GO PAPERLESS.- Communicative activities.


iDevice icon Situation
Reloj sin números sobre una prez de madera.

Listen to the situation.

Script

Lourdes and Susana get home after a long day at work and they are exhausted. This is for them the worst part of living in London: They get up very early, spend the day at work and when they get home it is already dark outside. However, this is their favourite part of the day since they can do whatever they want without having parents or bosses around telling them what to do. Lourdes for example spends most of her free time on the Internet chatting with friends and uploading profile pictures for her msn account. Susana on the contrary loves reading and she could stay awake all night if she didn’t have to get up early in the morning.

Lourdes: “Oh my God! I’m exhausted! I’m going to relax for a while and then I’ll go online, I want to upload those beautiful pictures we took last Saturday at Buckingham Palace!”
Susana: “Oh yeah! That was really fun!” Do you remember those soldiers? They looked so funny just standing there all the time! I wonder what happens if one of them needs to go to the bathroom! He, he!” (Susana laughs).
Lourdes: “And what are you doing Susana? Do you have any plans for tonight?” Lourdes asks.
Susana: “Yes! I’m going out with my boyfriend to a pub and then... He, he... I wish I had a boyfriend! No, I think I’m just reading for a change! I still have that magazine I bought the other day, so I think it can be a good way to relax this evening!

iDevice icon Think about it

And you? What do you usually do when you get home after a long day at work or school? Enter the forum and tell your classmates about it, who knows, you might have many things in common!

Logotipo del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Junto a una banda vertical que representa esquemáticamente la bandera de Europa y otra que representa la bandera de España, aparece el escudo de España, y el texto: Gobierno de España. Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte.
Materiales formativos de FP Online propiedad del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte.

1.- Reading Exercise.

iDevice icon Situation

While Lourdes uploads some pictures on facebook, Susana lies on the sofa and takes the magazine she bought the other day on her way to the office. This magazine is about science and technology, something Susana is crazy about. This month's article seems quite interesting because it deals with the office of the future and it compares it to the traditionally-old one, aren't you curious to read what does it say about it?

Impresora con varios pos-it, el central con el texto 'this is a paperless office...'.

Go paperless!!

The concept of the office of the future dates from the 1940s. It is also known as the "paper-less office", but sixty years after the phrase "paperless office" is discredited somewhat. Research and development around the idea continues under the name "office of the future", with quite a few new ideas.

From the very beginning, the traditional office has always had paper-based filling systems, which included filing cabinets, folders and shelves, which all take up a lot of space, requiring maintenance and equipment. In contrast, a paperless office could simply have a desk, chair, and computer with an Internet connection and all the information would be stored in digital form.

According to experts, the future office will be increasingly mobile and flexible to meet changing business needs. Core teams will manage employees working from diverse locations — from home offices to temporary business spaces to cafés. Professionals who are able to create new products and services and identify more efficient ways to work will be among the most marketable. The most important skills and abilities for administrative professionals can be summed up with the acronym ACTION. This stands for Analysis, Collaboration, Technical aptitude, Intuition, Ongoing education and Negotiation.

IDevice Question Icon Now it's your turn

Read the text again and answer the following questions:


The term "office of the future" is …

Quite a new term.
A very old-fashioned term.
A term dating from the 1940s.

"Paperless office" means …
An office full of newspapers.
An office without wallpaper.
A digital office.

According to experts, the future office …
will be based in a comfortable and relaxing place like a café.
will be flexible and adaptable to change.
will be installed at home.

Innovation is …
the key factor to success.
is not important in business.
is not as important as flexibility.

The acronym ACTION …
underlines the importance of flexibility and mobility at work.
is a combination of the most important skills at work.
combines Analysis and Technical attitude as the most important skills at work.

2.- Listening Exercise.

iDevice icon Situation
Grafiti sobre una pared blanca de unos auriculares, cuyo cable forma la firma.

Lourdes has been online for a while and she decides to turn the radio on so that she can practice a little bit of listening. When she is surfing through the channels looking for some good music, Susana shouts:

–Lourdes, please don't change it! What a coincidence! They are talking about the paperless office! Let's listen to it!

Lourdes looks at her in despair and says:

–Fun! Yeahhh! Come on Susana this is really boring!
–Sshhhh! –Susana whispers– the programme is about to start!
–OK! I'll go on with the pictures! –Lourdes answers angrily.

IDevice Question Icon Now it's your turn

Listen to “In the Pipeline” a famous British radio programme.

Today's discussion is about the Paperless Office. Listen carefully and answer the questions below. Have fun!

The Paperless Office.


What are technologies such as digital paper or electronic ink being developed for?

To be used along with other books and journals.
To replace book editions and journals.
To make work more accessible to people.

Montage states that his office is "awash with paper", what does it mean?
That his office is full of paper.
That he works in a digital office with no paper around.
That he works with both digital and paper documents.

Mark Balnaves argues that...
people are more and more concerned about nature, and they tend to use less paper.
a new law is coming to replace our obsession with using so much paper.
even today, offices are crowded with paper.

According to Bonwyn Clark, Mr. Balnaves discovered that...
even IT people use tons of paper.
IT people are the ones who never use paper at all.
"technologically able" members are trying to convince society about the necessity of changing our attitude.
iDevice icon Think about it

What about you? What do you think about the paperless office? Do you think it will be implemented in all countries? What about Spain? Enter the forum and share your opinion with your classmates.

3.- Speaking Exercise.

iDevice icon Think about it
Cuadro reminiscente del futuro.

Enter the forum.

Imagine you are at the canteen with some colleagues talking about life in the future: the future man, future jobs etc. Think about it for a while and then record your voice. When you are happy with your recording, send it to your teacher. Try to sound natural!

4.- Writing Exercise.

Placa de una cápsula del tiempo, con texto en inglés.

According to Wikipedia, “A time capsule is a historic cache of goods and/or information, usually intended as a method of communication with future people and to help future archaeologists, anthropologists, and/or historians.” However, a time capsule can also be used to predict the future.

Imagine you are a scientist and someone has asked you to build a time capsule in which you predict life in the future. how do you think buildings will look like? And cars? How different our lives will be? Use your imagination!

Appendix.- Licenses of resources.

Licenses of resources used in Communicative Activities.
Resource (1) Resource information (1) Resource (2) Resource information (2)
Reloj sin números sobre una prez de madera.

By: Damemusic.

License: CC by-nc-sa 2.0.

From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31332713@N04/3086719615/

Impresora con varios pos-it, el central con el texto 'this is a paperless office...'.

By: bur76 (Riccardo Cambiassi).

License: CC by-nc 2.0.

From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bru/2967030367/

Grafiti sobre una pared blanca de unos auriculares, cuyo cable forma la firma.

By: Xurxo Martínez.

License: CC by-ndc-sa 2.0.

From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seretuaccidente/539151490/

Cuadro reminiscente del futuro.

By: MinimalistPhotography101.com.

License: CC by 2.0.

From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/artbystevejohnson/4647538238/

Placa de una cápsula del tiempo, con texto en inglés.

By: Spatch.

License: CC by-nc 2.0.

From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spatch/321094046/