Absolutenglish is a site for students and teachers of English, grades 9 -12.

MOBILE PHONES

Amongst the new technologies, mobile phones remain the most popular worldwide.

Yet, while more and more people own cell phones, the device represents a real danger, on the brain, as well as on the road....

The following page is a resource page including links and exerices for English learners and teachers who want to kwon more about the current issue of Mobile Phones. This page was created after a series of exchanges with English teachers on e-teach.

 

  • Warm up

- A cartoon by Muccio depicting a woman arrested by a policeman

- More cartoons

 

 

1- what does SMS stand for?

2- How long have SMS been used in the U.K.?

 

- an exercice on SMS abreviations[ .rtf file] + more abreviations

  • Text Messages: a 5-pages pdf format lesson plan from www.onestopenglish.com: reading for meaning, abreviations and text messages.
  • Listening comprehension on a new generation of mobile phones, Camera Phones: a series of audio interactive exercises
  • Blackout: short mobile phones role-plays: A speaking activity from onestopenglish with emphasis on oral fluency; students role play a series of mobile phone calls that all take place during a blackout in New York.

 

  • A week in the life of two men:

     

    - The first man has never owned a cell phone and accepts to get one for a week. Read his diary entitled "My Phone Hell".

    - The second man is addicted to his cell phone but will have to live without it for a whole week. Read his diary entitled "Immobilised".

    - Choose one or the other situation (first or second man) and write your own diary. Find a title to your work

  • Mobile phones and our health: a controversial issue

    - A full lesson plan on Mobile Phones by "English To Go Ltd". Based on an article from Reuters, the students will first think about the hazards of some behaviours and understand an article entitled "Mobile Phones May Do Harm by Speeding Up Brain "by Lukas van Grinsven. The language part offers exercises on May / Might and how to express possiblity in the past, present or future.

- An advertising campaign to alert the public to the dangers they could face with the aim to reduce the number of people who drive and use a mobil (including audio radio adverts , posters and TV fillers)

- Information and links on the use of mobile phones in Gasoline Stations provided By PEI (The Petroleum Equipment Institue) in their Stop Static safety campaign on the potential danger posed by the discharge of static electricity during refueling.

- An article on the leaflets to carry health warnings: "U.K. Mobile Phones To Carry Health Warnings" from The Standard by Laura Rohde, November 27, 2000

- A "special English" programme from www.voaews.com: Study Shows No Link Between Cell Phones and Rare Tumor , by Cynthia Kirk , 06 September 2005 (transcript + audio to download)

  • Exams

- Bac 2001 : "Mobile Phone Users Join the Smokers as Outcasts"- an article adapted from The Independent, Thursday, April 27, 2000. (pdf file) (text + comprehension questions + writing)


- Bac Pro (secteur tertiaire), 1999 : "Mobile Telephones" - an article adapted from The Independent, 21 October 1998

  • Mobile Phones in the French school books of English
- "Mobile Mania", Surf in English, 3ème ( Gr: present prefect Simple or Be-ING)
- Cartoon, "To Call or not to Call", Open the Window 2de, p.212
- Cartoons about mobile mania, XL 2de, p.59
- Advertisement for Vodafone with text messages and new language, Voices 2de, p.101
- Article : "It saved a life", Open the Window 2de, p.213
- Article : "Where have our manners gone ?", Voices 2de, p.138
- Article : "The Mobile Phone : for Convenience or to Show Off ?" XL 2de, p.60
- "The Dangers of Telephoning", Wide Open 1ère, p.30
- Cartoon : "Cell-phone Shopping", Wide Open 1ère, p.31

(Thanks to Pascale from e-teach for this list!)