Idioms: technology

This ESL worksheet is dedicated to 12 idioms that are used when talking about technology. Students learn and practise them using the conversation questions and other communicative activities included in the worksheet. It can be combined with the worksheets: “Phrasal verbs: change and innovation”, “Phrasal verbs: technology“, and “Phrasal verbs: social media“.

The first activity introduces 4 idioms (e.g. a game-changer, digital divide, digital native) through a short text. Students work out the meaning of the idioms and match them to their definitions. To practise the target vocabulary, students are given 3 questions to complete with the correct idioms and use as conversation starters. Next, students are given a short dialogue, including the rest of the idioms (e.g. technological rabbit hole, a glitch in the system, a techno-optimist). To practise, students are given 3 statements to discuss. After that students complete 2 practice tasks: the first one is a gap-fill exercise, and in the second one they need to replace part of 3 sentences given with the correct idiom. The last activity is focused on speaking: students discuss the ways technology has changed different aspects of our lives. This ESL worksheet, together with the conversation cards can be used in various classes in order to practise these technology-related idioms. It would work great as an addition to lessons about technology, artificial intelligence, the internet, robots and automation.