Tech giants woo 15-year-old whizzkid (26th January, 2015)

Tech giants Facebook and Google are in competition to attract the talents
of a 15-year-old app developer. Australian teenager Ben Pasternak
sparked the interest of the companies after he designed an app for a
game called Impossible Rush. The app has been downloaded more than
500,000 times since its launch in October. The addictive game managed
to climb higher than Vine and Twitter on the App Store charts. Pasternak
has been invited by Facebook's internship department for a tour of the
company's headquarters in California. He is also being wooed by Google,
whose vice president has asked him to come to visit its campus. Both
companies hope Ben could be one of their future developers.
Mr Pasternak is one of 450 high-school-aged entrepreneurs accepted on a
Google and MIT sponsored event called Hack Generation Y. The highschoolers have been invited from ten countries across the world. They will
collaborate on a 36-hour project to create a sellable product. They will
also listen to featured speakers from the technology and hacking world.
Michael Matias, the organiser of the event, said: "Pasternak is a young
entrepreneur and clearly ambitious. He has shown the world that age is
just a number." He added that: "[Pasternak's] iPhone app was extremely
impressive and if we were to guess, we would never imagine it was run by
a 15-year-old."

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.

Google and Facebook are wooing a 15-year-old U.S. app developer.

The game designed by the teen is called the Possible Rush.
The app has been downloaded more than half a million times.
The vice-president of Google invited the teen to the Google campus.
Another 449 teens are attending a hacking event with the whizzkid.
High-schoolers from 36 countries are attending the event.
The high-schoolers will listen to speakers talking about hacking.
The app works only on Andoid phones and not iPhones.

T/F
T/F
T/F
T/F
T/F
T/F
T/F
T/F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1.
2
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

attract
sparked
addictive
internship
wooed
entrepreneurs
event
collaborate
organiser

a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.

apprenticeship
function
courted
lure
cooperate
arranger
ignited
outstanding
compulsive

10.

impressive

j.

business people

TECH GIANTS: What do you think of these tech giants? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change
partners often and share what you wrote.
Good things

Bad things

Google
Facebook
Apple
Twitter
Microsoft
Yahoo!

SCHOOL DEBATE:
Students A strongly believe all elementary school children should learn coding as it will be a
key skill in the future.
Students B strongly believe otherwise, as it is a waste of time when there are many subjects
to focus on first.

Tech giants Facebook and Google are (1) ___________ competition to

attract the (2) ___________ of a 15-year-old app developer. Australian
teenager Ben Pasternak (3) ___________ the interest of the companies
after he designed an app for a game called Impossible Rush. The app has
been downloaded more than 500,000 times (4) ___________ its launch in
October. The addictive game managed to (5) ___________ higher than
Vine and Twitter on the App Store charts. Pasternak has been invited by
Facebook's (6) ___________ department for a tour of the company's
headquarters in California. He is also being (7) ___________ by Google,
whose vice president has asked him to come to visit its (8) ___________.
Both companies hope Ben could be one of their future developers.

since
talents
internship
in
campus
sparked
wooed
climb

Mr Pasternak is one of 450 high-school-aged entrepreneurs (9)

___________ on a Google and MIT sponsored event called Hack
Generation Y. The high-schoolers have been (10) ___________ from ten
countries across the world. They will (11) ___________ on a 36-hour
project to create a sellable product. They will also listen to featured
speakers from the technology and (12) ___________ world. Michael
Matias, the organiser of the (13) ___________, said: "Pasternak is a
young entrepreneur and clearly ambitious. He has shown the world that

hacking
accepted
guess
invited
run
event
collaborate
number

age is just a (14) ___________." He added that: "[Pasternak's] iPhone app

was extremely impressive and if we were to (15) ___________, we would
never imagine it was (16) ___________ by a 15-year-old."

STUDENT A's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)

What did you think when you read the headline?

What springs to mind when you hear the word 'app'?
How important are apps to you?
How important or useful is it to be able to code?
How good is it that 15-year-olds can now make it in business?
What do you think Ben's future will be like?
What's your favourite app and why?
What would you like to see if you visited Google's campus?
Would it be better to work for Facebook or Google?
How do you think Ben feels about being wooed by tech giants?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

11)
12)
13)
14)
15)
16)
17)
18)
19)
20)

Did you like reading this article? Why/not?

What was the best thing you do as a high-schooler?
What do you think of hacking?
What are the good things that hackers do?
How do young people get so good at coding and making apps?
How ambitious are you?
If you became an entrepreneur, what field would you enter?
What kind of 15-year-old were you?
Are apps good or bad?
What questions would you like to ask Ben Pasternak?

List as many words as possible that you associate with;

HACK
COMPUTER
WEB
IT
ENGINEER
APP

APPS SURVEY
Write five GOOD questions about apps in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions
on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

Q.1.

Q.2.

Q.3.

Q.4.

Q.5.

STUDENT 1

STUDENT 2

STUDENT 3

_____________

_____________

_____________