[originaltext]W: Hey, Tom! Working hard or hardly working?M: Oh, come on, Judy

W: Hey, Tom! Working hard or hardly working?
M: Oh, come on, Judy. I’m still thinking about my semester paper...the one on how children pick up words through the media...I am being late. How about you?
W: Well, almost done. How are you planning to write it? Let me know, if I can help.
M: Oh, yes, absolutely! Why don’t you just send me a copy so that I can "copy and paste"...
W: You can’t be serious, Tom! The Professor will fail you!
M: Just kidding. Well, I’ve given it some thought and I think that the best approach is to divide the essay into three or four sections. First of all, I’d have to introduce the whole thing, the big picture by looking at some examples of each type of media, then get down to why and how...
W: Good beginning!
M: Yes, the most important part is implications describing how we can use each medium to facilitate the vocabulary learning...how children can learn new expressions from each one.
W: Exactly. Maybe we could draw up a table and look at examples of each medium in turn.
M: Good idea! Let’s see, the different forms of media would be...the print media...Here we’d have things like books, magazines, atlases, pamphlets, picture books, and newspapers, that sort of thing...
W: Um, make sense.
M: Urn, and especially the pictorial forms of print media...
W: And then there are what we call the audio-visual forms of media...
M: Oh, wait wait, what about CDs, tapes, radios, and even MP3s, where children can listen? They are audio forms of media...Lots of children have access to these, especially CDs, don’t they?
W: Oh, yes...But do you think they are helpful to vocabulary learning?
M: Maybe...let’s talk about that later...And this would lead into the audio-visual media, which can be seen as well as heard...film, television, DVD, MP4, iPod...and we mustn’t forget video tapes.
W: Yes, but there’s a final category as well...computers!
M: Oh, yes! Multi-media! How can I forget that?
W: It makes up the so-called electronic media. In developed nations like Japan, UK, Germany, and Australia, they say that one in two families has a computer now.
M: Yes, I believe...And US and Singapore, too. Well, that’s a good list to start with...we’re really getting somewhere with this essay now.
W: Then we can move on to when each type of medium could be used.
M: I guess we could start by trying to identify the best situation for each type of media and how. W: What do you mean?
M: I’m talking about whether each medium should be used with different sized groups, and how, if possible. For instance, if we take magazines and newspapers for example, we have to consider whether they’re more useful for individual learning, team work, or classroom vocabulary teaching.
W: Well, in this case, I’d say they are best with team work because individual children might find it hard to figure out all that much information.
M: Yes, that’s what I mean. Great minds think alike, hey? Let’s then take books and picture books next. Although they look ideal for individual children, I feel they’re best suited to small group work, too.
W: This way, children don’t feel isolated, because they can get help from their friends.
M: Maps, too...I think they’re better with small numbers of children and they’re hardly ever useful with a whole class.
W: Yes...but when can individual children learn by themselves?
M: Well, it’s hard to say. Team work is a quite popular concept in the circle of language learning now. Books and picture books maybe?
W: But they are best for a group of children...
M: Or maybe we can forget about individual learning, hey?
1. What is Tom’s term paper about?
2. In what case would the Professor fail Tom, according to Judy?
3. How many parts are there in Tom’s proposed essay?
4. Tom mentions many forms of media in their discussion. Which of the following is NOT one of them?
5. Why does Tom suggest they neglect individual learning at the end of the conversation?