Date: February 27, 2005
Level: Pre-Intermediate +
Downloads: This Lesson (Word Doc) | Class Handout (Word Doc) | Class Handout (PDF)

THE ARTICLE

Have you noticed that every time you go for a perm or a trim that hairdresser is always very chatty? The reason they are so happy is that most of them love their jobs. This is according to a survey conducted by the City & Guilds of London Institute, which asked 1,200 workers about their job satisfaction Forty per cent of hairdressers are very happy in their jobs, while civil servants, social workers and architects are the unhappiest workers. None of the top ten positions in the Happiness Index included office jobs. The happiest workers were those who used their hands. In second place were religious ministers, followed by chefs, beauticians and plumbers. The survey showed that people who can run their own business and be self-employed are happiest. Desk workers came very low on the happiness scale. Teachers didn’t seem to be too happy either – only 8% said they enjoyed their work. There wasn’t a figure for English teachers, although their job satisfaction is probably very high. English teachers also smile a lot and generally love their jobs. City and Guilds advised workers to start every day positively, chat to colleagues, and brighten the workplace with personal photographs and flowers.

WARM UPS / COOL DOWNS

1. CHAT:  Talk in pairs or groups about hairdressers / English teachers / job satisfaction office jobs / desk work / dream job / …

To make things more dynamic, try telling your students they only have one minute (or 2) on each chat topic before changing topics / partners. Change topic / partner frequently to energize the class.

2. HAIRDRESSER BRAINSTORM: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word ‘hairdresser’. Share your words with your partner / group and talk about them.

3. MY HAIR HISTORY: Write down very brief notes of the history of your hair. What styles did you have as a kid? Are you happy with your style now? What kind of hair would you love?

4. HAPPY JOBS: What are the good things and bad things about the following jobs? Which would you like / hate to do? (The money is the same for all of them)

1. NASA astronaut
2. US president
3. BBC TV sports reporter (international)
4. Games software developer
5. Chanel fashion model
6. Teacher of English to speakers of other languages
7. Tsunami relief director
8. Manchester United soccer player (men’s or women’s teams)
9. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) vet
10. Department store Santa Claus

PRE-READING IDEAS

1. WORD SEARCH: Students look in their dictionaries / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … of the words ‘happy’ and ‘worker’.

2. TRUE / FALSE: Look at the headline and guess whether these sentences are true or false:

1. Hairdressers are always very chatty.  T / F
2. All hairdressers are very happy in their jobs.  T / F
3. Architects are the unhappiest workers.  T / F
4. Three out of the ten happiest jobs involved some kind of deskwork.  T / F
5. The happiest workers were those who used their heads.   T / F
6. Teachers are very happy.  T / F
7. English teachers smile a lot and generally love their jobs.  T / F
8. To be happy in your job you must brighten the workplace with personal photographs and flowers.  T / F

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

(a)	trim	carried out
(b)	chatty	position
(c)	conducted	number
(d)	satisfaction	decorate
(e)	civil servants	ranking
(f)	index	haircut
(g)	place	contentedness
(h)	run	talkative
(i)	figure	operate
(j)	brighten	government workers

4. PHRASE MATCH: Match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes more than one combination is possible):

(a)	Have you	conducted by the City & Guilds
(b)	very	own business
(c)	most of them love	chatty
(d)	a survey	workplace
(e)	None of the top	employed
(f)	those who used	noticed
(g)	run their	positively
(h)	self-	ten positions
(i)	start every day	their hands
(j)	brighten the	their jobs

 

WHILE READING ACTIVITIES

1. GAP-FILL:  Put the missing words under each paragraph into the gaps.

Hairdressers top job satisfaction poll

Have you __________ that every time you go for a perm or a trim the hairdresser is always very chatty? The reason they are so happy is that most of them __________ their jobs. This is according to a survey conducted by the City & Guilds of London Institute, which asked 1,200 workers about their job __________. Forty per cent of hairdressers are very happy in their jobs, while civil servants, social workers and architects are the unhappiest workers. None of the top ten positions in the Happiness Index included __________ jobs. The happiest workers were those who used their __________. In second place were religious ministers, followed by chefs, beauticians and plumbers. The survey showed that people who can __________ their own business and be self-employed are happiest. Desk workers came very low on the happiness __________. Teachers didn’t seem to be too happy either – only 8% said they enjoyed their work. There wasn’t a __________ for English teachers, although their job satisfaction is probably very high. English teachers also smile a lot and generally love their jobs. City and Guilds advised workers to start every day positively, chat to colleagues, and __________ the workplace with personal photographs and flowers.

office noticed run figure satisfaction hands brighten scale love

2. TRUE/FALSE:  Students check their answers to the T/F exercise.

3. SYNONYMS:  Students check their answers to the synonyms exercise.

4. PHRASE MATCH:  Students check their answers to the phrase match exercise.

5. QUESTIONS: Students make notes for questions they would like to ask the class about the article.

6. VOCABULARY:  Students circle any words they do not understand. In groups, pool unknown words and use dictionaries to find the meanings.

