Unit+1

media type="custom" key="7105813" EDUCATION, WORK, EMPLOYMENT

CONVERSATION

You and your job

 * How important is your work for you?
 * Are you able to divide your time effectively between work and leisure?
 * What positive effects does your work have on your life?
 * What negative effects, if any, does your work have on you? What can you do about it?
 * If you could choose, would you change your job? Would you just change some of the conditions but keep the same type of job?
 * Rate the following in order of importance for you (not important; important; very important):
 * decent salary
 * higher salary
 * shorter working day
 * flexible working hours
 * friendly workmates
 * pleasant atmosphere at work
 * Are people willing to move further away from home nowadays in order to find work? Would you? Have any of your friends done this?
 * Would you be prepared to leave the country in order to look for work? If you HAD to leave the country where would you go to work?
 * In your job, do you prefer to deal with people or machines and systems? Why?

Working hours

 * How many hours a week in general do you think people work in our country?
 * Is there a law in our country about how many hours a week people can work?
 * Do you think people work too many hours?
 * Do you think working longer hours actually means you do more work?
 * Who do you think work longer hours: men or women?
 * Which professions do you imagine work more extra hours: managers and professionals or skilled and manual labour?
 * Why do people tend to work long hours?
 * What negative things can be caused by working too long?
 * How would you react if you were told in the job interview that the timetable would include shift work?
 * How would you react if you were told that you would have to work a lot of overtime?

Employment
[|JOB HUNTING], COVER LETTERS, ETC.
 * Why do people have to work? In an "ideal" world would everybody work or nobody work?
 * What does the education system do to prepare people for work or to assist them to find jobs? Is it efficient?
 * Why do people go to university? To obtain job skills? To get a degree? To have a good time? To find a husband/wife? To put off having to go out into the "real life" and find a job?
 * In your job are you able to earn commission or get a productivity bonus, or do you only get a base salary?
 * Many people who embark on a career after obtaining a university degree seem to have more difficulty in finding employment than some skilled manual workers. Why is this?
 * Do you know how salaries in your country compare with your neighbours? Do most people consider themselves to be “overworked and underpaid”? What professions are well-paid?


 * CASE STUDY: SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES **

ASSIGNMENT In class we have discussed about employment discrimination on different grounds. Task 1. Watch the film "Philadelphia" and make a short presentation of the case of employment discrimination. Role-play: the prosecution - the defendant Task 2. Webquest: Find other instances of employment discrimination either in films or on the web and make an oral minipresentation (5 minutes) in class.