Happiness is a snip away

• Introduce the lesson by asking the learners to discuss the following question in pairs. Get open-class feedback by asking for interesting answers.
  What is your job? If you don’t have a job, what job would you like to have?

• Display or write the following jobs on the board: teacher, waiter, doctor, hairdresser, marketing manager, chemical engineer, managing director, police officer, nurse, ambulance driver, soldier, beekeeper, chef, property investor, farmer
• Ask learners to work in small groups and sort the jobs into three or four categories, in any way they like. As they work, monitor, and clarify any meanings.
• When learners finish, put them into different groups and ask them to explain their choices to the others.
• Get feedback from the class. Which group had the most unusual way of categorising the jobs? 

• Display or write the following text on the board:
  Do you want a job that brings you happiness? If so, you might want to consider ______ as a career. A new league table has said that ______ are the happiest workers in the UK.
• Ask the learners to guess the missing words in groups. Point out that the first is the job itself and the second is the people who do that job, and it is one of the jobs discussed in the previous stage.
• Discuss ideas as a class.
  Answers: hairdressing / hairdressers

• Divide the class in half. Give half the class worksheet 1 Task A and give the other half worksheet 1 Task B.
• Ask them to do activity : Read and find three reasons why hairdressers are happy (Task A) or might not be happy (Task B).
• When they have finished, put them in pairs with someone with the same worksheet.
• Ask them to compare their answers, then discuss what they think the opposite reasons might be, i.e. if they found reasons why hairdressers are happy, they think of reasons why hairdressers might not be happy, and vice versa.
• Then put learners in new pairs with someone with the other worksheet, to share their predictions and answers.
  Note: learners may phrase their answers slightly differently.
  Answers (Task A): a young and trendy environment, colleagues who are eager, appreciated by clients
  Answers (Task B): irregular hours, back problems, working on Saturdays or late nights

• Either display slide 4 or write the following on the board: 

1. clergy
2. chef
3. beautician
4. plumber
5. mechanic
6. social worker
7. architect
8. estate agent

a. engines
b. houses
c. food
d. families
e. the Bible
f. bathrooms
g. new buildings
h. make-up

• Put learners in pairs.
• Ask learners to match the jobs with the items those people might work with. Monitor and clarify any meanings. Display slide 5 or elicit the answers.
  ⎯ Answers: 1e, 2c, 3h, 4f, 5a, 6d, 7g, 8b
• Give learners the Reading text. Explain that they have already read an extract from this.
• Tell learners some jobs are missing from the conclusion – five ‘happy’ jobs and three 'unhappy' jobs. The missing jobs are the ones listed in the previous activity.
• Ask learners to work with their partner and discuss which five jobs they think are the happy jobs to have (in any order) and which three jobs are the unhappy jobs to have (in any order).
• After the pairs have discussed, put them in groups of four with another pair to share and justify their ideas.
• Check answers as a class. Were the answers surprising? Answers:
  happy jobs – beautician, chef, clergy, mechanic, plumber
  unhappy jobs –architect, estate agent, social worker

• Put learners in small groups and either display slide 6 or dictate the following questions:
  1. What might be the five best and worst jobs in your country?
  2. What are the most important things about a job? For example, salary, colleagues, working hours?
  3. What would be the perfect job for you?
• Ask groups to discuss the questions.
• Ask each group for feedback as a whole class.

Follow-up activities could include:
⎯ Learners in groups choose a job and research it, then present it to the class.
⎯ Learners conduct a survey of jobs and what people think of them, then write a
report similar to the article, describing their findings.
⎯ Learners create their own jobs quiz, for example a matching activity similar to
activity 2, and test other learners.
⎯ A personal writing task on ‘My dream job’.