Shadowing Practice: Talking about jobs and work in English - Learn English Speaking with Video
Kies een oefenmodus
Elke modus opent een volledig scherm oefenruimte.
110 zinnen
Als zinnen te kort of te lang zijn, klik op Bewerken om ze aan te passen.
1
talking about jobs and work in english Hi, in this lesson you will learn to talk firstly about your job and work in English and in the second half of the video we'll look at specific work-related vocabulary starting with verbs and adjectives and nouns and finally idioms and expressions that take your English to the next level!
2
This section is very good training for those of you taking exams such as Cambridge First Certificate or CAE or IELTS.
3
I will put the times down below so you can go to that part that interests you most first.
4
Right, so first up, which questions might people ask you about your work?
5
Firstly, the most basic question is something along these lines, they all mean kind of the same thing and this question is to find out more about your profession.
6
So, they could be: Where do you work?
7
What do you do?
8
What do you do for a living?
9
What sort of work do you do?
10
What line of work are you in?
11
What kind of company do you work for?
12
Who do you work for?
13
So, how can you reply to these questions?
14
You can use the expression, "I'm a..." when you say the name of your profession.
15
So, for instance: "I'm a doctor, a teacher or an engineer." or maybe you're student and you're doing an internship or a work placement to gain experience in a certain field of work that you're interested in going into.
16
Or, maybe you're in training.
17
you could say, "I'm training to be a doctor or an engineer." Maybe you do voluntary work, that is some kind of work where you don't get paid you, simply want to help and are doing something for experience or an impact it'll have.
18
You might be a freelancer, that is someone who works on different projects with different companies instead of being employed by just one company.
19
or maybe you can say, "I'm self-employed." that is you are not working for any particular company but you're finding work for yourself or you're having your own business If you have got your own business you could say, "I've got my own business." or "I run my own business." another useful expression is, "I work in..." here without the article the/a, we refer to this when we're talking to an area of work.
20
Maybe you don't have a specific job title and you just want to say what your field of work is.
21
So, for instance, "I work in education" or the health service or finance.
22
You can also say, "I work in..." with an article to say where.
23
So, "I work in the accounting department of X Y Z company." or I work in the marketing department of a company.
24
So, if you use "the" or "a" you're talking about the actual physical place.
25
So, for me I would say, "I work in a school teaching English." Or, if you want to say who you work for you'd say, "I work for..." and then the company so it could be Google or Barclays Bank or the Ministry of Education.
26
So, for instance you could say: I work for a software development company.
27
I work for an English language school I work for a law firm or I work for myself.
28
So, putting that all together you could say something like this: "I'm a software engineer. I work in telecommunications actually I work for British Telecom." or I would say, "I work for an international company which teaches languages to children from 5 to18 years old." Think about what you could say, about your job.
29
Practice saying the sentences out loud using the expressions "work in" and "work for." When you introduce yourself it's good to vary how you talk about your job and use different expressions as this makes you sound more interesting and natural.
30
So, now let's look at how to talk about your job in more detail.
31
Here we're talking about the hours you work.
32
So friends might might ask you, "When do you start or finish work?" another way of saying this would be, "When are you off?" or even "When do you get off work?" How would you answer this?
33
Maybe you work shifts, this is when you work for a period of time and so you do say, the night shift, you work a set number of hours during the night and these periods of time can change.
34
So you might then do a night shift and then follow that a day shift.
35
And companies often employs shift workers so that they can keep their business working 24 hours a day.
36
So maybe you do shift work, or maybe you might do extra hours this is called overtime.
37
So, maybe you normally finish work at say five but due to a big project you're going to do overtime so you could say, "I'm doing overtime tonight, I won't be home till late." Or maybe your boss might ask you, "Can you come in early?" Again it's to do extra hours either at the beginning or the end of the day.
38
From time to time it's normal that you might need "to call in sick." for example, "John called in sick today." What about other times when you don't work.
39
Maybe you've been doing lots of overtime and you need a break.
40
You could say, "I need a vacation." I need a break, I need a holiday.
41
Someone might ask you if you've had a break recently and ask if you've had any time off lately.
42
maybe you work three days a week so you could say I work part time, rather than those than those who work full-time Or maybe you work fifty percent of the time so you job share you share one job between two people.
43
So what about if you don't have a job?
44
If you're out of work.
45
You could say "I'm unemployed" or "on the dole." But it's often better to say something like, "I'm between jobs at the moment." which implies that it's a short-term situation.
46
Whereas unemployed is more something that maybe it's more long-term, so maybe more negative.
47
Or I am on a break or maybe you're taking a year off and then returning to the same company This we call taking a sabbatical year.
48
"I'm taking a sabbatical." or maybe you're taking some time out to travel, spend time with the family.
49
This means that you're not working at the moment because you want to focus on something else Or maybe you've finished your career and then you would say, "I'm retired." What about you?
50
What's your situation? What hours do you work?
51
Do you often work overtime? Does your boss ask you to come in early?
