UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA DE BUCARAMANGA-MinTIC
LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT
READING ACTIVITY WEEK 1
STUDENT’S NAME: __________________________________ DATE: May 7th TIME: 4 hours
TOPIC: Computer programming
Reading Skills: Identifying vocabulary; Fluency; Comprehension
AIMS: Students will be able to identify technical vocabulary presented in A1-A2 level passages.
Students will be able to answer questions related to the passage read.
Students will be able to improve their reading fluency.
Students will be able to summarize the information presented in the passage through a chart.
MATERIALS: Internet, Microsoft Teams platform, Moodle platform.
Key Words:
[Link]
Write down the words and then go to [Link] dictionary and look for their meaning
in English:
INSTRUCTIONS PROGRAMMER SEQUENCE TASK SOFTWARE REPETITION SELECTION COMPUTER
LANGUAGE OPERATIVE SYSTEM PROGRAMMING TOOLS
What is programming?
There are many different definitions of computer programming, but Martin O'Hanlon's is simple...
There are countless definitions of what computer programming is, but the one I use is:
“Programming is how you get computers to solve problems.”
There are two key phrases here which are important:
You: without the programmer (you), the computer is useless. It does what you tell it to do.
Solve problems: computers are tools. They are complex tools, admittedly, but they are not mysterious or
magical: they exist to make tasks easier.
Computer programs (or software) are what make computers work. Without software, modern computers are just
complicated machines for turning electricity into heat. It’s software on your computer that runs your operating
system, browser, email, games, and movie player – just about everything.
Programming is a creative task: there is no right or wrong way to solve a problem, in the same way that there is no
right or wrong way to paint a picture. There are choices to be made, and one way may seem better than another,
but that doesn’t mean the other is wrong! With the right skills and experience, a programmer can craft software to
solve an unlimited number of problems – from telling you when your next train will arrive to playing your favorite
music. The possibilities are controlled only by your imagination. That’s why I love programming.
When you create a program for a computer, you give it a set of instructions, which it will run one at a time in order,
precisely as given. If you told a computer to jump off a cliff, it would!
1. turn and face the cliff
2. walk towards the cliff
3. stop at the edge of the cliff
4. jump off the cliff
Computers never get bored and are really good at doing the same thing over and over again. Instruction 2 above
can look like this:
2a. left foot forward
2b. right foot forward
2c. go back to 2a
These three concepts are the basic logical structures in computer programming:
1. Sequence: running instructions in order
2. Selection: making choices
3. Repetition: doing the same thing more than once
Add to these concepts the ability to deal with inputs and outputs and to store data, and you have the tools to solve
the majority of all computing problems.
Programming Languages
Unfortunately, computers don’t understand languages like English or Spanish, so we have to use a programming
language they understand to give them instructions.
There are many different programming languages, all of which have their own merits, and certain languages are
more appropriate to particular types of task, but there is no one language which is the ‘best’.
……. Python is one of a group of languages called “general-purpose programming languages”, which can be used to
solve a wide variety of problems. Other popular languages in this category are C, Ruby, Java and BASIC.
Passage taken form: [Link]
WHILE READING
Identify and match the following images to the words in the box.
selection tools
right or wrong repetition
solve input and output
sequence task
store instructions
Answer the following questions:
a) What is programming? ________________________________________________
b) When do we use programming? ________________________________________
c) Is programming important? ____________________________________________
1. Vocabulary Exercise:
Go to [Link] and answer the five (5) questions about
programming.
Read the passage one more time and pay special attention to the programming language part of
the passage.
Choose one (1) of them and go to the corresponding link and fill in the following chart
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE:
PARADIGM
TYPING DISCIPLINE
OPERATIVE SYSTEM
FILENAME EXTENSIONS
RUBY: [Link]
PYTHON: [Link]
JAVA: [Link]
C: [Link]
POST READING EXERCISES
1. Online Exetcise: COMPUTER PROGRAMMING KEY WORDS
Matching Exercise to summarize concepts.
2. Computer Parts Worksheet
Answer the following short questionnaire:
1. What is Ruby?
a. A game b. A programming language c. An actress
2. What is programming?
a. It is how you get computers to solve problems
b. It is buying computers
c. It is watching programs
3. What is sequence?
a. Making choices b. Running instructions in order c. Doing the same thing
4. What is repetition?
a. Running instructions in order b. Making choices c. Doing the same things
more than once
5. What is selection?
a. Making choices b. Doing the same things more than once
c. Running instructions in order
