LESSON ONE

How Is Technology Impacting the Changes in the 21st Century

Workplace?

LESSON AIMS
In this lesson you are going to read a technical article about technology and its impact.
You will practise these things:

 Making predictions before you read.

 Scanning through a text to search for a specific word with similar meaning.
 Skim reading a text quickly to decide for a heading.
 Making new words in English by adding standard combinations of letters

ACTIVITY ONE: Pre-reading

Complete the diagram about Technology and its impact on... . The first and the last letter of each
word are given

Technology M __________ e
(8 letters )
impacts on...

C __________ e
(7 letters)

C_ ________ n
(13 letters )
S ________ y
(7 letters )

B_ ________ s
E ________ n (8 letters )
(9 letters )

ACTIVITY TWO: How does technology influence on ... ?

From the previous activity, choose three aspects and answer the question.

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________
ACTIVITY THREE: Discussion questions

Read the title of the text and answer the following questions

1. Does technology enhance creativity or hinder it?

2. How does technology change family relationships?
3. Does technology affect capacity to pay attention in
classes?
4. Is technology addictive? Or does it affect other
addictive behavior?
5. Are people more isolated, disconnected, lonely?
6. How much time does technology consume?
7. How much time do you need to use, to fix, to
maintain?
8. Does technology change our perception of time?
9. Can a business that embraces technology still value
its people (employees, customers, suppliers)?
10. Can the technology support our lives rather than
make them more difficult?

ACTIVITY FOUR: Pros and cons of technology

Classify these ideas according to the headings. You may also add any ideas which are not included
in the table.
Networking and Distraction The rise of Global Social skill (face Education
Communication cyberbullying Innovations to face
communication)
Poor Access Develop Data Collection Criminals easily Competitive
performance at researching skill and invade privacy advances in the
job interview Exploitation market
Easy and cheap Share Risk of losing No privacy Cookies to collect Loss of job
communication information data private data

Pros
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Cons
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 ______________________________
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ACTIVITY FIVE: Writing

The text you are going to read is “How Is Technology Impacting the Changes in the 21st Century
Workplace?” Here are some words or phrases it contains. Can you explain the link between each
phrase and the title of the text? The first one has been done for you.

 Customized programs  Technology consultants  Software engineers

 New jobs  Satellite offices  Business opportunities
Customized programs
Customized programs are required to give customized solutions that foster the development of any
particular organization or company
New jobs
____________________________________________________________________________
Technology consultants
____________________________________________________________________________
Satellite offices
____________________________________________________________________________
Business opportunities
____________________________________________________________________________

ACTIVITY SIX Vocabulary

Here are some words the article contains. How many do you know? Match the words with the
nearest meaning.
A B
____ 1. Expert a) A place where students go to study or receive training after they have
left school
____ 2. Engage
b) An increase in something; economic activity
____ 3. Business c) To prevent somebody from having or doing something, especially
something important
____ 4. Consultant
d) To take part in something
____ 5. College e) An office or organization that provides information on a particular
subject
____ 6. Career
f) A series of jobs that a person has in a particular area of work
____ 7. Bureau g) A person with special knowledge, skill, or training in something
h) A person or organization that buys something from a shop/store or
____ 8. Customer
business
____ 9. Growth i) A person who knows a lot about a particular subject and is employed
to give advice about it to another people
____ 10. Deprive of
j) Trade
ACTIVITY SEVEN: Gap filling
From column A, choose a word to complete the following sentences; you may have to change some
words slightly.
1. A _____________ may need to be called in for specialist advice.
2. You know how important my _____________ is to me.
3. I'm going to Las Vegas on ______________ .
4. They were _____________ of a normal childhood by the war.
5. A few years later, in 1901, the UK 's first fingerprint _____________ was set up at Scotland
Yard.
6. Students _____________ the teacher in conversation.
7. She always buys bread at the same bakery, she is a regular _____________ .
8. He is at ____________ , studying graphic design.
ACTIVITY EIGHT: Skimming – Find your way around the text
Read the text quickly. Do not try to understand every word, but try to get the general idea of the
topics. Then place the following sub-headings over the appropriate sections (1 – 3)
a. Technology Careers
b. Cost of Technology
c. Globalization and Technology

How Is Technology Impacting the Changes in the 21st Century Workplace?

1 1. ________________________
As companies demand more sophisticated technology to help manage their businesses, the cost to
develop and produce applications will likely increase. Customized programs that meet the specific
needs of a business are becoming more popular as companies engage the services of functional
5 and technology consultants. These experts can determine the type of solutions necessary to help
the business run smoothly and efficiently. Companies such as SAP produce technology solutions for
virtually every part of industry. SAP* and similar firms routinely send to their clients functional
consultants familiar with the type of business and technology consultants who know how to
engineer the solutions.
10 2. __________________________
Careers in computer science and information technology continue to grow. Students in colleges,
universities and technical institutes seeking careers in this industry will likely be recruited upon
graduation. According to U.S. News & World Report, jobs in this field are among the top 10
careers, stating computer software engineers are in demand because “ The work of
15 designing, building, maintaining, and integrating those increasingly complex systems continues to
be one the fastest-growing corners of the job market. ” The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reports indicate that occupations in computer science and information technology will add more
than 785,000 new jobs from 2008 to 2018. Statisticians predict the technology field will expand
exponentially because of the demand for state of the art technology products.

20 3. ___________________________
 Technology ’s huge impact on globalization enables companies of all sizes to do business
with customers all over the world. In addition, businesses can establish satellite offices in practically
any country no matter how remote as long as there is Internet access. The competition for
providing Internet access to developing nations will proliferate, enabling growth in areas previously
25 deprived of business opportunities due to lack of communication devices. The other side of the
coin is the international marketing of technology researched by George Washington University
technology professor Robert W. Rycroft. He makes an interesting observation about multinational
countries engaged in international marketing of technology products. This practice has been coined
as "technology exploitation." By this observation, it is the desire to push products that is creating
30 wider globalization efforts instead of globalization efforts creating a need for advanced technology.
* SAP is the acronym for Systems, Applications, Products
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/technology-impacting-changes-21st-century-workplace-3357.html

ACTIVITY NINE: Scanning

Now read the text more carefully and answer the following questions.
1. How are prices determined?
2. Why do you think, companies do not use ready-made programs?
3. Why are experts hired by companies?
4. What does SAP stand for?
5. Do the experts know how to solve companies’ problems?
6. Why do technology-related jobs grow?
7. What are the computer software engineers in charge?
8. Why are technology job opportunities increasing?
9. What does globalization mean?
10. What kind of professionals does a businessman hire to have business opportunities?
ACTIVITY TEN: Synonyms / Antonyms
Using the line reference given, look back in the text and find words that have a similar meaning to:
1. tailored (line 3) ____________________
2. specialists (Line 5 ) ____________________
3. enrolled (Line 12) ____________________
4. area (Line 13) ____________________
5. expand (Line 24) ____________________
Now, look back in the text and find words that have an opposite meaning to:
1. off-the shelf (line 3) ____________________
2. unpopular (Line 4) _____________________
3. roughly (Line 6) _____________________
4. worst (Line 13) _____________________
5. close (Line 23) _____________________
ACTIVITY ELEVEN: Language focus
Making comparison
These are sentences from the reading.

 … demand more sophisticated technology to help manage their businesses …

 Customized programs that meet the specific needs of a business are becoming more
popular
 … information technology will add more than 785,000 new jobs.

The regular comparative and superlative forms of descriptive words (adjectives and adverbs) are
shown below:
1. Words of one syllable add the ending _er and _est.
Examples:
Absolute Comparative Superlative
new newer newest
Adjectives old older oldest
big bigger biggest
soon sooner soonest
Adverbs late later latest
2. Words with three or more syllables are preceded by more and most.
Examples:
Absolute Comparative Superlative
interesting more interesting most interesting
Adjectives convenient more convenient most convenient
beautiful more beautiful most beautiful
easily more easily most easily
Adverbs carefully more carefully most carefully
3. Some common two syllable adjectives can have either type of formation.
Examples:
Absolute Comparative Superlative
common commoner / commonest /
more common most common
gentle gentler/ gentlest /
more gentle most gentle
quiet quieter / quietest /
more quiet most quiet

4. Two syllable adverbs ending in _ly take more and most.

Examples:
Absolute Comparative Superlative
quickly more quickly most quickly
slowly more slowly most slowly
badly more badly most badly
5. A small number of adjectives and adverbs have an irregular comparative and superlative form.
Examples:
Absolute Comparative Superlative
bad worse worst
Adjectives far further/farther furthest/farthest
good better best
many more most
badly worse worst
Adverbs far further/farther furthest/farthest
little less least
much more most
well better best

Complete the following sentences, using the appropriate ending of adjectives or adverbs.
Notice particularly the positions of adverbs. Adjectives and adverbs are given in their absolute
forms.
1. The original library is ____________ (old) than the Duke name itself.
2. Librarians help users to choose the __________ (good) source.
3. We have many library staff who work in the ____________ (specific) areas
4. The _____________ (significant) changes are moves to create interdisciplinary academic
communities, budgetary concerns, and the digital environment.
5. I once found the ____________ (beautiful) love letter.
6. Answers to questions become ___________ (hard) to find.
7. Varied formats of resources are ____________ (good) equipped to transfer these skills to
students.
8. People work more hours to get __________ (big) cars and ____________ (fancy) homes, but
have less time to enjoy their prosperity.
9. The ____________ (big) practical change over the years is most e-book readers and tablets no
longer need to be connected to a computer to obtain and manage content.
10. Librarians become _____________ (active) in creating services and programs.

.
Use your dictionary to look up these words, then check how they are used in this text. Write a
definition, translation or example sentence for the new words in the spaces provided. Add your
own words to the list.
New words or expressions Explanation (translation, definition, example sentence)
engage
smoothly
consultant
expand
proliferate