52
Are you between jobs at the moment?
53
OK, so now we've talked about your company where you work, what you do.
54
Let's now look at how we can describe your job in more detail.
55
What do you actually do all day?
56
So for me I would say, I have to teach children English, I'm responsible for four classes and most of my time is spent inspiring young people and helping them to enjoy learning English.
57
Think about your job. What can you say using these expressions?
58
Think about all that we've seen so far.
59
Practice talking about your job and work.
60
It's a great way to get to know people and engage in really meaningful conversations.
61
OK, so moving on to part two.
62
In this section we will look at words and phrases that often appear in exams and vocabulary that would be very useful for you to know if you're going to talk about work or you're taking the FCE or IELTS.
63
They're also very useful for you to talk about your work.
64
So, now let's look at the verbs used when take talking about work.
65
So I'm gonna tell you a story about Bob and his work situation.
66
All the verbs I will use will appear on the screen to help you understand.
67
So, let's get started.
68
Bob left University and decided to apply for a job which he saw advertised in the newspaper.
69
He filled in the application form and a few weeks later was asked to attend an interview.
70
He was offered the job that same day.
71
As he lived in a small town outside the city he had to commute every day.
72
He was good at his job and very soon he was promoted.
73
However the company he worked for was having problems.
74
Two people were dismissed for stealing, and two of their friends resigned in sympathy.
75
The directors decided to lay off five more workers because the company couldn't afford to keep them and the managing director decided to retire early.
76
The atmosphere was so bad that Bob eventually decided to hand in his notice.
77
OK, so now let's look at some adjectives you can use to describe your job or work.
78
How do you feel about your work ?
79
Do you like your job?
80
Maybe you find the work interesting stimulating maybe it's satisfying or creative I hope it's rewarding or challenging.
81
What about if you don't like your job?
82
It may be boring or difficult or exhausting, thankless, mind-numbing, dead-end, soul-destroying.
83
OK, so that's adjectives.
84
Now let's look at nouns associated with work.
85
So again I'm going to tell you a story and the words will come on the screen.
86
A computer company had a vacancy for the position of salesperson and decided to advertise for a new employee. A lot of candidates with good qualifications and references applied for the job and after all the interviews had finished the directors made a shortlist of the best candidates and then invited them to come back for another interview. The person who eventually got the job was very happy after all she would receive an annual salary of 25,000 pounds with a 5% increment twice a year, a 15% commission for each computer she managed to sell, excellent perks such as private health insurance and a company car as well as a company pension to make sure she'd be well off when she retired and also the chance of a promotion from salesperson to Sales Manager if she was successful.
87
All in all, her future prospects looked very good.
88
So finally, let's look at some idioms and expressions that can be used when talking about work.
89
What about if you do manual work in a factory?
90
You're called a blue-collar worker, the collar is here.
91
Whereas a secretary who works in an office would be described as a white-collar worker.
92
Sometimes workers are not happy with the conditions at work so they refuse to work, they go on strike.
93
Or if you work for a very small amount of money you might say that you are working for peanuts so you might put in for a rise this means that you ask for more money.
94
Maybe your boss makes you work very hard for your money you could say that he's a slave driver but be careful because if you continue to work very long hours you might burn yourself out.
95
If this happens you won't be able to continue working such long hours.
96
Sometimes some lucky people get given a golden handshake when they leave a job maybe it's because they are retiring or leaving early and helping the company by leaving the job. This means that you get given a large sum of money when you leave.
97
I hope you can be described as a high flyer as this means that you have great potential and ambition and will probably do very well at work.
98
Maybe your boss might ask you "to carry the can" for a mistake he made.
99
this means that he's asking you to take the blame for a mistake he made.
100
When a company continues to work as usual even despite difficulties you can say that it is "business as usual." A headhunter is someone who looks at top managers and tries to find them jobs in a new company.
101
And finally if you don't do your job right you might get fired this means that you lose your job.
102
I hope this doesn't happen to you!
103
Now it's your turn...
104
Speak out loud using some of the new vocabulary you've learned today.
105
What do you do for a living?
106
Write it down in the comment section below and I promise I'll give you some feedback.
107
So, that's it for today. I hope you feel more confident with any conversations or topics to do with work and jobs.
108
Remember to subscribe to my channel so you don't miss out on any new videos that come out and there's some more videos here I think you might like.
109
So I hope to see you very soon and thanks for watching.
