Hello. Can you decipher these acronyms?
WU? B4 K
ASAP HAND IMS WFM
BEG PLS THX
ATM HT LOLHere’s what an American worker writes about keeping touch with friends:
"How was work?" asked my mom yesterday. "Well, it was nice to touch base with everyone," I said. "Oh, because you were emailing back and forth about work?" "We don't email, Mom, we IM each other, and mostly we're just talking about life." "Yeah, email is so slow," she commented.
Discuss with your partner:
Q1. How do you feel about IM?
Q2. Is it okay to use it in the workplace? If yes, what are the rules?
Task 1. Pre-reading: Think of three benefits of IM-ing in the workplace.
Benefits
1.
2.
3.
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benefits
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benefits
Task 2.Reading: You’ll read about the various benefits that there are to IM. Put the labels below next to the benefit it matches in the text.
Benefits
1. can’t be ignored
2. easier to open up
3. establish better working relationships
4. instant replies and availability
5. it’s cheaper
6. multitasking
7. quicker because less formal
8. the notion of ''presence'
9. you can easily keep a conversation private when people are around
Instant Messaging Leaves School for Office
By AMY HARMON
Instant messaging, long associated with teenagers staying up late to chat online with friends, is moving into the workplace with an impact that has started to rival e-mail and the cellphone.
Less intrusive than a phone call and more immediate than e-mail, instant messaging grew by more than 50 percent in the last year alone, so that nearly one-third of American adults are now IM-ing, as it is called, with their children, clients, colleagues and each other.
Unlike e-mail, which caught on widely only after corporations began training employees to use it, instant messaging is infiltrating the workplace from the bottom up, by way of employees themselves.
The BENEFITS of im
1. …………………………………………….. Many IM users rave about the ability to do different things at their desks while also engaging in a continuing electronic conversation. You can chat with several people at once, you can browse the Internet, and do other work on your computer at the same time.
BeLynda Lee-Jensen, a product marketing coordinator at Sharp Microelectronics, said instant-messaging software helped her negotiate sales, because she can be using IM with a colleague while on a conference call with a distributor, and discuss strategy on IM, e.g. A: ''I don't believe Intel is at that cost,” B: “Yeah, they're not telling the truth about this,''
2. …………………………………………….. A major thing is the ability to be in constant peripheral contact with the characters that defines one's life. That’s what makes IM such a powerful and appreciated form of communication.
3. …………………………………………….. ''You say things through IM that you wouldn't dare say in face-to-face contact or even on the telephone where you can hear each other's voice,'' Ms. Keomurjian said. ''Between colleagues I think it's great because it helps you establish a relationship where you might be too shy in person.''
4. …………………………………………….. Timothy Lim, an associate at J. P. Morgan Chase, also said instant messaging helped him establish better working relationships with colleagues in London. Previously, he would wait until a regularly scheduled conference call to ask questions. Now, he said, ''we IM all the time.''
5. …………………………………………….. Deborah Woodall said she had been using instant messaging to communicate with her husband, who has been in Japan for three weeks, rather than talk on the phone because it is cheaper.
6. …………………………………………….. Deborah Woodall, an administrative assistant in Sharp's Camas, Wash., office, said she liked IM's because they're harder to ignore. '' 'Oh, I didn't get that e-mail,' How many times have you heard that?'' Ms. Woodall said. ''There's no excuse with this.''
7. …………………………………………….. Clients, Mr. Beckman said, appreciate receiving an instant reply to a question, and he likes being able to see which of his partners and employees are available at any given time.
8. …………………………………………….. And the etiquette of instant messaging does not require the compulsory niceties that eat up time on the phone: ''One thing about the telephone is the first thing you're supposed to say is ''how's the wife and kids?'' Mr. Beckman said. ''With instant messaging you can just say, 'I want this.' ''
9. …………………………………………….. And in the crowded workplaces so common at Wall Street investment banks ''where you sit on top of each other so you can't have an audible conversation about something you're not supposed to, it's pretty useful,'' said one banker.
As people who already have IM software urge other friends and colleagues to get it so that they can add them to their list of contacts, its growth has spread like a virus.
David Beckman, a lawyer at Beckman & Hirsch, a firm in Burlington, Iowa, said he installed instant messaging with some trepidation (=anxiety) when he needed to stay in contact with an employee who was working from a different location. ''I came at instant messaging like this was going to be horrible. But honestly, it's the most productive thing I've ever seen'' Mr. Beckman said.
Task 3. Vocabulary: Spread of IM-ing
The expressions below were taken out from the article. They all refer to the spread of IM-ing. Put them in groups according to meaning:
1. by way of employees
2. caught on widely
3. from the bottom up
4. I came at instant messaging like (go on to describe your initial reaction)
5. Infiltrate the workplace
6. it has spread like a virus
7. rave about
8. started to rival e-mail
9. urge friends to
Spreading People’s actions and reactions
Speaking: How do you remember the early days of IM-ing in Hungary, and your first encounter with it?
Task 4. Vocabulary: Communicating. Put together the parts.
1. IM-ing in a continuing electronic conversation
2. receive to-face contact
3. reply an instant reply
4. discuss things through IM
5. have an base with everyone
6. engaging each other
7. in face- to a question
8. be on a conference call with
9. stay a situation which)
10. be available at audible conversation
11. where (in in contact with
12. working and forth
13. establish any given time
14. touch better relationships with
15. emailing back relationship
Speaking: Say something about your IM use with each keyword. If you don’t use IM, talk about emailing.
· IM-ing
· be available
· (in) face-to-face communication
· discuss * through IM
· touch base with
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kisdobos 2008.01.16. 11:01:01
CLASS 3.1: Solutions to Hello!
WU? -------- What's up?
B4 -------- before
K -------- Okay
ASAP -------- As soon as possible
HAND -------- Have a Nice Day
IMS -------- I'm sorry
WFM -------- Works for me
BEG -------- Big evil grin
PLS -------- Please
THX -------- Thanks
ATM -------- At the moment
HT --------Hi there
LOL --------Laugh out loud
CLASS 3.1: Solutions to Task 2
1. multitasking
2. the notion of ''presence'
3. easier to open up
4. establish better working relationships
5. it’s cheaper
6. can’t be ignored
7. instant replies and availability
8. quicker because less formal
9. you can easily keep a conversation private when people are around
CLASS 3.1: Solutions to Task 3
Spreading
started to rival e-mail
Infiltrate the workplace
caught on widely
it has spread like a virus
by way of employees
from the bottom up
People’s actions and reactions
urge friends to
rave about
I came at instant messaging like [your initial reaction], but then
CLASS 3.1: Solutions to Task 4
1. IM-ing each other
2. receive an instant reply
3. reply to a question
4. discuss things through IM
5. have an audible conversation
6. engaging in a continuing electronic conversation
7. in face-to-face contact
8. be on a conference call with
9. stay in contact with
10. be available at any given time
11. where (in a situation which)
12. working relationships
13. establish better relationships with
14. touch base with everyone
15. emailing back and forth