Breaking News English ESL Lesson Plan on Dream Jobs

50 candidates for ‘best job in the world’

The world will soon know who will get the “best job in the world”. The position is for a caretaker to live on and look after a tropical island off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Duties include relaxing on the island, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef, and writing a blog to promote the area. Other responsibilities are to feed the fish, clean the pool and collect the mail. The job website, islandreefjob.com, tells applicants: “There are over 1,500 species of fish living in the Great Barrier Reef. Don’t worry. You won’t need to feed them all.” The successful applicant will get a salary of nearly US$100,000 for the six months. Officials from Queensland’s tourism department announced on Tuesday that they were now looking at 50 candidates. Unsurprisingly, over 35,000 people applied for the job.

The next stage in the selection process is to get the list of candidates down to 11. The tourism board will select ten people. Visitors to the website will choose an eleventh person. The public can look at the video applications of all 50 hopeful caretakers. The eleven lucky finalists will then fly to Hamilton Island for a formal interview. The winner will be announced on May 6, and the job starts on July 1. The current shortlist of 50 includes people from 22 countries. They include dancers, chefs, scientists and students and they all want a slice of paradise. Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said there was much discussion to narrow down the list to 50. He told reporters, “it boiled down to…the motivation and professionalism of the applicants and their 'fit' with the job and Tourism Queensland”.

WARM-UPS

1. JOBS: Walk around the class and talk to other students about jobs. Change partners often. After you finish, sit with your partner(s) and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, decide which of these topics or words from the article are most interesting and which are most boring.

best jobs / tropical islands / coasts / blogs / fish species / tourism departments / selection processes / candidates / job applications / shortlists / professionalism

Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.

3. DREAM THIS OR THAT: Everyone has a dream this or a dream that. Write about your dream things in the table below. Talk about what you wrote with your partner(s). Change partners and share what you found out.

My dream…	Because	Chances of me getting it / him / her
Job
House
Boss
Partner
Car
Holiday

4. DREAM JOBS: Students A strongly believe dream jobs do not exist; Students B strongly believe they do. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

5. RESPONSIBILITIES: Rank the following from the hardest duty to the easiest. Talk about your rankings with your partner(s). Change partners.

____ relaxing on the beach

____ feeding the fish

____ maintaining a blog

____ cleaning the pool

____ reading books by the pool

____ hiking around the island

____ collecting the mail

____ answer e-mails

6. TOURISM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘tourism’. Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the article’s headline and guess whether these sentences are true (T) or false (F):

a.	The “best job in the world” is to look after a desert island.	T / F
b.	One of the duties of this job is to catch and cook fish.	T / F
c.	There are 15,000 species of fish living on the Great Barrier Reef.	T / F
d.	More than 35,000 people applied for this wonderful job.	T / F
e.	Website visitors will choose a shortlist of 10 candidates.	T / F
f.	Website visitors can look at the video applications of the candidates.	T / F
g.	All of the applicants for the best job in the world are Australian.	T / F
h.	Tourist officials want someone who is motivated and professional.	T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article:

1.	position	a.	post
2	look after	b.	reduce
3.	promote	c.	job
4.	mail	d.	choose
5.	applied	e.	publicize
6.	process	f.	match
7.	select	g.	care for
8.	current	h.	method
9.	narrow down	i.	went for
10.	fit	j.	present

3. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases from the article (sometimes more than one. combination is possible):

1.	a tropical island off the	a.	of fish
2	writing a blog to promote	b.	of the applicants
3.	over 1,500 species	c.	the area
4.	The successful applicant will get a	d.	of 50
5.	over 35,000 people	e.	salary of nearly US$100,000
6.	The next stage in the	f.	of paradise
7.	applications of all 50	g.	coast of Queensland
8.	The current shortlist	h.	applied for the job
9.	they all want a slice	i.	selection process
10.	the motivation and professionalism	j.	hopeful caretakers

WHILE READING / LISTENING

GAP FILL: Put the words into the gaps in the text.

The world will soon ____________ who will get the “best job in the world”. The position is for a caretaker to live on and look after a tropical island off the ____________ of Queensland, Australia. Duties include relaxing on the island, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef, and writing a blog to ____________ the area. Other responsibilities are to feed the fish, clean the pool and collect the mail. The job website, islandreefjob.com, tells ____________: “There are over 1,500 species of fish living in the Great Barrier Reef. Don’t worry. You won’t need to ____________ them all.” The successful applicant will get a salary of nearly US$100,000 for the six months. Officials from Queensland’s ____________ department announced on Tuesday that they were now ____________ at 50 candidates. Unsurprisingly, over 35,000 people ____________ for the job.

looking
coast
applicants
know
tourism
promote
applied
feed

The next stage in the selection ____________ is to get the list of candidates down to 11. The tourism board will ____________ ten people. Visitors to the website will choose an eleventh person. The public can look at the video applications of all 50 ____________ caretakers. The eleven lucky finalists will then fly to Hamilton Island for a ____________ interview. The winner will be announced on May 6, and the job starts on July 1. The ____________ shortlist of 50 includes people from 22 countries. They include dancers, chefs, scientists and students and they all want a ____________ of paradise. Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said there was much discussion to ____________ down the list to 50. He told reporters, “it boiled down to…the motivation and professionalism of the applicants and their '____________' with the job and Tourism Queensland”.

narrow
hopeful
fit
process
current
select
formal
slice

LISTENING: Listen and fill in the spaces.

