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WARM-UPS

1. INTERNET BROWSERS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about Internet browsers. 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.

websites / campaigns / Microsoft / web browsers / software / progress / criticized / large percentage / unsatisfactory experience / bad publicity / worst tech products

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. THE INTERNET: How good is it? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you wrote. Change and share again.

	Great for…	Needs improving on…
Speed
Quality of information
Websites
Security
Looks
Functionality

4. SECURE: Students A strongly believe the Internet will be 100% secure one day; Students B strongly believe that day will never come.  Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. BROWSING: What’s most important to you? Rank these and share your rankings with your partner. Put the most important at the top. Change partners and share again.

Mail Facebook / Twitter News Shopping

Travel / holidays Homework Killing time Looking for info

6. WEBSITE: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘website’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if  a-h  below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	Microsoft wants to stop people using its Internet Explorer 6 browser.	T / F
b.	Microsoft aims to get IE6 users down to less than one per cent.	T / F
c.	The software giant wants web users to switch to IE7.	T / F
d.	Microsoft stopped dealing with IE6 last year.	T / F
e.	About 25% of web users are currently using IE6.	T / F
f.	Microsoft says IE6 isn’t good enough for today’s Internet.	T / F
g.	An industry magazine said IE6 was the least secure software in the US.	T / F
h.	Mozilla’s Firefox browser is the world’s fastest growing.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.	launched	a.	in spite of
2	promote	b.	unveiled
3.	case	c.	attacked
4.	switch	d.	presently
5.	criticized	e.	unacceptable
6.	despite	f.	situation
7.	unsatisfactory	g.	is looking at
8.	figure	h.	advertise
9.	faces	i.	number
10.	currently	j.	change

3. PHRASE MATCH:  (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	Microsoft has launched a	a.	their products
2	do their best to promote	b.	patches
3.	designed to monitor	c.	on the planet
4.	criticized for its slow speed and	d.	of the world’s web users
5.	making monthly security	e.	growing browser
6.	a large percentage	f.	website campaign
7.	a browser which lacks modern web	g.	for Microsoft
8.	bad publicity	h.	poor security
9.	the least secure software	i.	progress
10.	the world's fastest	j.	standards

 

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

Microsoft has (1) ____________ a website campaign asking people to stop using its 10-year-old Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) browser. Internet companies usually do their best to (2) ____________ their products, but not so in Microsoft’s case. The software (3) ____________ wants IE6 to be used by less than one per cent of the world’s internet users.  It has launched a special website to encourage web users to discontinue with IE6 and switch to newer, more (4) ____________ and more secure versions, IE8 or IE9. Microsoft officials say its www.theie6countdown.com site is “designed to monitor (5) ____________ of moving worldwide market share of IE6 to less than one per cent”. Microsoft’s IE6 browser has been (6) ____________ for its slow speed and (7) ____________ security. The company spends a lot of money on making monthly security (8) ____________.		reliable criticized giant promote patches poor launched progress
Despite being released in 2001, a large (9) ____________ of the world’s web users still use IE6. Microsoft states: “Currently one in four Internet Explorer (10) ____________ continue to use IE6, a browser which (11) ____________ modern web standards and provides an unsatisfactory user experience.” In China, 34.5 per cent of Internet surfers still use it. In Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Taiwan and India, the (12) ____________ is above 10 per cent. The browser now represents bad (13) ____________ for Microsoft. It frequently appears in "the worst (14) ____________ products of all time" lists, and PC World magazine labelled it as the "least secure software on the planet." Microsoft (15) ____________ a lot of competition from other browsers. Google's Chrome is currently the world's fastest (16) ____________ browser. Mozilla’s Firefox is used on 30 per cent of the world’s computers.		tech faces users publicity percentage growing lacks figure

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

Microsoft _________________ website campaign asking people to stop using its 10-year-old Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) browser. Internet companies usually do their _________________ their products, but not so in Microsoft’s case. The software giant wants IE6 _________________ than one per cent of the world’s internet users.  It has launched a special website to encourage web browsers _________________ IE6 and switch to newer, more reliable and more secure versions, IE8 or IE9. Microsoft officials say its www.theie6countdown.com site is “designed _________________ of moving worldwide market share of IE6 to less than one per cent”. Microsoft’s IE6 browser has been _________________ slow speed and poor security. The company spends a lot of money on making monthly security patches.

Despite being released in 2001, _________________ of the world’s web users still use IE6. Microsoft states: “Currently one in four Internet Explorer users continue to use IE6, a browser _________________ web standards and provides an unsatisfactory user experience.” In China, 34.5 per cent of Internet _________________. In Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Taiwan and India, the figure is above 10 per cent. The browser now represents bad publicity for Microsoft. It frequently appears in "_________________ products of all time" lists, and PC World magazine labelled it as the "least secure software on the planet." Microsoft _________________ competition from other browsers. Google's Chrome ___________________ fastest growing browser. Mozilla’s Firefox is used on 30 per cent of the world’s computers.

 
 

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘web’ and ‘site’.

web

site

• Share your findings with your partners.

• Make questions using the words you found.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

• Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
• Ask your partner / group your questions.

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:

asking promote case versions share monthly

still provides figure lists faces 30 per cent

STUDENT INTERNET BROWSERS SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about Internet browsers 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.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

• Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
• Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

INTERNET BROWSERS DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘Internet’?
c)	What browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, IE) do you use and why?
d)	Are you surprised at Microsoft’s new campaign?
e)	What do you think of Microsoft?
f)	What could make your Internet surfing better?
g)	What Microsoft products do you use / like?
h)	Have you ever had security problems with an Internet browser?
i)	What do you think of security patches?
j)	What does a web browser do exactly?

