Internet
The internet has placed a vast quantity of authentic materials at the fingertips of English language teachers. While, in the past, topical, authentic texts were almost impossible to obtain unless the teacher was based in an English-speaking country, teachers now find themselves spoilt for choice in terms of both audio and text. Some suggestions about ways in which teachers can use material obtained from the net can be found in our article which describes how to create a topical class.
Although nearly all material on the web will be subject to copyright protection, many jurisdictions give specific exemptions for teaching purposes.
Furthermore many schools and institutions now use the net as an ancillary (or even primary) teaching resource.
New vocabulary
IT (Information Technology) and now ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has produced many new concepts in language – verbs, nouns, acronyms, etc. Possibly the most important of these are related to the Internet and internet slang
- @ = at
- blogs = web logs
- B2B = Business to Business;
- CPU = central processing unit
- C2B = Client to Business;
- cyber- as a prefix as in cyberspace, etc.
- diskette
- e-business; e-commerce; e-government; e-learning, etc.
- FAQs = frequently asked questions
- hyper- for hyperlink, etc.
- forward slash = /
- google = search Internet using a web search engine
- hard disk
- ISP = internet service provider
- PC
- phishing
- phreaking
- P2P = Peer to Peer
- SMS = short messaging service or texting
- spam – verb and noun
- texting = text messaging (SMS)
- URL = universal resource location
- Wiki
- WYSIWYG = what you see is what you get;
The forms Website, website, Web site, and web site are all used and there is no standard format, although the W3C uses Web site. One solution is to use the term URL (which is the http:// bit), but remember to include the www., if there is one, because not all URLs contain it;
1. Web sites: Many URLs finish in .com – we say dot com (NOT XXXXdot.com) because that would be dot dot com!
2. e-mail addresses: jsmith@teflpedia.com = jsmith at teflpedia dot com
Note:
- The dictionary is available on line. (adverb)
- An online/on-line dictionary. (adjectives)
See also
References
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