The world will _____________________ get the “best job in the world”. The position is for a caretaker to live on and look after a tropical island off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Duties _____________________ the island, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef, and writing a blog to promote the area. Other responsibilities _____________________, clean the pool and collect the mail. The job website, islandreefjob.com, tells applicants: “There are over 1,500 species of fish living in the Great Barrier Reef. Don’t worry. You won’t _____________________ all.” The successful applicant will get a salary of nearly US$100,000 for the six months. Officials from Queensland’s tourism department announced on Tuesday that _____________________ at 50 candidates. Unsurprisingly, over 35,000 _____________________.

The next stage _____________________ is to get the list of candidates down to 11. The tourism board will select ten people. Visitors to the website _____________________ person. The public can look at the video applications of all 50 hopeful caretakers. The eleven lucky finalists will then fly to Hamilton Island _____________________. The winner will be announced on May 6, and the job starts on July 1. The current shortlist of 50 includes people from 22 countries. _____________________, chefs, scientists and students and they all want a slice of paradise. Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said there was much discussion to narrow _____________________. He told reporters, “it boiled down to…the motivation and professionalism of the applicants _____________________ the job and Tourism Queensland”.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words ‘tropical’ and ‘island’.

tropical

island

Share your findings with your partners.

Make questions using the words you found.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

2. ARTICLE QUESTIONS: Look back at the article and write down some questions you would like to ask the class about the text.

Share your questions with other classmates / groups.
Ask your partner / group your questions.

3. GAP FILL: In pairs / groups, compare your answers to this exercise. Check your answers. Talk about the words from the activity. Were they new, interesting, worth learning…?

4. VOCABULARY: Circle any words you do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find their meanings.

5. TEST EACH OTHER: Look at the words below. With your partner, try to recall how they were used in the text:

soon
coast
feed
worry
nearly
applied

stage
select
video
lucky
slice
fit

STUDENT DREAM JOB SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about dream jobs in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper.

When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

	STUDENT 1 _____________	STUDENT 2 _____________	STUDENT 3 _____________
Q.1.
Q.2.
Q.3.
Q.4.
Q.5.

Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Change partners often.
Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings.

DREAM JOBS DISCUSSION

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

a)	What did you think when you read the headline?
b)	What springs to mind when you hear the word ‘job’?
c)	Are you surprised about what you read in this article?
d)	What three adjectives would you use to describe tropical islands?
e)	Do you think you’d be good at this job?
f)	What’s your dream job?
g)	What do you think the person will write about for six months?
h)	Do you think the salary is about right for this job?
i)	Why do you think the salary is so high for this job?
j)	What responsibilities have you had at work?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

a)	Did you like reading this article?
b)	Have you ever been through a selection process?
c)	Do you like going to job interviews?
d)	How would your life change if you got your dream job?
e)	Do you think people doing dream jobs, like actors, singers and sports stars, should be happier?
f)	Do you think there are any bad things about this job?
g)	Who would be better at doing this job, a dancer, chef, scientist or student?
h)	What kind of person would best fit this job?
i)	Who do you think has the best job in the world and why?
j)	What questions would you like to ask Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle?

LANGUAGE

The world will soon (1) ____ who will get the “best job in the world”. The position is for a caretaker to live on and look after a (2) ____ island off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Duties include relaxing on the island, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef, and writing a blog to (3) ____ the area. Other responsibilities are to feed the fish, clean the pool and collect the mail. The job website, islandreefjob.com, tells applicants: “There are (4) ____ 1,500 species of fish living in the Great Barrier Reef. Don’t worry. You won’t need to (5) ____ them all.” The successful applicant will get a salary of nearly US$100,000 for the six months. Officials from Queensland’s tourism department announced on Tuesday that they were (6) ____ looking at 50 candidates. Unsurprisingly, over 35,000 people applied for the job.

