Jobs: Talking about your work experience

This lesson plan is designed to help English language learners build the confidence and vocabulary necessary to discuss their professional backgrounds. It covers essential terminology, practical sentence structures, and interactive activities to ensure students can effectively describe their roles and responsibilities.

Basic vocabulary

Start with essential words related to describing work experience. These should be simple, commonly used terms that learners can easily apply.

Vocabulary list

• Job: The work someone does for a living (e.g., teacher, doctor).
• Work: General term for tasks or employment (e.g., I work in an office).
• Company: The organization where someone works (e.g., Google, a small store).
• Boss/Manager: The person in charge at work.
• Colleague/Coworker: A person you work with.
• Tasks/Duties: Responsibilities or activities at work (e.g., writing reports).
• Full-time: Working a standard number of hours (e.g., 40 hours a week).
• Part-time: Working fewer hours than full-time (e.g., 20 hours a week).
• Salary: Money earned from a job (usually monthly or yearly).
• Experience: Past work or skills gained (e.g., two years of experience).
• Office: A workplace, often for administrative tasks.
• Shift: A set time period for work (e.g., morning shift).
• Skills: Abilities used at work (e.g., communication, teamwork).
• Career: A person’s long-term work path.
• Resign: To leave a job voluntarily.

Vocabulary words for expansion

• Internship: A temporary job, often for students, to gain experience.
• Promotion: Moving to a higher position or role at work.
• Team: A group of coworkers who work together on tasks.
• Project: A specific task or assignment at work (e.g., a marketing project).
• Deadline: The time or date by which a task must be completed.
• Training: Learning new skills for a job (e.g., employee training).
• Contract: An agreement for work, often temporary or fixed-term.
• Freelance: Working independently for different clients or companies.
• Overtime: Extra hours worked beyond regular hours, often paid more.
• Resume/CV

Teaching tip

• Use visuals like pictures of workplaces or job-related items to connect vocabulary to real contexts.
• Practice pronunciation of terms like “colleague” (KOL-eeg) or “salary” (SAL-uh-ree).
• Create flashcards with words on one side and definitions or images on the other for quick recall.

See all of our job lesson plans.

Useful phrases

Teach simple sentence structures for discussing work experience. These phrases should be versatile and practical for real-life situations, such as job interviews or casual conversations.

Key phrases

Describing current or past jobs:

• “I work as a [job title].”
• “I worked at [company] for [time period].”
• “My job is to [tasks/duties].”
• “I’m employed at [company/place].”

Talking about responsibilities:

• “My duties include [tasks].”
• “I’m responsible for [tasks].”
• “I help with [specific task].”

Expressing opinions or experiences:

• “I like my job because [reason].”
• “It’s challenging because [reason].”
• “My favorite part is [aspect of job].”
• “I learned [skill] at my job.”

Asking questions:

• “What do you do?”
• “Where do you work?”
• “What’s your job like?”
• “How long have you worked there?”

Teaching tip

• Write phrases on a board or handout and model their use.
• Have learners substitute their own job or experience into the phrases.
• Practice question forms to encourage interactive dialogue.

Grammar spotlight: The present simple and past simple

To talk about your work history effectively, you need to switch between the present simple for your current situation and the past simple for your previous roles.

Talking about current jobs: Present simple

Use the present simple to describe your current job title, your daily responsibilities, and where you work right now.

• Structure: [Subject] + [Base Verb / Verb + -s]
• Examples:
  • “I work as a freelance writer.”
  • “He manages a small team of five people.”
  • “They work in a large office downtown.”

Common mistake: Remember to add an -s to the verb when the subject is he, she, or it.

• Incorrect: “She work at a bank.”
• Correct: “She works at a bank.”

Talking about previous jobs: Past simple

Use the past simple to discuss work experience that is finished. This is essential for resumes and interviews when describing your background.

• Structure: [Subject] + [Verb + -ed] (for regular verbs)
• Examples:
  • “I worked at a supermarket for two years.”
  • “I started my career as an intern.”
  • “We finished the project on time.”

Irregular verbs: Some verbs do not follow the “-ed” rule.

