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Microsoft Launches Bing Decision EngineMicrosoft launched its new search engine, called Bing, on June the first. This is two days earlier than planned. The software giant said Bing will totally change the way we search online. They say Bing isn’t actually a search engine, like Google, but it is a decision engine. Microsoft says the difference is that Bing will help people make decisions because Bing organizes information better than Google. A company spokesperson said there is “search overload” with current search engines like Google. This means we get too much information and cannot find what we are looking for. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Bing will help people "find information quickly and use the information they've found to accomplish tasks."
So far, there are mixed reviews about Bing. Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak says he is a “big fan”. David Coursey of PC World magazine wasn’t so enthusiastic. He said: “To be the winning search engine, you need to either do all things really well, which Bing does not, or do one or two things really well….I don’t think Bing does that either.” Microsoft hopes its $100 million, four-month advertising campaign will turn us all into Bing users and that we will all be “binging”. Perhaps Microsoft’s ultimate goal is for ‘bing’ to become a verb in English, just like ‘google’ has become. Microsoft desperately wants to catch up with Google in the search engine war. Microsoft’s Live Search only has eight per cent of the US market, compared with Google’s 65 per cent.
WARM-UPS1. SEARCH: Walk around the class and talk to other students about searching online. Change partners often. Sit with your first partner(s) and share your findings. 2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently. 3. SEARCH ENGINES: How can we make search engines better? Complete this table with your partner(s). Talk about what you wrote to your partner. Change partners and share what you heard.
4. BING: Students A strongly believe Microsoft Bing can rival Google; Students B strongly believe Google will always be the best search engine around. Change partners again and talk about your conversations. 5. SEARCH TERMS: What search terms are important for you? Rate these and share your ratings with your partner: 10 = highly important; 1 = not at all important. Change partners and share your ratings again.
6. DECISION: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘decision’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories. BEFORE READING / LISTENING1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:
3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one. combination is possible):
WHILE READING / LISTENINGGAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.
LISTENING: Listen and fill in the gaps.Microsoft ___________________ search engine, called Bing, on June the first. This is two days earlier than planned. The software giant said Bing will ___________________ way we search online. They say Bing isn’t actually a search engine, like Google, but it is a decision engine. Microsoft says the difference is that Bing will help people ___________________ Bing organizes information better than Google. A company spokesperson said there is “search ___________________ search engines like Google. This means ___________________ information and cannot find what we are looking for. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Bing will help people "find information quickly and use the information they've found ___________________." So far, there ___________________ about Bing. Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak says he is a “big fan”. David Coursey of PC World magazine wasn’t so enthusiastic. He said: “___________________ search engine, you need to ___________________ really well, which Bing does not, or do one or two things really well….I don’t think Bing does that either.” Microsoft hopes its $100 million, four-month advertising campaign ___________________ Bing users and that we will all be “binging”. Perhaps Microsoft’s ultimate goal is for ‘bing’ to become a verb in English, just like ‘___________________. Microsoft desperately wants ___________________ Google in the search engine war. Microsoft’s Live Search only has eight per cent of the US market, compared with Google’s 65 per cent. AFTER READING / LISTENING1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘decision’ and ‘engine’.
2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.
3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…? 4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings. 5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:
STUDENT SEARCH ENGINE SURVEYWrite five GOOD questions about search engines in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.
SEARCH ENGINE DISCUSSIONSTUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
LANGUAGEMicrosoft launched its (1) ____ search engine, called Bing, on June the first. This is two days earlier than planned. The software giant said Bing will (2) ____ change the way we search online. They say Bing isn’t (3) ____ a search engine, like Google, but it is a decision engine. Microsoft says the difference is that Bing will help people (4) ____ decisions because Bing organizes information better than Google. A company spokesperson said there is “search overload” with current search engines (5) ____ Google. This means we get too much information and cannot find what we are looking for. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Bing will help people "find information quickly and use the information they've (6) ____ to accomplish tasks." So far, there are (7) ____ reviews about Bing. Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak says he is a “big fan”. David Coursey of PC World magazine wasn’t so enthusiastic. He said: “To be the winning search engine, you need to (8) ____ do all things really well, which Bing does not, or do one or two things really well….I don’t think Bing does that either.” Microsoft hopes its $100 million, four-month advertising campaign will turn (9) ____ all into Bing users and that we will all be “binging”. Perhaps Microsoft’s ultimate goal is (10) ____ ‘bing’ to become a verb in English, just like ‘google’ has become. Microsoft desperately wants to catch (11) ____ with Google in the search engine war. Microsoft’s Live Search only has eight per cent of the US market, (12) ____ with Google’s 65 per cent. Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.
WRITING:Write about search engines for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper. _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ HOMEWORK1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word. 2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about search engines and decision engines. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson. 3. MICROSOFT: Make a marketing poster about Microsoft. Include several of its products and compare these with rival products. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things? 4. MICROSOFT Vs. GOOGLE: Write a magazine article about Microsoft and Google. Which company is best? Include imaginary interviews with the CEOs of both companies. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s). 5. LETTER: Write a letter to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Ask him three questions about Microsoft Bing. Give them him three suggestions on how to make a really great search engine. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions. ANSWERSTRUE / FALSE:
SYNONYM MATCH:
PHRASE MATCH:
GAP FILL: Microsoft launches Bing decision engineMicrosoft launched its new search engine, called Bing, on June the first. This is two days earlier than planned. The software giant said Bing will totally change the way we search online. They say Bing isn’t actually a search engine, like Google, but it is a decision engine. Microsoft says the difference is that Bing will help people make decisions because Bing organizes information better than Google. A company spokesperson said there is “search overload” with current search engines like Google. This means we get too much information and cannot find what we are looking for. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Bing will help people "find information quickly and use the information they've found to accomplish tasks." So far, there are mixed reviews about Bing. Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak says he is a “big fan”. David Coursey of PC World magazine wasn’t so enthusiastic. He said: “To be the winning search engine, you need to either do all things really well, which Bing does not, or do one or two things really well….I don’t think Bing does that either.” Microsoft hopes its $100 million, four-month advertising campaign will turn us all into Bing users and that we will all be “binging”. Perhaps Microsoft’s ultimate goal is for ‘bing’ to become a verb in English, just like ‘google’ has become. Microsoft desperately wants to catch up with Google in the search engine war. Microsoft’s Live Search only has eight per cent of the US market, compared with Google’s 65 per cent. LANGUAGE WORK
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