LEVEL: 3

SUITABLE FOR ADULTS / especially BUSINESS PEOPLE

Language functions:
Topic:
Grammar:

discussing issues; reading comprehension; talking about the past

electronic messaging; health
used to do sth

Youve got mail!

STUDENT WORKSHEET

focus on discussion
ACTIVITY 1 WHOLE GROUP

Discuss these questions.

1. How long have you been using email?

2. How have your communication habits changed since the

advent of email?

ACTIVITY 2 PAIRS

How often did you use different means of communication in the past and how
often do you use them now?
Write: never, hardly ever, sometimes, usually, quite often, often

10 YEARS AGO
traditional letters
postcards
telephone
text messaging
fax
Internet communicators

NOW
traditional letters
postcards
telephone
text messaging
fax
Internet communicators

Now present the information in the following way:

Example: I used to write traditional letters very often, but now I usually send
text messages.

www.english-4U.com: OCTOBER 2005

ACTIVITY 3 WHOLE GROUP or PAIRS

Email is undoubtedly an effective means of communication for business and

personal use but it has also some serious disadvantages. Which of them, in your
opinion, are most important?

ADVANTAGES:
1. Email is faster than ordinary mail; messages travel almost instantaneously.
2. Email is most effective in providing quick answers to yes and no type of questions.
3. Email is cheaper and less intrusive than traditional forms of communication,
especially in comparison to telephone calls.
4. Email is effective in finding the right person in an organisation or company.
5. Email can distribute information to many people during the same time that it takes to
email one person.
6. You can attach all kinds of different material to emails: pictures, video clips, music,
etc.
7. Using email you can communicate with other people enjoying the comfort of your
own home. There is no need to go to the post office and you can work at home.
8. Email communication is environmentally friendly we use less paper.
DISADVANTAGES:
1. You need access to the Internet.
2. Email can become time-consuming when answering complicated questions and
misunderstandings can arise because cultural differences in the interpretation of
certain words. The telephone, is much better for providing detailed answers or if you
feel that the question is not absolutely clear.
3. Email can compromise the security because sensitive information can be easily
distributed accidentally or deliberately.
4. Email can become impersonal or misunderstood.
5. Spam can be a real nuisance
6. Reading emails on a computer screen is physically more difficult.
7. Because email is such an effective means of communication, we receive more
messages and spend more time dealing with them than in case of traditional
correspondence.
8. Emails may contain viruses.
www.english-4U.com: OCTOBER 2005

focus on reading
ACTIVITY 4 INDIVIDUALLY > WHOLE GROUP DISCUSSION

The article below is about the effect of emails on our health. Can you guess what
kind of influence electronic messaging might have on our health? Read and check
if you were right. What do you think about the action presented in the article?

Getting fat @ work? Well, lay off the emails

by Robin McKie
The Observer, 16 October 2005

DOCTORS have hit on a cunning plan to transform fatties into slim-line wonders: stop
sending emails.

Health experts believe millions of hours of vital exercise are being lost every week thanks to
the explosion in electronic messaging.

Once we walked to a colleague's desk to pass on a filthy joke or reveal what the boss and his
secretary were doing in the photocopier room for three hours during the office Christmas
party. Now it is easier to tap a short note on the computer, hit the send button and the world
knows in seconds what has happened. It's great for gossip: bad for the figure.

As a result, Sport England, as part of its Everyday Sport campaign, is launching Email-Free
Friday this week. Employers, it says, should introduce a ban on internal emails and get staff
walking around their office presumably to complain that they can no longer send emails.

'We're losing millions of hours of exercise through the explosion of email,' said Dr Dorian
Dugmore, a health adviser to Sport England. 'People email colleagues who sit next to them,
never mind those who work on the other side of the office. We have to change people's lazy
attitudes.' Increasing activity levels by 10 per cent could save 6,000 lives and 500 million per
year, as well as leading to one million fewer obese people in England, it is argued.

The idea also reveals a growing antagonism felt by many bosses to electronic messaging. John
Caudwell, chief executive of Phone 4u, has banned his 2,500 staff from using email in the
office. 'We have email paralysis,' he said. 'If you have a cancer, you have to cut it out.'

www.english-4U.com: OCTOBER 2005

focus on vocabulary
ACTIVITY 5 PAIRS

Find the words and expressions in the article on page 3.

1. to stop using something (phrasal verb) lay off

2. tricking or deceiving people (adjective) cunning
3. informal word for a fat person (noun) fatty
4. necessary, essential (adjective) vital
5. to give something to somebody, especially after receiving it (phrasal verb) pass on
6. rude or offensive, usually connected with sex (adjective) filthy
7. an informal talk about other people (noun) gossip
8. a formal rule not allowing something (noun) ban
9. probably (adverb) presumably
10. fat (adjective) obese
11. to inform about something not know earlier (verb) reveal
12. feeling of hatred or opposition (noun) antagonism
13. group of people working for one organisation (noun) staff
14. to stop doing something (phrasal verb) cut out

www.english-4U.com: OCTOBER 2005