In the good old days before computers, people read printed books and newspapers to get information. Students spent hours and hours in the library, looking for information in dusty old books for class assignments. Essays were handwritten; if students made a mistake, they would toss the paper and start writing all over again. Now? Information is instant! Students can find anything on the Internet in minutes and then compose a document on their laptops, all while sitting on the sofa. If they make a mistake, they can just delete or cut, copy, and paste to move bits of text around. Maybe the most important computer skill is knowing how to back up your files in case your computer crashes, or you drop your device in the lake. Documents and files can be sent to “the cloud” for storage. We’re not really sure what “the cloud” is, but we know it makes it easy to find stuff from any device! Ha, we remember when all we got from clouds was rain! We still like to keep another backup file, just to be doubly-sure that our hard work won’t be lost forever in cyberspace.
We also remember the library in the good old days. It was a place where everyone was quiet. Hum along to an iPod tune? Never! Send an e-mail while working? What’s e-mail? Watch a movie on the HDTV while you work? Impossible! Download MP3s to your hard drive or device? No! But now students can watch YouTube videos about their research topic as they write a paper. And as they are writing, they can IM friends in another window on their computer screen. A simple click of the mouse, hit SAVE, and students can take a quick chat break. Wait. Did you think we were talking about chatting with someone in the same room? No! We’re talking about online chat rooms. You don’t even need to hook up a webcam; just open an app and it’s party time instead of homework time!
Do we sound like dinosaurs? Actually, we love technology. With social networking apps, and cable and satellite signals, electronic devices and HDTVs can broadcast important local information instantly. In areas where severe weather is a problem, TV is an excellent source of warnings. Your local radio or TV station can give information about where to get help or what to do to keep your family and home safe. Hurricane updates can help you prepare your house. If a tornado is coming, you can get to a safe area. If there’s a snowstorm, people often turn to radio or TV to hear about school closings. School is closing? Yay! Quick—text your buddy the good news!
Technology is our friend! Instant communication is convenient, fun, and easy. But for those of us who still like to hold a piece of paper with the words of friends, there is always snail mail.
ALAN: Uh-oh.
LIA: That sounds like trouble. What happened?
ALAN: I was answering an e-mail, and I hit Reply All.
LIA: So, what’s the problem?
ALAN: Well, the problem is that my e-mail reply said, “I don’t want to go to this meeting! I want to go to lunch!”
LIA: Aaackkk! Were you thinking that the e-mail would just go to your friend?
ALAN: Yes! I wasn’t reading the other names on the list, so I didn’t see that the boss was also on the list!
LIA: Well, you really need to be careful about sending e-mail. Once you hit Send, it’s gone. You can’t get it back.
ALAN: I know. And even if the e-mail comes from a friend, I have to remember that there are other people on the list, too. The boss sent me a reply: “Is it your lunchtime, Alan?”
LIA: Well, I don’t think you’ll get fired over an e-mail that says you want to go to lunch, but maybe you should explain to your boss that you were only kidding. It was just a little joke about going to lunch instead of going to the meeting. Was he wondering why you were so hungry?
ALAN: No. He wasn’t wondering why I was hungry. I think he was wondering why he hired me in the first place!
| Tip 3 |
Before you reply to an e-mail, be sure to check if you are hitting Reply or Reply All. Reply All means your note will be seen by every person on the list. This could be embarrassing if you write something you don’t want your boss to see and his or her name is on the list! |
Pronunciation Pointer
They look exactly the same! They are spelled exactly the same way. But the present tense and the past tense of the verb read are pronounced very differently.
The present tense is pronounced reed.
The past tense is pronounced red.
Fun Fact!
It’s the latest thing: cell-phone sniffing dogs! Yes, many American prisons are using specially trained dogs that can smell and find any part of a cell phone that a prisoner may have hidden.
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acronym: a word formed by the first letters of a phrase
broadcast: air (send) information over TV or radio signals
cable: a way to receive TV service through fiber-optic wires
compose: write
dinosaur: ancient creatures that lived on earth millions of years ago; used to describe people who don’t use new technology
dusty: with a light covering of dirt
essay: a piece of writing about a single topic
good old days: how things were when you were younger
handwritten: written with a pen or pencil on paper!
HDTV: short for High Definition TeleVision; yields a very clear TV picture on the screen
hook up: connect
hum: sing a song without the words
instant: right away! this second! no waiting!
research: careful study about a topic
satellite: a way to receive TV service from satellites in space
severe: very harsh
signal: a message carried by light waves that lets electronic devices communicate (Don’t ask us —it’s science-y!)
snail mail: the postal service
sniffing: smelling
snowstorm (also blizzard): lots of snow
source: a place to get information
toss: throw in the trash
tune: a musical song or melody
warning: advance notice about something
YouTube: a website with videos about everything
back up: save your files in another place in case the computer stops working
click: the word we use to mean press the key (computer mouse button)
copy: the computer choice that lets you copy something you want to move
crash: when the computer stops working and you can’t open your files
cut: the computer choice that lets you remove something from a document
cyberspace: where computers all communicate (It’s a mystery to us :).)
delete: erase something you’ve written
desktop: a large computer that sits on a desk and does not move easily
document: something written on the computer
e-mail: electronic mail; notes you send from your computer
hard drive: the important part of the computer with all the parts that make it work
hit: a casual word meaning click
IM: Instant Message (If you write to a person who is online, they can answer instantly.)
laptop: a small computer that you can carry and use on your lap
mouse: a small device to make the computer do what you want (not a rodent!)
MP3: a file that lets you put music on your computer or iPod
online: connected to the Internet
paste: the computer choice that lets you move something you copied
Reply: what you click to answer e-mail; sends only to the person who sent the message
Reply All: what you click to answer e-mail if you want everyone on the list to get your message
save: the computer choice that keeps whatever you’re working on in a file
screen: the part of the computer that you look at; on a desktop it’s called the monitor
webcam: the camera that you connect to your computer
window: what you see on your screen when you open the computer
ASAP: as soon as possible
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