Some ideas to teach vocabulary about professions. Students are required to look for a job, write their CV and prepare and record an interview. The activity tries to be meaningful and useful to students

1. Looking for a job
Vocabulary for 1st Bachillerato
Mariana Morales Lobo
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2. Presentation
• According to the Decreto 27 junio 2008 de la CAM
, vocabulary in Bachillerato is not strictly defined:
• “Léxico relacionado con los temas tratados” (page 25)
Therefore, the teacher can choose the lexical area to be
studied. We have chosen “employment” as it is an
interesting field for their age because it opens a
window onto the adult life.

3. To make it relevant and
meaningful, we are going to
approach the subject in a
practical way. We will ask
students to look for a job.

4. Where to start?
• Brainstorming:
• Suggested answers:
– Look for adds in the newspapers
– Look in a job website
– Ask an adult
– Write my CV
– Have my hair cut
• We select the best ideas. They must be
activities to be done in English.

5. Describe professions

6. • Images. The teacher shows some images to
the students. They have to say the name of
the profession.
• Descriptions. In their own words, students
have to write three descriptions of different
professions, a partner must try to guess the
word for each one.

7. Find key words
• Choose words and expressions you need when
you are looking for a job.
• Where from?
»
»
»
»
Newspapers (online version)
News on TV
Text Book
Websites such as monster.com

8. Create a nice image and fix it on your notebook, the classroom wall or upload it
From Job pages in The Guardian

9. More about key words
• Separate verbs from nouns.
• Organize the list with images or create a
mental map
• Find phrasal verbs through the activities
(advanced level):
– Suggested answers:
–
–
–
–
Look for (a job)
Look up (an add in the newspaper)
Look over (my CV)
Look ahead (to a better future)

10. Talk about job offers
Pair work:
- Select three attractive offers and explain
them to a fellow student. See hotjobs.com
monster.com or indeed.com
- For each job, imagine you have to go to an
interview: prepare some questions you would
like to ask the recruiter.
Use conditional forms

11. Practice
• Choose some exercises from the text book: fill
in the gaps, pictures, synonyms, etc.

12. Write your CV
• The teacher shows a couple of examples of
CV’s and also a professional social network like
linked-in. Links and documents are uploaded
in moodle.
• Students are asked to write their own CV. They
must imagine they are 24 and are looking for a
job. This situation makes students think about
their own future. This task is uploaded in
moodle

13. Prepare the interview
Video 1
Video 2
Watch these videos (10’ and 4’). The teacher
stops them to comment and let the students ask
further questions. Students must try to get the
key ideas to prepare an interview. Key ideas must
be written on the board.

14. Play an interview
• Work in threesomes:
– Student A: is the interviewer
– Student B: is the candidate
– Student C: observes and takes notes of the strong and
weak points of each (roles must change so that all
students can play the three roles)
• To prepare the interview:
– Think of possible questions (and anticipate the
answers)
– Talk about how to dress up and other image questions

15. Record the interview
• If possible, students may record the three
interviews. Each one should have
approximately 10 minutes.
• These may be shown to the rest of the class
and commented. If the size of the group
doesn’t recommend it, then the teacher can
choose some of them.
• This activity allows to visualize what students
have learnt.

16. Assessment
•
•
•
•
•
•
Oral skills
Writing skills
Vocabulary
Team work
Computer literacy
Learning to learn
• Define the skills that are
going to be
marked, depending on
their starting point.
Choose some skills.
• Tell students BEFORE
doing the activity
• Give them qualitative
feedback as soon as
possible

17. Calendar and place
• 1st session: Presentation:
• Where to start?
• Describe Professions
• 2nd session: (in the School Library)
• Find Key words
• Talk about job offers
• 3rd and 4th session
• Practice
• Write your CV (in the School Library and at home)
• 5th and 6th session: Interview
• Prepare the interview
• Play the interview
• Record the interview (at home)

18. High level students
Write an essay (200 words) about what are the
jobs you prefer and why. Explain also what are the
skills you would need to get those jobs.
High level students could do this task instead of
the activities from the book.

19. Reflection on action
• This is an idea from the French
Department, which has been adapted.
• Looking for a job is a skill for life. It would be
interesting for the students to coordinate the unit
with the other language departments. For
instance:
• Write the CV in Spanish
• Talk about what to wear in an interview and other tips in
French. Write about your ideal job in French.
• Play the interview in English
 After all, professional contexts in the future are going
to be mainly multilingual.

20. Some ideas for CLIL
• Philosophical images
• A project on ethics