POST READING IDEAS

1. GAP-FILL: Check the answers to the gap-fill exercise.

2. QUESTIONS:  Students ask the discussion questions they thought of above to their partner / group / class. Pool the questions for all students to share.

3. VOCABULARY: As a class, go over the vocabulary students circled above.

4. STUDENT-GENERATED SURVEY: Pairs/Groups write down 3 questions based on the article. Conduct their surveys alone. Report back to partners to compare answers. Report to other groups / the whole class.

5. ‘HAPPY’/ ‘WORKER’: Students make questions based on their findings from pre-reading activity #1.

6. DISCUSSION:  Students ask each other the following questions:

1. What do you think of this article?
2. What is your dream job?
3. Would you like to be a hairdresser?
4. Would you like to do the same as your parents?
5. What did you want to do when you were ten (sixteen / twenty-one)?
6. When do you want to retire?
7. What’s most important to you when choosing a job?
8. Would you prefer to work with your hands or use your head?
9. If you ran your own business, what would you do?
10. What are the pros and cons of being self-employed?
11. Would you prefer to work at home, doing an Internet-related job?
12. How about working overseas?
13. Out of all your friends, who has the best / worst job?
14. Do you think teaching English is easy / stressful?
15. What is the best way to enjoy your work?
16. Which is better, a blue-collar or white-collar job?
17. Do you want to go far in your career? How far?
18. Teacher / Student additional questions.

HOMEWORK

1. VOCAB 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 more information on job satisfaction. Share your findings with your class next lesson.

3. YOUR JOB’S AD: Create an advertisement for a job you have done. Outline all the benefits and perks of the job, and the requirements for applicants. Advertise this job in your next class and conduct interviews to find the best candidate.

4. MY DREAM JOB: You now have your dream job. Write a diary/journal entry about your first week of work.

ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE:

1. Hairdressers are always very chatty.  T
2. All hairdressers are very happy in their jobs.  F
3. Architects are the unhappiest workers.  T
4. Three out of the ten happiest jobs involved some kind of deskwork.  F
5. The happiest workers were those who used their heads.   F
6. Teachers are very happy.  F
7. English teachers smile a lot and generally love their jobs.  T
8. To be happy in your job you must brighten the workplace with personal photographs and flowers.  T

SYNONYM MATCH:

(a)	trim	haircut
(b)	chatty	talkative
(c)	conducted	carried out
(d)	satisfaction	contentedness
(e)	civil servants	government workers
(f)	index	ranking
(g)	place	position
(h)	run	operate
(i)	figure	number
(j)	brighten	decorate

PHRASE MATCH:

(a)	Have you	noticed
(b)	very	chatty
(c)	most of them love	their jobs
(d)	a survey	conducted by the City & Guilds
(e)	None of the top	ten positions
(f)	those who used	their hands
(g)	run their	own business
(h)	self-	employed
(i)	start every day	positively
(j)	brighten the	workplace

GAP FILL:

Hairdressers top job satisfaction poll

Have you noticed that every time you go for a perm or a trim the hairdresser is always very chatty? The reason they are so happy is that most of them love their jobs. This is according to a survey conducted by the City & Guilds of London Institute, which asked 1,200 workers about their job satisfaction. Forty per cent of hairdressers are very happy in their jobs, while civil servants, social workers and architects are the unhappiest workers. None of the top ten positions in the Happiness Index included office jobs. The happiest workers were those who used their hands. In second place were religious ministers, followed by chefs, beauticians and plumbers. The survey showed that people who can run their own business and be self-employed are happiest. Desk workers came very low on the happiness scale. Teachers didn’t seem to be too happy either – only 8% said they enjoyed their work. There wasn’t a figure for English teachers, although their job satisfaction is probably very high. English teachers also smile a lot and generally love their jobs. City and Guilds advised workers to start every day positively, chat to colleagues, and brighten the workplace with personal photographs and flowers.