UNIT 6
FUTURE TRENDS
STRATEGIES FOR
IN THIS UNIT YOU LANGUAGE
LANGUAGE
WILL FOCUS
LEARNING
• Will (forecasts and
• Learn and use ways to • Making predictions predictions)
express prediction of • Using language in • Expressions ranging
future trends context from approx. 100% to
• Express degrees of approx. 0% of certainty
certainty
SKILLS TO COMMUNICATIVE
WORD POWER
DEVELOP TASKS
• Questions and answers:
• Listening: Economic • Vocabulary related finding out about missing
predictions, Bob Green, to economy and forecasts
people talking about the telecommuting:
future 1, Office, company, • Class survey
telecommuting, people internet, cost of
talking about the future living, cash,
2 electronic
• Reading: Beyond immigrants, etc.
2060, satisfied
companies and
employees expand the
world of telecommuting
• Writing: gap-filling,
class survey, writing
your opinion about
topics
1
Economic predictions
Match the words in the box to the illustrations.
food prices - petrol prices - housing costs - wages - unemployment
1_________ 2_________ 3_________ 4__________ 5__________
12
10
8 1
6 2
3
4
4
2 5
0
This year Next Year
1. Unemployment will fall next year……….____
2. Wages will decrease next year…………...____
3. Housing costs will rise next year………..____
4. Petrol prices will increase next year…….____
5. Food prices will go down next year……. ____
Now listen and check your answers. (Track 11)
2
LANGUAGE
Study these examples
will (forecasts and predictions)
Petrol prices increase slightly.
Unemployment will (’ll) rise slowly.
Wages will not go up/ down rapidly.
Food prices (won’t) decrease dramatically.
Housing costs fall
Read this paragraph and CIRCLE the correct tense in italics.
Here are our Economic Predictions for Next Year
Housing prices rise / will rise, and food prices increase / will increase as well.
There is some goods news – this year, wages didn’t rise / won’t rise very much,
but next year wages go up / will go up dramatically. Other good news is that
unemployment will go down / goes down and the price of petrol falls / will fall.
Listen to Bob Green, an economics expert, talking about his
forecast for the economy for next year. Do these economic
indicators go up (↑) or down (↓)? Make notes of the reasons he
gives. (Track 12)
ECONOMIC INDICATOR / REASON
Inflation
Interest rates
Production
Exports
Imports
Investment
3
Match the words in the box to the illustrations.
smart cards / cash / service industries / electronic immigrants information
__________ ________ _________ __________ _________
Complete this article about the future with the words in
the box above.
BEYOND 2060
Computers have changed the way we live and work,
and in the future, the rate of change is expected to
increase. For example, no one will use
____________________(1) in the future, except for
very small transactions such as buying a newspaper. Instead,
____________________ (2) – plastic cards that contain a microprocessor
and a memory will replace cash, credit cards and most forms of
identification.
• It’s not only cash that will disappear. In the past, the most important
commodities have been things like oil, coal, metals, and agricultural produce.
The most important commodity in many industries in the future will be
____________________. (3)
• By the year 2020, 95 % of jobs will be in ____________________ (4)
and will require workers who can use computers and other information-
processing technologies. These industries, including financial and insurance
industries as well as leisure industries, will continue to grow while traditional
industries become less important.
• The new global workers of the future will be
_______________________. (5) These workers will telecommute over
great distances. It will be possible to work for a company in Kuala Lumpur
from your home in Venezuela!
Expressing certainty about future events
I’m certain/sure it will/won’t happen.
I expect it will/won’t happen.
It’s possible it will/won’t happen.
I think /don’t think it will happen.
4
Write your opinion about these statements
Reading Your opinion Recording
1. Cash will become I don’t think cash will
unnecessary. become unnecessary.
2. Smart cards will
replace credit cards.
3. Information will be
the most important
commodity.
4. Many people will
work in the service
industries.
5. We will all be
electronic immigrants.
Now listen to a recording of people talking about the future.
Write their opinions in the table above. (Track 13)
5
THE NEW OFFICE?
Where would you rather do your work: a nice coffeehouse or a busy office?
More and more, people can do their work with a good cup of coffee in the friendly
environment of their local coffeehouse. With a powerful laptop and mobile phone,
it isn’t necessary to be tied to a desk anymore.
Next time you’re out for a coffee, look around you. That man in the corner
could be an advertising executive writing an advertisement that you’ll be seeing
on TV soon. That woman in a dark coat talking to a man could be discussing his
pension. And the young woman typing away could be finishing a business
proposal! It’s certainly a new world, and you could join it more easily than you
think.
According to a survey, 7.6 million Americans now work at home or away
from a traditional office. Many organizations realize that people like working away
from the office and are trying to create incentives to encourage more people to
telecommute. As well as making workers happier, it reduces pollution as fewer
people travel to work.
But it’s not a perfect life. One telecommuter, who finds he can concentrate
better in a coffeehouse than at home, complained about the lack of electrical
outlets. Another person at work on her computer said that she didn’t like to feel
under pressure to buy something. Both admitted, however, that these were minor
difficulties compared with the problems they used to face in a big office.
Coffeehouses provide the sense of community that the office used to
provide, but without the stress. They may be great places to relax, concentrate,
meet friends and business contacts, but they are business, too, and they rely on
customers buying their products. But where else could you get your work done,
enjoy doing it, have good company, great coffee, and all for less than the cost of
driving to work every day?
Complete with words from the passage:
a. If people work outside the office they will reduce_________________.
b. A coffee house is a friendly _________________.
c. People don’t like to feel under __________________.
d. A _________________uses a laptop and his/her cell phone to do his office
e. activities.
f. Nowadays many __________________work at home or outside the office
6
Look for some words in this unit and then find the hidden words in
ENGLISH.
inteligentes I N T E R E S T S H U O E P D
U F F G B E S A F T U C J M H
intereses
W X Y Z H P O R A G A K O B B
efectivo
A Q W Z L P T R M L X T Y X Z
más allá T T N E M Y O L P M E N U O P
caer Y U I O P A S E D E F G H J L
R E W Q M N R L H Y T V B T K
gasolina
K M L U R W F S Q C S R T H D
ambiente C T M L J R A Y M U I E O G N
reemplazar S A E W W C L G V A R L D L O
H G A R A H L F T N R Y Y B Y
confiar
F H V X G Z Z Z R T Q T Q Q E
salarios O K T N E M N O R I V N E U B
desempleo K B F R S Y U C Z X X X R H M
E Y U O P G L J F V Z R J K L
According to the text above, answer in SPANISH the following questions
1. - What is the text about?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
2. - Write down three main ideas from the text:
1._______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
2._______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
3._______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
