Intro
1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.
2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.
What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? Did you have a terrible boss, who made your life miserable? Or were your co-workers just awful? Was the work too hard, or too easy, or the commute too long?
We’ve all suffered through bad jobs. Sometimes we stay longer than we should because the salary is good, or because we think the jobs will help our careers, or because we just feel stuck. Hear Sara and Dale discuss what makes a job go from bad to worst.
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.
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Dale: So what was your worst job?
Sara: I think my worst job, the place where I worked wasn’t that bad, but my boss was terrible.
Dale: So that would be the reasoning for a worst job, is when your boss is terrible to you?
Sara: I think so. He just would stand over us all the time and watch everything that we did, waiting for us to make a mistake. It was pretty bad.
Dale: So what if the salary was higher? Would you have lasted longer there?
Sara: I think sometimes you can decide to focus your attention on something like, “At least I’m making a really good salary,” or, “At least this will be really good for my career,” but sometimes if there’s someone that just makes your life miserable, I think you can’t stay around for that long. For me, at least.
Dale: No, and I think the co-workers are the same way. If you don’t like your co-workers, it can make your job really difficult. And I think that that will ultimately make you feel like you don’t like the job, which makes it into a worse job.
Sara: And you’re not going to perform well at your job if you are having a bad time.
Dale: Yeah. I agree with that.
Sara: What about you, Dale? What was your worst job?
Dale: I’m trying to think. Ummm…. I don’t think I’ve had a bad boss. I’ve never had a bad client. I think that the worst is to really be painfully being at somewhere you don’t want to be but you have to, to pay the bills. I’ve just never been in that situation.
Sara: Well, congratulations!
Grammar Point
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Discussion
Dale asks Sara what the worst job she ever had was. She says that she had one job where the boss was terrible, and was always hovering over the employees.
Dale wonders whether some things can make someone want to stay in a bad job like that, like, for example, if the salary was great. Sara thinks it’s possible, but sometimes even a great salary can’t do the trick.
Dale agrees, and thinks that bad co-workers can make a job pretty bad, too. The worst, though, he thinks, is having to go to a job that you really don’t like, just because it pays the bills. Luckily, though, he’s never had a job like that!
What is the worst job you’ve ever had? What made it so bad? Do you think there’s ever a reason to stay in a bad job?
Comments
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