1 Choose a job you love, and you will never have to
work a day
in your
life. – Confucius (Chinese philosopher, 551-479 BC)
2 Don't sacrifice* your life to work and ideals. The most important
things in life are human relations. – Katharinde Susannah Prichard, 20th century Australian
author
3 Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that power
to
work is a blessing, that love of work is success. – David O. McKay,
American 20th century educator
4 If you don't want to work, you have to work to earn enough money
so
that you won't have to work. – Ogden Nash, American poet (1902-1971)
5 The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work. – Richard Bach, 20th century American author of Jonathan
Livingston
Seagull
Discussion Questions
How do people look for jobs?
How do employers seek* staff? What is a potential
employer most
interested in knowing?
Do you consider some jobs only for men and others for
women? Which
ones? Why?
Why are women discriminated against when seeking
employment?
Do high level management positions deserve their high
salaries? What
ratio* is acceptable between the lowest paid employee and the highest?
Do you prefer working in a team or individually?
What is your opinion on mid-life retraining when made
redundant*
through company “restructuring”?
Have you ever benefited* from career counselling in
secondary school
or later in your career?
What do you think about the shortened work week?
More people are working in (multiple) part-time
positions. Who
benefits from part-time work?
Jobs, Skills and Qualities
Task 1 Choose one of these places and make a list of the
different
jobs that people do there.
University
- Theatre
- Newspaper
What are the most important skills and qualities they
would need for a
particular job?
Can you think of any opposite qualities to those above? Can they be
expressed with a positive word?
Example: calm x energetic (not nervous – this is too negative)
Task 2 The following paragraphs have been taken from a
presentation.
Put them into logical order.
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:
10:
11:
A. __________ For instance, in agriculture they
worked just under seventy hours at the beginning of the twentieth
century, compared to sixty hours in industry. What is interesting is
that at the end of the nineteenth century the highest paid workers
worked substantially fewer hours than the lowest paid, a situation that
was gradually redressed* over most of the twentieth century and has now
almost completely been reversed.*
B. __________ we’ll be looking at some startling*
predictions, some made in the 1930s and others more recently.
C. __________ the situation for industry. In 1900,
people were working an average sixty-hour week, which fell quite
rapidly down to fifty by about 1920. It then went down steadily, but
not quite so rapidly, to forty-five hours over the next twenty years.
D. __________ Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, if
I may have your attention, please? Thank you very much for coming along
today. My name’s Nathan Morse and I’m going to be outlining some
research we’ve been doing at the University of Arkansas on the working
week in twentieth-century America.
E. __________ to summarize, the idea that we will
have more and more leisure time seems to be in total contradiction* to
today’s working hours. In fact, more and more skilled workers and
professionals are finding ways to keep themselves at work rather than
at home.
F. __________ The Second World War meant that
industry was working overtime, so there was a sharp rise in the number
of working hours during the war years, reaching a peak of about
fifty-five hours in 1943, before dropping rapidly back to forty-five in
1947. Between 1947 to 1970 there was a gradual decline toward a
forty-hour week.
G. __________ I’m going to show you how the general
trend has not always been to work less and less.
H. __________ let’s look at how many hours people
were working last century. Data on the annual average workweek tends to
vary* enormously, one reason being that it depends on whether we are
talking about agriculture or industry.
I. __________ thank you very much for your attention,
and if you have any questions perhaps you’d like to ask them over
coffee. Thank you.
J. __________ If we turn to studies made in the
1930s, it’s interesting to note, as you can see in this slide, that
they forecast* that the trend in the shorter working week would
continue far beyond forty hours. This has not happened in the US,
though in some European countries they were pushing for thirty-five
hours at the end of the last century. Instead, in the US the total
number of working hours has been going up since 1970 by an average of
163 hours per year. If the present trend continues, the average white
collar American will be working over sixty hours per week by the year
2020.
K. __________ I’ll be looking at the situation at the
beginning of the last century.
Task 3 Listen to the presentation and check your answers. As
you
listen, add the transition words (e.g. next, secondly, after that) that
have been left out of the script. Not all the blanks need to be filled.
What would be a suitable title for this presentation? Does it have a
coherent structure?
Sources consulted: Wallwork, Adrian, International Express
Upper-intermediate Student’s Book, Oxford University Press, 2001,
p.132, tape script 6.3.
Curriculum Vitae
Name:
Blanka Šmídová
Address:
Svážná 6
Brno A
Czech Republic
Telephone:
544 220 515
Date of birth:
5/8/75
Age:
27 B
Education:
1989-1993
Gymnázium Elgartova 3, 600 00 Brno
(grammar
school*)
*Voluntary work for a local
museum (City of Brno Museum)
1993
Bar work, waitressing, etc.
at the Brno International Trade Fair* E
1994
Waitressing at the Lake Café,
Jedovnice
Sept. 1995
*Casual work with the City of Brno Museum
three/four days/week;
Feb. 1996
(general assistance in the *permanent
exhibition areas)
March 1996
Full-time work with the Moravian Gallery;
to… K
assistant to the Head
*Curator
Activities at school
and faculty:
President of the school
parliament
Captain of the school
volleyball team F
University representative
in
volleyball L
*Deputy in the Faculty
Senate
1996-1997
Secretary of the faculty
section of
Friends of the Earth G
Interests:
Sports, reading, travel H,
socialising I
References:
Mr. J. Fořt M
Ms. F. Salová
Head of Museology Dept.
