“What’s the Point of That?” Useless Inventions
A lesson concerning useless inventions — featuring some of the strange and impractical inventions of Matt Benedetto and introduces some new adjectives.
Level: Advanced
Duration: 15 mins
Theme: English, technology
Tasks: Comprehension exercises, video, vocabulary builder
Teacher/Student Answers: Here.
Exercise 1
Discuss these questions with a teacher or fellow student, or answer them yourself.
- What does “invaluable” mean? (is it something very useful, or totally useless?) What things can we say have value?
- Have you ever tried to invent something?
- Do companies sometimes try and get you to buy products that are not very useful? How do you feel about this?
Exercise 2
Watch the video below, and look out for the answers to these questions. Also, make a note of language you do not know:
- What was the first invention Matt “put out into the World?”
- What does the “Jiffy Cuts” do?
- Why was Matty sent a “Cease and Desist” by Crocs Ltd?
Exercise 3
Look at some of these inventions. Feel free to look up the words if you don’t understand them:
THEN 1) Describe the inventions with the adjectives below. You may have to look some of them up:
Freaky, avant-garde, vital, accessible, hair-brained, innovative, solar-punk, obsolete
2) Decide if these inventions are REAL inventions or not.
Exercise 4
- Now you’ve watched the video and discussed the ideas, what are some really useful inventions? What kind of technologies could we use to help people in disadvantaged countries?
- What things can you see being invented in the future?
To see more of Matty’s inventions, go here.
