Internet Basics for ESL Students
Lesson 2
Hardware and Internet Software

What is inside your computer? What are the names of the different parts?

Computer chips are now everywhere - in cars, watches, toasters so maybe everyone used a computer today.

key vocabulary: chip, RAM, LAN, WAN, memory, hard drive, cables, ports, Pentium, SCSI, sound card, MB, GB.

Dictionary

• The Wordsmyth English Dictionary-Thesaurus

---

Dialogue 1 - Jim is at a store buying a computer.

Pair work. Practice the conversation. Clerk: May I help you? Jim: Yes, I want to buy a new computer. Clerk: How much RAM do you need? How big a hard drive will you need? Jim:Well, Windows 95 needs at least 32 MBs RAM, and I'll be using a lot of word processors and game programs. Clerk: I recommend a Pentium 300 with an 8 GB hard drive.

---

Pair work: What kind of computer do you want? If you have a computer, what do you have?

---

Dialogue 2

Pair work. Practice the conversation. Jim: Does this desktop come with a monitor? Clerk: Yes, a 15 inch monitor is included, but I suggest buying a 17 inch one instead. Jim: What kind of sound card does it have? Clerk: It has a Sound Blaster 16.

Group work: discussion - What kind of computers have you used?

---

Reading: When only a few computers are hooked together, usually in a single office or building, the result is called a Local Area Network (LAN). When the computers are connected over a greater distance, for example sales offices throughout a city, the result is called a Wide Area Network (WAN). Connecting all of these LANs and WANs together results in an Internet. The Internet is the world wide connection of all different kinds of networks. A new kind of network is emerging for businesses called an intranet. This refers to all the computers in a company sharing data using the same kind of system as the Internet.

---

Match:

LAN	a. Megabyte
RAM	b. Small Computer System Interface
SCSI	c. Local Area Network
WAN	d. Gigabyte
MB	e. Random Access Memory
GB	f. Wide Area Network

Check your answers c - LAN e - RAM b - SCSI f - WAN a - MB d - GB

---

Dialogue 3.

Pair work. Practice the conversation. Clerk: Which computer do you want? Jim: I want an IBM. Will I be able to use MAC and NEC software on it? Clerk: Most big software packages are multi-platform. You won't be able to use MAC and NEC formatted floppies. Jim: That's okay. I'll take this one.

---

Activity: Using the Internet to learn English

a. visit the ESL Home Page
b. learn an idiom at the Virtual Language Center
c. stop by the ESL Cafe and visit some ESL students' pages

---

Group discussion: Was the Internet a good place to learn? What did you learn? What are some of the problems studying English on the Internet. If you could write a web page, what would it have on it?