see a list of devices that are already paired and a list of available devices. You should see your headphones in this second list as they are new. Tap it.

Rich: It says pairing …

Rowan: You should get a message or request on your phone to pair with your headphones.

Rich: Yes, they’re connected - brilliant Rowan, you’re a genius.

Language Focus

Jack: Before the roleplay, we asked you a question. The question was: What is Rich having problems with?

Rowan: Well, the answer was his headphones. He didn’t know how to connect them to his phone.

Rich: But I do now. Thanks, Rowan!

Jack: Let’s look at some language. Rowan gave Rich lots of instructions. When we give instructions we often use the imperative. 

Rich: Rowan used the imperative when she said things like ‘tap device connection’ and ‘turn on Bluetooth’.

Rowan: When we give instructions we often use lots of sequencing words like first, then and next. I said ‘then turn on Bluetooth’

Jack: Using the imperative and sequencing words can help you give clear and simple instructions but often they may not help when you’re listening to instructions as many people won’t use them.

Rich: When Rowan was giving instructions to Jack she didn’t use the imperative very much she tended to use should followed by the infinitive. Listen to this part of the roleplay again:

Rowan: Now you should see a list of devices that are already paired and a list of available devices. You should see your headphones in this second list as they are new. Tap it.

Rich: It says pairing …

Rowan: You should get a message or request on your phone to pair with your headphones.

Jack: Let’s look at some of the vocabulary connected to using technology from the roleplay.

Rich: I wanted to listen on my new headphones in the roleplay. You probably know that you put these on your head when you listen to music.

Rowan: So if these are called headphones what do you think you call the smaller ones that go straight in your ear. Yep, I’m sure you’ve got it - they’re called earphones.

Jack: We spoke about cables and wires in the roleplay. What’s the difference? Well, a cable is a set of wires that is usually covered in plastic.

Rich: But we call headphones without cables wireless headphones, not cableless headphones.

Rowan: Two other similar words we looked at were pair and connect. When these are both verbs and we are talking about technology they have slightly different meanings.

Jack: When we want to listen to a Bluetooth device first we need to pair the device with our phone or computer. We might have a number of different paired devices on our phone. We then connect the one that we want to use.

Rich: You can look at this vocabulary and more on the Premier Skills English website. You’ll also find free activities, the transcript and a quiz to help you understand. 

Task

Rowan: In the podcast, I gave Rich lots of instructions so he could connect his wireless headphones to his phone via Bluetooth.

Jack: Your task is to write a set of instructions for others to follow.

Rich: We would like you to choose something connected to technology. Maybe something that you think is quite complicated that lots of people have problems with.

Rowan: Try to use some of the language connected to technology and instructions that we have been using in our podcasts this week.

Jack: We want you to write your instructions in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website and also read and follow the instructions that you can see from other listeners.

Rich: Tell other listeners if their instructions were useful and whether they were easy or difficult to follow.

Football Phrase

Rich: OK, it’s time for our football phrase. If you’ve not listened to the podcast before, every week we set our listeners a challenge. We explain a football phrase or word and you have to guess what it is.

Rowan: You will hear this football phrase in every podcast we release this week.

Jack: When you know the answer, go to the podcast page on the Premier Skills English website or the review section on Apple Podcasts and write the word or phrase in the comments. If you’re correct we’ll announce your name on next week’s podcast.

Rich: So what is this week’s football phrase, Rowan?

Rowan: This week’s football phrase is ****** *******. This phrase is used when a club pays more money for a player transfer than they ever have before. Jack Grealish is Manchester City’s ****** ******* and Romelu Lukaku is Chelsea’s ****** *******.

Jack: Maybe Lukaku won’t play against Arsenal this weekend. I’d be quite happy about that!

Rich: If you have a football phrase that you would like us to use in the podcast, just get in touch and let us know.

Rowan: Right, that’s all we have time for but we will be back soon with the next part of this Premier Skills English podcast.

Jack: Before we finish we just wanted to say that we hope you found this lesson useful and we hope all of you stay fit and healthy.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football.