Working Conditions: Explanation

Working Conditions

• Details

Name of Item	Excellent Working Conditions
Activity Type	Vocabulary / Discussion
Student Level	Intermediate - Upper Intermediate
Time Allowance	15 - 20 minutes
Preparation Required	nothing special
Other Items Needed	nothing special
Vocabulary	subsidized / compulsory / warm-up / social events / paid holiday / days off / staff turnover / cubicles / transfer / pension plan / medical check-up / keep pace with inflation
Grammar	Sentence patterns associated with the above words

• Instructions

This one is dedicated to all those teachers out there who aren't entirely satisfied with their working conditions and the (small minority of) employers responsible (You know who you are!). The work-sheet is best suited to students who have already "grown up" and gone out to work but I guess anyone could give it a go.

The vocabulary matching exercise may well contain enough context-information and other familiar words that students can match them all up without reaching for the dictionary. But don't let them get stuck for a long time on this.

Once everybody is happy about the words / phrases (and all have the same answers) you can move on to the discussion. Instruct students to read through the list of "working conditions" and imagine that they might be faced with them in a new job. Tell them (working individually) to mark each item as either "good" or "bad" and be prepared to explain their opinion to others.

As they finish, divide them up into groups of two or three and tell them to compare their ideas, stoppping to debate any items which they do not agree on.