110
Talking about jobs and work in English
App downloaden
Alles wat je nodig hebt om vloeiend te spreken
AI UitspraakScoor elke zin
IPA OefeningBeheers elk geluid
WoordenschatBouw je woordenschat op
WoordenspelLeren terwijl je speelt
FOR YOU
Aanbevolen Video
B21
62 zinnen
Speaking about Jobs in English for Advanced English Conversation
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B23
151 zinnen
Write a CV for an English-Speaking Job - Tips to Write a Great Resume
British AccentBusiness EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B24
102 zinnen
Describe a Job Interview You Had | IELTS Speaking Part 2 & 3 | Band 9 Vocabulary | Learnivo #ielts
IELTS PrepBusiness EnglishInterview English
B1224
29 zinnen
All About Working - Vocational Lesson 1 - Job Skills for Students
Business EnglishInterview EnglishHigh School Students
B112
139 zinnen
Talking About Your Job in English - Spoken English Lesson
British AccentBusiness EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B22
251 zinnen
English Job Interview Phrases That Make You Sound Professional
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B210
151 zinnen
IELTS Speaking Part 1 – Work and Study | Work Focus
IELTS PrepBusiness EnglishInterview English
B26
153 zinnen
Job Interview Conversation - ALL you Need about Interview Questions & Answers in English
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B12
154 zinnen
Từ Vựng Thông Dụng Để Nói Về Công Việc | Giao Tiếp Cơ Bản Theo Chủ Đề (1/3)
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B15
10 zinnen
Learn English: What do you love most about your job? - Australia Plus
Business EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
B17
423 zinnen
Talking About Your Favorite Job in English | Real English Conversation
Business EnglishInterview EnglishDaily Conversation
B213
112 zinnen
Tell Me About Yourself - An Excellent Answer to this Interview Question
British AccentBusiness EnglishInterview EnglishUniversity Students
Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze spreekles op niveau B2 is gebaseerd op de video “Talking about jobs and work in English”. Deze video bevat 110 zinnen en 2168 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 15:01. De spreker praat in een gelijkmatig tempo van ongeveer 144 woorden per minuut, prettig om te shadowen. 88% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden, dus de woordenschat is goed te volgen. 24 van de 110 zinnen zijn vragen, dus het is goede oefening voor vraagintonatie en korte antwoorden.
Belangrijke woorden in deze video
De 15 moeilijkste woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| retire werkwoord | /ɹəˈtaɪɹ/ | met pensioen gaan |
| adjective zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈæd͡ʒ.ɪk.tɪv/ | bijvoeglijk naamwoord, adjectief |
| verb zelfstandig naamwoord | /vɝb/ | werkwoord |
| vocabulary zelfstandig naamwoord | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | woordenschat, vocabulaire |
| employ werkwoord | /ɪmˈplɔɪ/ | tewerkstellen |
| collar zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈkɑlɚ/ | kraag, boord |
| idiom zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈɪdiəm/ | idioom, taaleigen |
| sabbatical zelfstandig naamwoord | /səˈbætɪkəl/ | sabbatsjaar, sabbatverlof |
| salesperson zelfstandig naamwoord | verkoper, verkoopster | |
| noun zelfstandig naamwoord | /naʊn/ | zelfstandig naamwoord, substantief |
| advertise werkwoord | /ˈædvɚˌtaɪ̯z/ | adverteren |
| firstly bijwoord | /ˈfɜɹstli/ | ten eerste |
| unemployed bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˌʌnɪmˈplɔɪd/ | werkloos, arbeidsloos |
| profession zelfstandig naamwoord | /pɹəˈfɛʃ.ən/ | professie |
| freelancer zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈfɹiˌlæn.səɹ/ | freelancer, zzp'er |
Phrasal verbs die je zult horen
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| come out werkwoord | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | uitkomen |
| find out werkwoord | ontdekken, onderzoeken | |
| get off werkwoord | van ... afgaan | |
| lay off werkwoord | ontslaan, de zak geven | |
| speak out werkwoord | zich uitspreken |
Zinnen om te herhalen
Korte, volledige zinnen uit de video die je in alledaagse gesprekken kunt gebruiken:
- What do you do for a living?
- What sort of work do you do?
- What line of work are you in?
- What kind of company do you work for?
- What about if you don't like your job?
Grammatica in deze video
De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:
| Structuur | In de video |
|---|---|
| Voorwaardelijke zinnen if + zin, will/would + werkwoord — een voorwaarde en het gevolg | If this happens you won't be |
| Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet | being employed · is called · is spent |
| Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt | you've had · you've finished · we've talked |
| Betrekkelijke bijzinnen who / which + zin — extra informatie over een persoon of ding | someone who works · those who work · person who eventually |
Uitspraak om op te letten
De spreker gebruikt 56 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals you're, I'm, don't. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.
- De klanken “sh” en “zh”: profession /pɹəˈfɛʃ.ən/, handshake /ˈhæn(d)ˌʃeɪk/, telecommunication /ˌtɛləkəˌmjunɪˈkeɪʃən/, internship /ˈɪntɜːnʃɪp/, qualification /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, sabbatical /səˈbætɪkəl/, telecommunication /ˌtɛləkəˌmjunɪˈkeɪʃən/, qualification /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, voluntary /ˈvɑ.lənˌt(ɛ)ɹi/
Zo oefen je met deze video
- Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
- Spreek zin voor zin na op normale snelheid en herhaal elke zin tot je ritme gelijk is aan dat van de spreker.
- Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als retire, adjective, verb.
Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?
Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.