<<Unit 1: Working life>>

Questions: Your Working Life

• What is the name of your company?
• What industry sector do you work in?
• Where is the head office of your company?
• Are there any other locations?
• How many people work there?
• Is it a big or a small company? (small, big, medium-sized, family owned, ...)
• Is it a manufacturing, merchandising or a service company?
• Is it local, national or international?
• What department do you work for? (accounting, advertising, health, ...)
• How many colleagues/co-workers do you have in your department?
• Where do you spend most of your working day? (at your desk, meetings, on the phone, travelling, ...)
• How much of your time is spent working on your own, with colleagues or with clients?
• What do you do excatly? (organise, book, answer, type, supervise, use, attend, ...)

How to talk about your job responsibilities

To find out what someone's job is you ask:

• What do you do?
• What do you do for a living?
• What do you work?
• What's your  job?
• What's your role in the company?

Key Expressions

• I work as a business clerk.
• I work for a big international company.
• I work in the fashion industry / in advertising
• I work with some great people

• I deal with
• I take care of
• I organise
• I write / answer / calculate
• I produce
• I manage
• I handle
• I oversee
• I'm in charge of
• I'm involved in
• I'm responsible for
• My job involves

Write a short text and memorise it:

I’m a _______ (position)

I work for a ________ company

I work in ________ (sector)

I work in the ______ department in a ________ company

I work for a company which/that ___________

I have to do _____

I'm responsible for __________

Most of my time is spent ________

I start work at ____

I work part-time from ___ to___ (weekday)

Apart from working, I attend ________ school

I stop work at ____ in the evening.

Example

I am a marketing assistand. One of my main responsibilities is to conduct marketing research and to gather important date. I'm in charge of online content on the company's website and social media accounts. I'm responsible for preparing dand delivering promotional presentations.

Quizlet: 26 Major Industries

Quizlet: 16 Business Organisational Departments

Sample Text:

I begin most days by coming into the office early to make sure everything is ready for our first patients: this includes walking the doctor through his schedule and looking through our office scheduling system to check for any changes. I do a similar task at the end of the day: I respond to any messages in our scheduling system and walk the doctor through the plan for next day. The the majority of my duties include assisting patients, both in person and on the phone – I schedule their appointments and help address any issues. For example, when a patient calls with a last-minute concern, I work with the patient to find a time for them to come to the office as soon as possible. This pattern is similar most days of the week; however, one day a week, I lead a staff training seminar on a variety of topics, ranging from effective communication with patients to new health protocols. This is a new duty I actively sought out as a way to improve my leadership and presentation skills.

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/job-interview-question-describe-a-typical-work-week-2061296

Prepositions after ‘work’

Task: Write a sentence using the word ‘work’ and these prepositions:

·       in
·       for
·       on
·       as
·       at
·       from
·       against
·       by
·       like
·       through
·       towards
·       under
·       within

Exercises

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex02

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex03

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex04

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex05

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex06

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex07

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex08

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex09

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex10

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex11

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/exercises?ex12

http://www.english-4u.de/pres_prog_ex3.htm

http://www.english-4u.de/pres_prog_ex4.htm

http://www.english-4u.de/pres_prog_ex5.htm

http://www.english-4u.de/pres_prog_ex6.htm

http://www.english-4u.de/pres_prog_ex7.htm

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs1.htm

http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs2.htm

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/present-simple-present-continuous-1.html

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/present-simple-present-continuous-2.html

http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=1438

Websites

http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/zeitformen.htm

Tests

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/tests?test1

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/tests?test2

http://www.ego4u.de/de/cram-up/grammar/simpre-prepro/tests?test3

Suddenly, I saw a car in front of me.

I often go to school by bus.

I have never been to Greece.

I don’t sleep well.

Exercises

https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/adjectives_adverbs/adverb_position.htm

https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/word-order/exercises?12

https://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/213.html

https://www.esl-lounge.com/student/grammar/2g40-position-of-adverbs.php

https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/adjectives_adverbs/adverbs_of_frequency.htm

https://www.english-4u.de/en/grammar-exercises/word-order5.htm

https://www.english-4u.de/en/grammar-exercises/word-order6.htm

https://www.english-4u.de/en/grammar-exercises/word-order7.htm

https://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=7330

https://test-english.com/grammar-points/a1/adverbs-frequency/

https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/adverbs-frequency_quiz.htm

https://www.myenglishpages.com/english/grammar-exercise-adverbs-frequency.php

Possible Questions

1. Who do you work for? I work for ...
2. What do you work as? I work as … at/in…
3. What do your responsibilities include? I’m responsible for …
4. What sort of problems do you deal with on a day-to-do basis? I have to deal with ...
5. What else does your job involve? Well, my job also consists of …
6. What taks do you have to do on a regular basis? I'm in charge of ...
7. Do you ever attend meetings?
8. When do you normally work? I ususally work from ... to ...
9. Do you like what you do? Yes, .... No ....
10. What don't you like about your job? 
11. What would you change in your job?

Task

Write a small dialogue about your working life. Take at least five turns and show your interest.

A: Jade's got a new boyfriend.

B: A new boyfriend? Good for her!

A: Apparently, he lives in a castle.

B: Does he? How amazing!

A: Yes, she met him in Slovenia.

B: Really? That's interesting.

A: She took a trip there last fall.

B: Wow! When was it?

A: Last September. Unfortunately, he can't speak much English.

B: That's bad. I thought everybody could speak English these days.

Networking

Starting conversations with people who you don’t know

• Can I introduce myself?
• Do you know where... is?
• I don’t think we’ve met.
• I see your badge says...
• Is this seat free?
• Is this the right place for...?
• It’s very busy, isn’t it?
• What did you think about the last presentation?

Initial questions

• What do you do?/ What’s your job?
• Who do you work for?/ What is your company’s name?
• What does your company do?

Follow up questions

• Can I ask your name?/ What’s your name (again)?
• Does your company employ many people (in...)?/ Does your company have many
• employees (in...)?
• What (products) does your company produce/ make/ sell?/ What (services) does
• your company provide?
• What are you working on at the moment?
• What countries does your company operate in?/ Does your company operate in...?/
• Where does your company have offices?
• What department do you work for?
• What field do you work in?
• What is your bestselling/ most famous product?
• Where are you from?/ Where do you come from?
• Where is your company based?/ Where is your company’s head office/ headquarters/
• HQ?
• Who are your (main) competitors?
• Why are you at this conference/ trade fair/ meeting?/ Why are you here today?
• Why did you choose that job?

Ending conversations with people who you don’t know

• I’m afraid I must go and...
• Can I introduce you to (name)?/ Can I introduce you to my...?/ My... Can I introduce
• you to him/ her?
• Do you have a business card?
• I’ll email you about...
• It was nice meeting you.
• It’s been really interesting talking to you.
• I hope we have the chance to meet again soon