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Ask for help > Explain to me, please!
Explain to me, please!
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JuliaKaraban
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Explain to me, please!
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I feel a bit stupid, I can �t understand a task from my student �s book.
The task is: Listen to the following customer comments and make notes. Decide what �s wrong about them. What do you think the people really meant?
- Can you write the internet onto this CD for me?
- I just got your internet in the post today...
- I don �t have a computer at home. Is the internet available in book form?
- The internet site �s giving me a busy signal!
I don �t know what to do because I can �t do this task myself, I simply don �t understand what they meant :( ! Can anybody help?
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12 Mar 2015
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cunliffe
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1) You can �t copy the internet onto a CD. What did the person mean to say? I don �t know! 2) I just got your letter in the post today. 3) It �s wrong because you can �t get the internet in book form. 4) The telephone is giving me a busy signal. What a funny old exercise! |
12 Mar 2015
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ueslteacher
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Really odd:) without knowing what was discussed before, it �s hard to tell. Can you write/burn the music onto this CD? Is the manual available in book form? |
12 Mar 2015
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martinasvabova
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Can you write the file onto this CD?
I just got your email in the post today ? However I am not sure at all. |
12 Mar 2015
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saerens
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Hi, If the task is " LISTEN to the customers � comments" doesn �t it mean that you have a recording going with this exercise and that your students have to listen to the recording and find the word replacing "internet"? |
12 Mar 2015
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yanogator
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I think I can shed some light on this. One of my favorite websites is http://www.notalwaysright.com/, on which are listed ridiculous things that customers do and say in the course of transacting business. The sentences provided above are from that site. Here �s what the creator of them seems to have intended. He or she, of course, had the opportunity to explain the exercise to the students, so they wouldn �t be confused by it. First I would replace "listen to" with "read", since the comments are written. I think the author intended this as an exercise in speculation and writing for the students. Maybe they are having a lesson on the internet that this fits into. What they are being asked to do is try to think like these misinformed customers and explain their strange comments. I don �t think there are right and wrong answers - just the opportunity to write about the situation. Bruce |
12 Mar 2015
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spinney
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It sounds to me that these are complaints from people who are not very techno-minded. Id � need to know the name of the book and see the instructions in full (with the chapter topic) as well as hearing the tracks to be able to tell you. |
12 Mar 2015
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alien boy
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These complaints seem to me to be from the old days of dial up internet. You used to get free CDs which included a web browser (e.g. AOL), account details, and automated settings for your modem to call a specific service provider. With this in mind:
1. The internet is too large/big to fit on a CD. The complainant wants to have internet access software (as above) on their CD, please!
2. I just got your letter in the post today.
3. The person complaining may not have a computer or a modem, and has never used or seen anybody access the internet.
4. The person �s modem cannot connect to their isp (internet service provider) because it keeps getting a busy signal on the telephone line when it dials the access phone number.
How nostalgic! It takes me all the way back to my first degree, studying computer programming back in the 90 �s!
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12 Mar 2015
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Jayho
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Hi Julia
They certainly sound strange and outdated but perhaps all the text book requires is vocabulary correction. You could encourage your students to evaluate the comments and identify what is incorrect, and then rewrite the comments to make sense.
1. Can you write the internet onto this CD for me? (The customer wants something from the internet in CD form)
Ex: Can you write (copy/burn) the (this) internet page/program onto this CD (thumb drive) for me?
2. I just got your internet in the post today. (The customer received something about the internet in the regular mail)
Ex: I just got your Internet information in the post today
3. I don�t have a computer at home. Is the internet available in book form? (The customer needs a hard copy)
Ex: I don�t have a computer at home. Is the internet information available in book (brochure) form?
4. The internet site�s giving me a busy signal! (The site is unavailable)
Ex: The internet site is giving me an error message.
You could ask the students to do the vocabulary correction and to also update it using today�s terms. For example, change CD to thumb drive.
Cheers
Jayho |
12 Mar 2015
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Peter Hardy
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This reminds me of a shop attendant who replied to my question if he had the time, asked me in return if I would like it in a bag :-)
Peter |
12 Mar 2015
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JuliaKaraban
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Thank you very much for your help! I �ve explained everything to my students as I understand and we �ve managed to do the exercise.
As it turned out, some of the students are much smarter than I am :)
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12 Mar 2015
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