The next stage in the (7) ____ process is to get the list of candidates down to 11. The tourism board will select ten people. Visitors to the website will choose an (8) ____ person. The public can look at the video applications of all 50 hopeful caretakers. The eleven lucky finalists will then fly to Hamilton Island (9) ____ a formal interview. The winner will be announced on May 6, and the job starts on July 1. The current shortlist of 50 includes people from 22 countries. They include dancers, chefs, scientists and students and they all want a (10) ____ of paradise. Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said there was (11) ____ discussion to narrow down the list to 50. He told reporters, “it boiled down to…the motivation and professionalism of the applicants and their (12) ‘____' with the job and Tourism Queensland”.

Put the correct words from the table below in the above article.

1.	(a)	known	(b)	knowing	(c)	knows	(d)	know
2.	(a)	tropical	(b)	tropics	(c)	tropically	(d)	tropic
3.	(a)	promotion	(b)	promoting	(c)	promote	(d)	promoter
4.	(a)	more	(b)	over	(c)	up	(d)	higher
5.	(a)	fed	(b)	feed	(c)	feeder	(d)	feeding
6.	(a)	current	(b)	moment	(c)	now	(d)	present
7.	(a)	selection	(b)	section	(c)	dissection	(d)	vivisection
8.	(a)	elevenses	(b)	eleven	(c)	elevenfold	(d)	eleventh
9.	(a)	by	(b)	with	(c)	at	(d)	for
10.	(a)	chop	(b)	slice	(c)	punch	(d)	slap
11.	(a)	much	(b)	many	(c)	lots	(d)	loads
12.	(a)	fitter	(b)	fits	(c)	fit	(d)	fitted

WRITING:

Write about dream jobs for 10 minutes. Correct your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

HOMEWORK

1. VOCABULARY EXTENSION: Choose several of the words from the text. Use a dictionary or Google’s search field (or another search engine) to build up more associations / collocations of each word.

2. INTERNET: Search the Internet and find out more about the dream reef job. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. DREAM JOBS: Make a poster about the five best jobs in the world. Why do you think so? Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. DUTIES: Write a magazine article about the job on the Great Barrier Reef. Include imaginary interviews with the successful candidate three months into the position, and Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle.

Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Write down any new words and expressions you hear from your partner(s).

5. LETTER: Write a letter to Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle. Ask him three questions about the job. Give him three reasons why you should get the job. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

SYNONYM MATCH:

1.	position	a.	job
2	look after	b.	care for
3.	promote	c.	publicize
4.	mail	d.	post
5.	applied	e.	went for
6.	process	f.	method
7.	select	g.	choose
8.	current	h.	present
9.	narrow down	i.	reduce
10.	fit	j.	match

PHRASE MATCH:

1.	a tropical island off the	a.	coast of Queensland
2	writing a blog to promote	b.	the area
3.	over 1,500 species	c.	of fish
4.	The successful applicant will get a	d.	salary of nearly US$100,000
5.	over 35,000 people	e.	applied for the job
6.	The next stage in the	f.	selection process
7.	applications of all 50	g.	hopeful caretakers
8.	The current shortlist	h.	of 50
9.	they all want a slice	i.	of paradise
10.	the motivation and professionalism	j.	of the applicants

GAP FILL:

50 candidates for ‘best job in the world’

The world will soon know who will get the “best job in the world”. The position is for a caretaker to live on and look after a tropical island off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Duties include relaxing on the island, which is part of the Great Barrier Reef, and writing a blog to promote the area. Other responsibilities are to feed the fish, clean the pool and collect the mail. The job website, islandreefjob.com, tells applicants: “There are over 1,500 species of fish living in the Great Barrier Reef. Don’t worry. You won’t need to feed them all.” The successful applicant will get a salary of nearly US$100,000 for the six months. Officials from Queensland’s tourism department announced on Tuesday that they were now looking at 50 candidates. Unsurprisingly, over 35,000 people applied for the job.

The next stage in the selection process is to get the list of candidates down to 11. The tourism board will select ten people. Visitors to the website will choose an eleventh person. The public can look at the video applications of all 50 hopeful caretakers. The eleven lucky finalists will then fly to Hamilton Island for a formal interview. The winner will be announced on May 6, and the job starts on July 1. The current shortlist of 50 includes people from 22 countries. They include dancers, chefs, scientists and students and they all want a slice of paradise. Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said there was much discussion to narrow down the list to 50. He told reporters, “it boiled down to…the motivation and professionalism of the applicants and their 'fit' with the job and Tourism Queensland”.

LANGUAGE WORK

1 - d

2 - a

3 - b

4 - c

5 - c

6 - b

7 - d

8 - a

9 - b

10 - d

11 - c

12 - a

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THE ARTICLE

50 candidates for ‘best job in the world’

WARM-UPS

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

WHILE READING / LISTENING

LISTENING: Listen and fill in the spaces.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

STUDENT DREAM JOB SURVEY

DREAM JOBS DISCUSSION

LANGUAGE

WRITING:

HOMEWORK

ANSWERS

50 candidates for ‘best job in the world’

Help Support This Web Site

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You