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Choosing a Major

Learn the Past Perfect Tense

Date: Sep 21 2012

Themes: School, Work

Grammar: Past Perfect Tense

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Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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Before you can find your dream job, you have to pick a major. Your major is the main subject you choose to study in college. You might take some classes in other subjects, but most of your classes will relate to your major, and it will also be the subject you get your degree in.

For instance, a biology major might take a couple English and history courses. But by the time he graduates, he should have a broad understanding of the field of biology. He might go on to get a graduate degree in biology or a related area of study. Or he might start looking for a job in his field.

But getting a degree in a certain subject doesn’t guarantee that you will find a job you love. Some majors are more practical than others and have clearer career paths. For example, most pre-law majors go on to law school and eventually become lawyers. But a history or English major might have a harder time finding a job related to their studies. Find out what Devan and Jeff decided to major in.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Devan

Jeff

Devan: What did you major in in college, Jeff?

Jeff: It was basically multimedia design.

Devan: So, seeing as what you are currently doing for a living isn’t related to your major, do you ever wish you had majored in something else?

Jeff: Well, sometimes, when I’m broke. But I always knew I wanted to do something creative with visual art. I actually was initially a fine arts major, but I figured I could do that in my own time.

Devan: Do you have a minor?

Jeff: Yeah, I went the complete opposite route, and I have a business minor, which I have never been interested in, but I figured it would be a good balance. What about you?

Devan: I majored in English, and I’m actually using my degree for that, so that’s nice. But sometimes I wish that I could go back and go for something different.

Jeff: Something more like economics, or an accounting kind of thing?

Devan: Yeah, something more practical, something that would look impressive on a resume and that would open the job market to me a little more.

Jeff: So you’re broke right now?

Devan: I’m always broke. English majors are always broke.

Grammar Point

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Discussion

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Devan asks Jeff what his major was in college. Jeff says that he studied multimedia design. This includes things like web design and video editing. Jeff’s current job does not relate to his major. But he is still happy he studied multimedia design, because he is passionate about visual art.

Devan was an English major. The job she has now does relate to her major. However, she sometimes wishes she had studied something else in college. She says English majors never earn very much money after they graduate.

What did you major in, or what would you like to major in? Do you have a job that relates to your major? How did you choose a subject to study in school?

Comments

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tutorheather

United States

Julito…In order to be a private tutor, you do not have to have a specific degree. Think about it this way; you don’t have to have a music degree to teach music lessons. You do, however, need to be continually self-educated and have a great deal of passion for the subject. Even with my degrees, I still have to look things up in order to deliver the best information I can to my students. I am not a complete encylopedia of English, but I am very, very passionate about the language and the amazing works it has enabled. This passion keeps me studying the language. I also love communicating with people from other cultures, and having a common language makes that possible. Anyhow, I understand your point, but I don’t want you to see a lack of a higher degree as a “dead end.” It’s not. :)

Feel free to drop me a line if you wish!

Heather

Nantez93

Germany

we have different school system :D …. our school system is a mess :D

Lolo :)

Germany

I like to major in music. And my minor maybe in english, but i’m not sure.
In two years I will have to choose… I’m looking forward to it, because since I’m a child I want to become a teacher…

LAILA ALI

Malaysia

Baset ; where r u ? r u OK ?

BASET , DO HAVE ANOTHER WEBSITE ??

julito

Argentina

This topic makes me think that I missed out on the opportunity to pursue a major or higher study in English which would qualify me to give private classes at home as Irene does.

sarika

Pakistan

when I was in school, I decided a major that is MBA finance, but I couldn’t do that just cause of such financial problems, but still I have the same major and will do it

fernando.guia21@hotmail.es

Colombia

I have been interested in everything related to english, I love it, and I think of being a translator or a tourist guide, I love’em both and it’s my dream job! :D I love it!

haitham4vip

Egypt

chooose it

iraskoorbam

Saudi Arabia

I am already pharmacist. I have chosen my major since I was in secondary school. It was my dream to be a pharmacist. I like it pretty much as a job. I always enjoy everything related to it.

I think it is very important for every student to be familiar with his future professional passion because he will only enjoy it and success it if he only like it in advance.

tumbili

Germany

I haven’t chosen a major yet and I’m not sure what I should take. There are some subjects I’m aren’t interested in but that makes it only a little bit easier. In my opinion you have to think about so many different things when you choose a major: You should like it, it should be easy to find a job after you studied it, you should earn enough money… For me it isn’t the most important thing to earn a lot of money, but it should be enough to live good on it. It is so difficult… at least for me!!!

Rah_

Brazil

I Took information systems major, but I like everything related with business.

raisacorrea

Brazil

I am major in Foreign trade, yes I work in this field, but I spend a long time to start in my area.

Schools in Brazil you don’t choose the subjects, you have to do all subjects. From art til math. And in the college/universiy too. You choose the course like “medicine, dance, etc” and you have the subjects includes in the program. Sometimes you have optional subjects in latest year, but depending of your college and major.

sam 35

Dominican Republic

sounds interesting i, studing the same i love english too

Crizsearch

Indonesia

I took English Major because I love English very much. My dream is to work in this field, teaching and have my own school, just like my dear Irene. English is part of my life and it’ll be forever with me. I want to enjoy what I like and I think I really I have passion in this language.

quester

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

i realy like my major,but there is not any opportunity to find a job untill taking graduate degree such as phd.

Nabilo

Germany

i’m an electrical engineering major and i graduated from th University of Karlsruhe in Germany with an engineer degree. Now I work as an automotive consulting engineer and a lot of tasks i must do dont have anything to do with what i studied. Butgenerally i am happy with my job:)

sarah bary

Iraq

I graduated from teachers institute . my major is English language .I work as English teacher in Accelerated learning school .I feel pleasure and satisfaction that I achieved what I want and I had done my job well. I chose my subject with my will because I like English language so much .

kotlesya

Belarus

Dearest, Irene thank you very much for the full and detailed answer. It was interesting to read about your methods.

I 100% support your opinion that the less pupils in the class the higher quality of the learning is :)

MATIN

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I think it is all ppl’s wish that have a job relate it with thier career

Irene Forever

Ukraine

Lesya, I teach both at my home and at my studens’ home. I used to teach several students at time. But I didin’t like it at all and never do it again, though it has an obvious benefit in money. It’s also not suitable for me, as students may miss lessons because of different reasons, and later on they may have problems with further studying.

I only teach eye to eye in order to pay all my attention to one student. I chose quality instead of much quantity of money. More over, I have no wish to turn my flat into a classroom.

Nevertheless, I respect the choice of everyone in the methods and ways of teaching. The main thing is a good result. I am all for it and do my best. :)