Listening activity for English language learners based on a BBC4 Radio broadcast.

1. HANDOUT
Listening
12 Key technologies that make your smartphone work
Retrieved from: BBC4, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04ymwq7
(4 minutes)
Before you listen
What makes an iPhone an iPhone?
Listen from 0:00 to 1:30
What do you remember from what you have just heard on the radio?
Dates: ………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Names: ………………………………………………………………………………………………
Places: ……………………………………………………………………………………………….
Objects: ………………………………………………………………………………………………
Characteristics of objects: …………………………………………………………………………
Facts: …………………………………………………………………………………………………
Ideas: …………………………………………………………………………………………………
Answer to the question what makes an iPhone an iPhone: ……………………………………
Before you listen
What do you think the main technologies are which are responsible for the success of the
smartphones?
Listen from 1:30 to 02:47
Number the list below in the order as they are listed.
___ Mobile phone network.
___ They have a memory chip.
___ Touch screen.
___ Fast Fourier Transform Algorithms (FFTs)
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2. HANDOUT
___ Liquid crystal screens.
___ HTML and HTTP.
___ They have very small microprocessors.
___ Siri.
___ Solid state hard drives. (SSDs)
___ Global Positioning System.
___ The internet connection.
___ Batteries which work with lithium.
Listen from 02:47 to 03:22
What was the remarkable discovery that they have found behind the history of the iPhone?
Listen and focus on vocabulary
While listening, note down as many words as you can on a piece of paper or on the
computer.
Fill in the gaps
Listen and fill in the missing words.
‘An iPod, a phone and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone… are you getting it?’
On the 9th of January 2007 the most iconic entrepreneur on the planet ____________
__________ _________. A product that was to become the most profitable in history.
‘______ _____ one device. And we are calling it iPhone. Today…’
The ______ _______ _______ in which the iPhone has defined the modern economy.
There is the sheer profitability of course. ______ _______ _______ two or three
companies in the world who make as much money as Apple does on the iPhone alone.
_______ ______ _______ that it created a new product category, the smartphone. The
iPhone and its imitators represent a product _____ ________ exist ten years ago, but is
now an object of desire for ______ ______ humanity. Ask yourself, what actually makes an
iPhone an iPhone?
_____ partly the cool design, user interphase, the attention to details, _____ _____ _____
the software works and the hardware feels. _____ underneath the charming surface of the
iPhone, _____ _____ ______ critical elements that made it and all the other smartphones
possible.
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3. HANDOUT
The economist Marianna Mazzucato _____ made a list of twelve key technologies _____
make smartphones work.
One, tiny microprocessors. Two, memory chips. Three, Solid State hard drives. Four, liquid
crystal displays. Five, lithium-based batteries, _____ _____ hardware. And ______ _____
_____ networks and software, so continuing to count, six, Fast Fourier Transform
Algorithms. ______ _____ clever bits of maths that make it possible to swiftly turn
analogue signals _____ ______ sound, visible light and radio waves _____ digital signals
_____ a computer can handle. Seven, and you might have heard of this one, the Internet.
A smartphone _____ ____ smartphone without the Internet. Eight, HTTP and HTML, the
languages and protocols that turn the hard-to-use Internet _____ _____ easy-to-access
world wide web. Nine, cellular networks, otherwise your smartphone is not only that is not
smart but _____ ______ ______ a phone. Ten, Global Positioning _______. Eleven, the
touch screen. Twelve, Siri, the voice activated artificial intelligence agent.
All _____ ______ technologies are important components of what makes an iPhone, or
any smartphone actually work. ______ ______ _______ are not just important, _____
indispensable. _____ when Marianna Mazzucato assembled this list ____ technologies
and reviewed _____ history _____ found something striking. The foundational figure in
the _____________ of the iPhone wasn’t Steve Jobs, ____ ______ Uncle Sam. Every
single ______ _____ ______ twelve key technologies ______ supported in significant
ways _____ governments, often _____ American Government.
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4. HANDOUT
Transcript
‘An iPod, a phone and an Internet communicator. An iPod, a phone… are you getting it?’
On the 9th of January 2007 the most iconic entrepreneur on the planet announced
something new. A product that was to become the most profitable in history.
‘This is one device. And we are calling it iPhone. Today…’
The are many ways in which the iPhone has defined the modern economy. There is the
sheer profitability of course. There are only two or three companies in the world who
make as much money as Apple does on the iPhone alone. There’s the fact that it created a
new product category, the smartphone. The iPhone and its imitators represent a product
that didn’t exist ten years ago, but is now an object of desire for much of humanity. Ask
yourself, what actually makes an iPhone an iPhone?
It’s partly the cool design, user interphase, the attention to details, in the way the software
works and the hardware feels. But underneath the charming surface of the iPhone, there
are some critical elements that made it and all the other smartphones possible.
The economist Marianna Mazzucato has made a list of twelve key technologies that make
smartphones work.
One, tiny microprocessors. Two, memory chips. Three, Solid State hard drives. Four, liquid
crystal displays. Five, lithium-based batteries, that’s the hardware. And there are the
networks and software, so continuing to count, six, Fast Fourier Transform Algorithms.
These are clever bits of maths that make it possible to swiftly turn analogue signals such
as sound, visible light and radio waves into digital signals that a computer can handle.
Seven, and you might have heard of this one, the Internet. A smartphone isn’t a
smartphone without the Internet. Eight, HTTP and HTML, the languages and protocols that
turn the hard-to-use Internet into the easy-to-access world wide web. Nine, cellular
networks, otherwise your smartphone is not only that is not smart but is not even a phone.
Ten, Global Positioning System. Eleven, the touch screen. Twelve, Siri, the voice activated
artificial intelligence agent.
All of these technologies are important components of what makes an iPhone, or any
smartphone actually work. Some of them are not just important, but indispensable. But
when Marianna Mazzucato assembled this list of technologies and reviewed their history
she found something striking. The foundational figure in the development of the iPhone
wasn’t Steve Jobs, it was Uncle Sam. Every single one of these twelve key technologies
was supported in significant ways by governments, often the American Government.
Vocabulary
sheer – absolute, total, used for emphasising a word, ‘it’s been sheer hard work’
display – screen
clever – smart, intelligent
bit of sg.– small pieces of sg.
swiftly – quickly
striking – very surprising, unexpected
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