Lesson 23 – Why work?

Warm Up

1. 1. Ask students what job they do and if they enjoy it. If they are still at school or college, ask about weekend jobs or what they want to do after they finish their studies. 
   2. Ask why they do their jobs, or why they want particular jobs.

Main Activity

Listening

1. Tell the students they are going to hear people talking about their jobs.
   factory worker
   sports center manager
   nurse
2. Play the recording twice and answer:
   

    

3. Ask them to listen again and tell them why the people do the jobs. What is each person’s motivation? What are the reasons why they do their jobs? 
4. Play the recording and compare answers with your classmates.
   

I don’t do it for the money
I work for the money.
I work to live; I don’t live to work.
My work is my life. 

Ask their opinions. Do you agree or disagree with them?

Speaking

1. Tell students they are going to think about why people work, and reasons for not working.  Divide the class in half: A and B. Put each half into groups of two or three.
2. The A and B groups do different things:

• A groups has to read the sheets and help each other with anything that do not understand. You don’t have to interview each other but just read the instructions.
• B groups have to talk together about reasons for working and not working. You should make notes.

Put students into pairs: A with B. Student A going to interview student B and find the score.
The scores will be compared around the class, and discuss what you think. Discuss does the score is a good description. Tell good reasons, or bad reasons, that you heard for working or not working.

Follow up

1. Students write a paragraph about their ideal job and a paragraph about why it would be perfect for them.
2. You can circulate the paragraphs and have students guess who wrote them.

You are going to interview someone. First, read and check that you understand.

The interview
Reasons for working

1. Tell your partner that you are going to give them ten reasons for working. Ask your partner to give each reason a score from 1 to 5:

Reasons for NOT working
Ask your partner if you think of any reasons for not working. If they can, write their reasons
in the list.

1. very important
2. important
3. quite important
4. not very important
5. not important at all

How to find the final score:
Reasons for working total + Reasons for not working total = final score
Under 15: You will have to win a lot of money or marry a millionaire because you have no interest in work.
15-19: You must be more positive or you will never be happy in your job.
Over 20: You are quite interested in working, but you can also see the positive side of not working.
Over 30: You are quite interested in working. Good luck with your future.

How important are the reasons? What do you think? Give them your score from 1 to 5: