Out-of-Class Listening. Workaholism

I. Pre-Listening Task

You are going to hear people talking about workaholism. Before you listen, write down the words or word combinations which can be associated with workaholism.

II. Listening and Comprehension Tasks

2.1. Listen to the recording. Were your ideas the same as the speakers’? What are the five workaholism-related issues they mention?

2.2. The speakers explain the meaning of the expressions they use. Listen to the recording again and put down what they say about:

· work-life balance;

· a secondary issue;

· the norm;

· burnout;

· productivity.

Listen to the recording and answer the questions.

1. How can people’s working patterns vary?

2. What plays a big part in disrupting many people’s work-life balance?

3. How many hours would a former workaholic be required to work a day? What were the effects?

4. What becomes a secondary issue in such periods?

5. What did the speaker start to consider as the norm?

6. In what professions are people more likely to experience burnout?

7. What are the emotional problems that come from overwork?

8. What are the reasons for stopping people from working too hard?

9. When are people most productive?

10. Working long hours isn’t really worth it at all, is it?

11. How many hours are in the standard working week in the UK?

III. After-Listening Tasks

Put the following words and word combinations in the sentences below in their correct form. Provide Russian equivalents.

1. Some people ____________ all day, waiting for the moment when they can leave and go home, while others _____________ do unpaid overtime spending many evenings and weekends at work.

2. The _________________ are frustration, when you worry you are spending all your life working, anxiety, when it’s hard to ____________ and relax and terrible feelings of wondering if there's more to life than that.

3. 40 hours ___________ at 8 hours a day, leaving us plenty of time to enjoy our evenings and weekends.

4. Workaholism doesn't actually ______________ higher productivity.

5. Technology plays a big part in ____________ many people's work-life balance.

6. When you work 18-20 hours a day, you spend all of your _______________ hours in the office.

7. We're all much _____________ taking holidays, weekends, enjoying ourselves in the evenings and having a good work-life balance.

8. All that happens is that people spend an awful lot of time working ________________, so they get very tired, people become less creative, and they become more _____________, more _______________.

9. Productivity is the level of ____________that you can achieve within a certain time.

10. In that environment the vast majority of your colleagues are working as hard as you, so you’re just used to ______________in that type of culture.

11. You start thinking that _____________ or having to work at weekends is __________________.

12. When we have mobile phones and _____________, we are able to work all the

time, wherever we are.

3.2. Do you know any examples of workaholism? Are you a workaholic? Write a short account.

Unit 2. A Day in the Life of

In-Class Listening. A Typical Day

I. Pre-Listening Tasks

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1279