• Teach → Taught: “I taught English in London.”
• Leave → Left: “I left my job last month.”
• Do → Did: “I did a lot of administrative tasks.”

Using “for” to show duration

When talking about how long you stayed at a job, use the word for followed by a period of time. This works for both the present and the past.

• “I worked there for six months.”
• “I have been a manager for five years.”

Practice exercise: Correct the tense

Identify whether these sentences should be in the present or past tense based on the context:

1. (Now) I ______ (be) a teacher.
2. (In 2022) I ______ (work) as a cashier.
3. (Daily task) My boss ______ (give) me feedback every Friday.
4. (Finished) I ______ (resign) from my last company in June.

Example conversations

Provide short, realistic dialogues to model how to talk about work experience. These examples progress from basic to more detailed.

Conversation 1: Basic exchange

Anna: What do you do, Tom?
Tom: I work as a cashier in a supermarket.
Anna: Nice! Do you like it?
Tom: Yes, it’s okay. I help customers and scan items.
Anna: How long have you worked there?
Tom: For six months.

Conversation 2: Adding details

Sara: Where do you work, Juan? Juan: I work at a tech company as a programmer. Sara: Cool! What’s your job like? Juan: My duties include writing code and testing software. It’s challenging but fun. Sara: Do you work full-time? Juan: Yes, full-time, about 40 hours a week.

Conversation 3: More advanced

Mark: Hi, Lisa! Tell me about your work experience.
Lisa: I worked as a teacher for three years at a school in London.
Mark: Oh, nice! What did you do there?
Lisa: I taught English to children and planned lessons. I liked it because I helped students learn.
Mark: Why did you leave?
Lisa: I resigned to start a new career in writing. Now I work part-time as a freelance writer.

Teaching tip

• Role-play these dialogues with the learner, switching roles to practice asking and answering.
• Encourage learners to adapt the dialogues using their own job or work experience.

Teaching strategy

Here’s a step-by-step lesson plan to teach this topic effectively (approximately 45 minutes):

Step 1: Warm-up (5 minutes)

• Ask: “What job do you have, or what job do you want?” to spark interest.
• Show a picture or video clip of different workplaces and ask, “What jobs happen here?”

Step 2: Vocabulary introduction (10 minutes)

• Present the vocabulary list using visuals or a slideshow.
• Practice pronunciation, especially for terms like “salary” or “resign.”
• Play a quick game: Say a word, and learners explain what it means.

Step 3: Phrase practice (10 minutes)

• Display key phrases and model them with your own example.
• Have learners practice by filling in the blanks.
• Correct pronunciation and grammar gently, emphasizing past tense for previous jobs.

Step 4: Conversation practice (15 minutes)

• Read one example conversation aloud, emphasizing natural tone.
• Pair learners to practice the dialogues, encouraging personalization.
• Ask learners to create their own short dialogue.

Step 5: Wrap-up and personalization (5 minutes)

• Have each learner share one or two sentences about their work experience.
• Provide feedback on their use of vocabulary and phrases.

Additional tips

• Cultural sensitivity: Be aware that some learners may not have formal work experience. Allow flexibility to discuss volunteer work or dream jobs.
• Visual aids: Use images or videos of workplaces to make the lesson engaging.
• Listening practice: Play a short audio of someone discussing their job to expose learners to different accents.
• Adapt for level: For beginners, focus on simple phrases. For intermediate learners, encourage more specific details.

Common mistakes to address

• Grammar: Learners may say “I work in hospital” instead of “I work in a hospital.”
• Tense usage: Clarify past tense for previous jobs (e.g., “I worked” vs. “I work”).
• Pronunciation: Explicitly practice terms like “colleague” or “salary.”

Example activity: Job interview role-play

For group classes, try this interactive activity:

1. Set up a mock job interview where one learner is the interviewer and another is the candidate.
2. Provide prompts (e.g., “Talk about your last job. What did you do?”).
3. Learners use vocabulary and phrases to describe their work experience, while others ask follow-up questions.

Homework or follow-up

• Writing: Write a short paragraph (5 sentences) about a past, current, or dream job.
• Speaking: Record a 30-second audio describing your work experience.
• Research: Find a job description online and write down three new words related to work.