Manager
Faculty of Arts, MU Brno
Lake Café
Brno, 600 00
Jedovnice, 634 12
Be more specific
If you have mentioned date of birth,
your age will obvious* to the recipient*
*Reconsider including this fact if you are
applying to a
very conservative company. You don’t want
to be labelled a “hippie” before you even arrive
Include grades only if
they are exceptional*
State when
Be more positive and confident
Never use “etc."
Trivial* - not very professional sounding
What
about the postal code?
So what?
*Irrelevant by now
Write
out names in full
Redundant* information
Task
4 What is wrong with this CV? Study the suggestions of the
professional
CV writer who has added notes 1-13 on the right. Locate them in the
text (A-M).
Task 5 This is an improved version of the CV with the changes
noted
at right.
Can you suggest any more improvements?
Curriculum Vitae
Personal Details
Name: Blanka
Šmídová Use
bold* selectively –
Address: Svážná 6 – your name is important
600 00
Brno so make
sure it *stands out
Czech Republic
Telephone: +420 544 220
515 Include the full number and
use spaces
Mobile: +420
602 123 456
E-mail: bsmidova@fss.muni.cz Better
to have the date written in full
Date of birth: 5 August 1975
Nationality: Czech
Education
Use reverse chronological order –
1993-1998 Masaryk University Brno, Faculty of Arts – the most recent
information first Master’s of Arts (magistr in Czech) in
Museology State the
names of degrees obtained
March 1996 to present MORAVIAN GALLERY – executive
assistant to the head curator
Sept. 1995 to Feb. 1996 CITY OF BRNO MUSEUM –
general assistant (permanent exhibition areas)
June - July 1994 LAKE CAFÉ,
Jedovnice – waitress
Sept. - Nov. 1993 BRNO INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR
– waitress/hostess (responsible for foreign visitors)
June - July 1992 CITY OF BRNO
MUSEUM – volunteer
Expand on your tasks,
Other Qualifications and Skills responsibilities, and achievements*
where relevant to the job you are seeking
University positions: Faculty Senate
Deputy
(writing of
reports, giving presentations, travelling abroad)
Languages: *Fluent English,
*conversational French Conversational, fluent,
intermediate,
advanced, proficiency, or working knowledge of are better expressions
to use about languages and skills
Computer literacy: WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3,
Macintosh Marketable skills are specific
Interests
Aerobics, volleyball, theatre, reading, travel, folk dance club
Specific examples of interests & memberships can
be mentioned here
References
Available on request Do not waste space with names and addresses.
If you do want to include them, only mention *impressive
references
Task 6
Using the model, write your own CV or resume*.
Grammar – Past Simple vs. Present Perfect
What is the difference between these sentences?
Blanka has been a volunteer.
Blanka was a volunteer from September 1995 to February 1996.
What tense is used for a completed time period? What tense is used for
an unfinished time period?
What tense is used for specific time periods? What tense is used for
experiences with no specific time period?
Task 7 Put these time expressions into two groups of completed
time
or unfinished time periods.
this semester
in the
summer
on Monday
this week
since Tuesday
two weeks
ago
last month
at Easter
Now make sentences about yourself using these expressions.
Task 8 Make these into questions. (Be careful to use the
correct
tense!)
1 Have / (ever) write / a work evaluation
report?
Example: Have you ever written a work report?
2 When / write / your first CV (in English)?
3 Have / work / outdoors?
4 How / feel / at your first job interview?
5 Have / be / a volunteer?
6 Have / be selected / for a prestigious position?
7 Have / be / unemployed?
8 How many months / work / last summer?
9 Have / apply for / a job in a foreign country?
10 Have / think about / working freelance?
Ask your partner these questions. If the answer is yes,
ask follow-up
questions.
e.g. “Have you ever had to use English in your job?”
“Yes, I have.”
“What was the job? What types of situations did you
encounter? How did you deal with them?”
Task 9 Put the verb into the correct form (present perfect or
past
simple).
1 Do you know about Ann? She __________ her job. (give up)
2 My boss __________ me and now I am in charge of the whole
department. (promote)
3 When Paul and Mark left school they __________ a job in a local
travel agency. (apply for)
4 The job __________ doing quite a lot of paperwork, so I quit
two weeks ago. (involve)
5 I __________ training workers last year, but this year I have
to deal with team building. (be
responsible for)
6 Do you know that he is unemployed? They __________ him. (sack)
7 Finally! They __________ ! What a great piece of news! (resign)
8 Meg __________ looking for a new job with a bigger company last
week. (start)
9 They __________ enough of this shift work; they would
like to have flexi-time. (have)
10 Pete and Steve __________ at work yesterday. I wonder why! (be)
Listening