Part 1-style questions 

Examiner: Do you enjoy using technology? 

Stephan: Well … I wouldn’t call myself a techie or a computer buff but I enjoy using computers … I’d like to find out more about how they work … when my computer crashes I never know what to do.

Examiner: Do you use the Internet for your studies? Sophie: Yes … I’d be lost without it … I do lots of video conferencing to practise speaking and social media like Facebook is a good way to meet up with other students … and I download podcasts that teach English vocabulary and grammar.

Examiner: Do you have your own computer? Tania: Yes … I have a Macbook Pro … I use it all the time … for word processing … browsing websites and catching up with TV programmes I’ve missed.

a techie: somebody who has an interest in technology

a computer buff: an expert computer user

a computer crash: the computer itself stops working or that a program aborts unexpectedly

video conferencing: to see and hear people from different locations using the Internet

social media: media used to interact with other people such as Facebook or Twitter

download (podcasts): to save a copy of a file from the internet to your own device

word processing; producing written texts on a computer

to browse websites: to look at websites

 

Part 2-style task

Describe an item of technology you have that is very important. You should say:

∙ what the technology is 

∙ when you got it

∙ how often you use it

and say how different your daily life would be without it. 

Mattie: I don’t have many gadgets … just a computer … a laptop and my mobile phone … but I’ll talk about my computer as it’s so useful … it’s funny really … 2 years ago I was still learning to use computers … how to use email … send attachments how to access websites … then I decided to do a digital editing course for video and photography … and so I bought the laptop when I started the course … my husband had a desktop PC but it was very slow so I decided to upgrade to a powerful one because we do a lot of video editing on the course … it’s a highspec laptop … very fast … the latest operating system … it boots up really quickly and it’s fun to use so it makes working a pleasure … I’ve become a competent computer user now … if I didn’t have it I daresay I’d have to spend more time at college using their computers … but on the positive side I suppose I’d read a lot more if I didn’t have it … I probably waste a lot of time surfing the web … but hopefully I won’t have to be without it …