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STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Why is Microsoft’s Internet Explorer the world’s most used browser?
c)	Are you happy with the browser you use?
d)	What do you think is the worst tech product of all time?
e)	What tech company do you like most (and why)?
f)	What do you think of the word ‘browser’?
g)	What do you think browsers will be able to do in the future?
h)	What’s your biggest worry regarding the Internet?
i)	What’s the angriest you’ve been when browsing the Internet?
j)	What questions would you like to ask the CEO of Microsoft?

LANGUAGE – MULTIPLE CHOICE

Microsoft has (1) ____ a website campaign asking people to stop using its 10-year-old Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) browser. Internet companies usually (2) ____ their best to promote their products, but not so in Microsoft’s case. The software giant wants IE6 to be used by less than one per cent of the world’s internet users.  It has launched a special website to encourage web users to discontinue (3) ____ IE6 and switch to newer, more (4) ____ and more secure versions, IE8 or IE9. Microsoft officials say its www.theie6countdown.com site is “designed to monitor (5) ____ of moving worldwide market share of IE6 to less than one per cent”. Microsoft’s IE6 browser has been criticized for its slow speed and poor security. The company spends a lot of money on making monthly security (6) ____.

Despite being released in 2001, a large percentage of the world’s web users still use IE6. Microsoft states: “Currently one (7) ____ four Internet Explorer users continue to use IE6, a browser which (8) ____ modern web standards and provides an unsatisfactory user experience.” In China, 34.5 per cent of Internet surfers still use it. In Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Taiwan and India, the (9) ____ is above 10 per cent. The browser now represents bad publicity for Microsoft. It frequently appears in "the worst tech products of all (10) ____ " lists, and PC World magazine labelled it as the "least secure software on the planet." Microsoft (11) ____ a lot of competition from other browsers. Google's Chrome is currently the world's fastest (12) ____ browser. Mozilla’s Firefox is used on 30 per cent of the world’s computers.

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	launched	(b)	entrenched	(c)	munched	(d)	lunched
2.	(a)	be	(b)	have	(c)	do	(d)	are
3.	(a)	at	(b)	by	(c)	for	(d)	with
4.	(a)	trust	(b)	reliable	(c)	trusting	(d)	reliability
5.	(a)	digress	(b)	congress	(c)	regress	(d)	progress
6.	(a)	watches	(b)	matches	(c)	patches	(d)	batches
7.	(a)	by	(b)	in	(c)	at	(d)	to
8.	(a)	lacks	(b)	backs	(c)	racks	(d)	hacks
9.	(a)	figure	(b)	numeral	(c)	statistics	(d)	numbers
10.	(a)	ever	(b)	infinity	(c)	time	(d)	endless
11.	(a)	heads	(b)	eyes	(c)	mouths	(d)	faces
12.	(a)	growth	(b)	growing	(c)	grown	(d)	grown up

 
 

WRITING

Write about Internet browsers for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

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HOMEWORK

1. 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 Internet browsers. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. INTERNET BROWSERS: Make a poster about Internet Explorer 6. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. SURFING: Write a magazine article about surfing the Internet. Include imaginary interviews with people who have problems and people who have no problems.

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 the CEO of Microsoft. Ask him three questions about Internet browsers. Give him three of your opinions about them. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

 

 
 

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

a.

T

b.

T

c.

F

d.

F

e.

T

f.

T

g.

F

h.

F

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	launched	a.	unveiled
2	promote	b.	advertise
3.	case	c.	situation
4.	switch	d.	change
5.	criticized	e.	attacked
6.	despite	f.	in spite of
7.	unsatisfactory	g.	unacceptable
8.	figure	h.	number
9.	faces	i.	is looking at
10.	currently	j.	presently

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	Microsoft has launched a	a.	website campaign
2	do their best to promote	b.	their products
3.	designed to monitor	c.	progress
4.	criticized for its slow speed and	d.	poor security
5.	making monthly security	e.	patches
6.	a large percentage	f.	of the world’s web users
7.	a browser which lacks modern web	g.	standards
8.	bad publicity	h.	for Microsoft
9.	the least secure software	i.	on the planet
10.	the world's fastest	j.	growing browser

GAP FILL:

Microsoft campaign to end Explorer 6

Microsoft has (1) launched a website campaign asking people to stop using its 10-year-old Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) browser. Internet companies usually do their best to (2) promote their products, but not so in Microsoft’s case. The software (3) giant wants IE6 to be used by less than one per cent of the world’s internet users.  It has launched a special website to encourage web users to discontinue with IE6 and switch to newer, more (4) reliable and more secure versions, IE8 or IE9. Microsoft officials say its www.theie6countdown.com site is “designed to monitor (5) progress of moving worldwide market share of IE6 to less than one per cent”. Microsoft’s IE6 browser has been (6) criticized for its slow speed and (7) poor security. The company spends a lot of money on making monthly security (8) patches.

Despite being released in 2001, a large (9) percentage of the world’s web users still use IE6. Microsoft states: “Currently one in four Internet Explorer (10) users continue to use IE6, a browser which (11) lacks modern web standards and provides an unsatisfactory user experience.” In China, 34.5 per cent of Internet surfers still use it. In Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Taiwan and India, the (12) figure is above 10 per cent. The browser now represents bad (13) publicity for Microsoft. It frequently appears in "the worst (14) tech products of all time" lists, and PC World magazine labelled it as the "least secure software on the planet." Microsoft (15) faces a lot of competition from other browsers. Google's Chrome is currently the world's fastest (16) growing browser. Mozilla’s Firefox is used on 30 per cent of the world’s computers.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - a

2 - c

3 - d

4 - b

5 - d

6 - c

7 - b

8 - a

9 -a

10 - c

11 - d

12 - b

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