Do you fear the future?

In this C2 lesson plan, students will listen to an opinion on the future of technology and artificial intelligence.  They will also learn common vocabulary related to technology, and learn about other pieces of technology from the past, and how they changed the world. 

Warm-up discussion

The lesson starts with general questions about the near future of technology. 

Video: Are AI fears overblown?

To better understand a video, the student gets familiar with new vocabulary (parsimonious, overblown, deterministic, etc.) by matching it with the definitions. The student then practices pronunciation of these words by listening to their teacher and marking the stressed syllables. 

The student watches a video from Joe Rogan’s podcast – CEO Naval Ravikat says AI fears are overblown. After watching it, the student completes video comprehension practice.

Reading: The future of AI technology

The student reads a passage about the future of technology and answers reading comprehension questions. Next, the student reads the text again and identifies the words used to make predictions (conceivably, unquestionably, undoubtedly, etc.). They put these words onto the scale of certainty where they believe they belong. The student then uses them to complete predictions.

Reading: World-changing inventions 

The student reads and completes five texts about five world-changing inventions – the wheel, the nail, the printing press, the internal combustion engine, and the compass.

The lesson ends with a discussion about the student’s vision of the future world.