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Travelling to and from work is work, says EU (14th September, 2015)

The Reading / Listening - Level 6

The European Union has ruled that workers with no fixed office should be paid for travelling to and from their first and last appointments of their day. This could have a huge impact on the payroll expenses of companies across Europe. The European Court of Justice said that the journeys of workers who do not have a fixed place of work, and who travel between their home and their customers’ premises, are to be paid work. This means potentially higher salaries for care workers, sales staff, plumbers, nannies and other company employees who work from home. The court said it was to protect the health and safety of workers and ensure they did not work longer than 48 hours per week.

The ruling means that thousands of companies across Europe could be forced to change their business arrangements. Many will have to rearrange the working schedules of employees to ensure that their first and last appointments are near their homes. A British employment lawyer, Chris Tutton, told the BBC that: "Unless [bosses] adjust working hours or ask employees to opt out of the 48-hour working week, employees could quickly exceed the number of hours they are legally allowed to work. Bosses could therefore soon find that they are operating illegally and be at risk of facing costly claims against them." The ruling does not affect people's daily commute to their normal, fixed place of work.

Try the same news story at these easier levels:

Level 4 or Level 5

Sources

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34210002
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/travelling-to-work-is-work-court-rules-353288.html
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/travelling-european-court-rules-175012116.html#hzpZ9QP

Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

The 40 Lesson Activities on the PDF Handout

WARM-UPS

1. WORKING: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about working. Change partners often and share your findings.

2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, talk about these topics or words from the article. What will the article say about them? What can you say about these words and your life?

European Union / workers / office / traveling / appointments / journeys / customers / business arrangements / schedules / lawyer / illegally / be at risk / commute

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

3. WORKING CONDITIONS: How can working conditions be improved? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

	Improvements	Problems with these
Salary
Workplace
Benefits
Travelling
Holidays
Promotion

4. PAID COMMUTING: Students A strongly believe commuting time should be paid; Students B strongly believe otherwise. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.

MY e-BOOK

ESL resource book with copiable worksheets and handouts - 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers / English teachers

See a sample

5. JOBS: Rank these with your partner. Put the best at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

• soldier

• nurse

• police officer

• flight attendant

• secretary

• store manager

• teacher

• care worker

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

BEFORE READING / LISTENING

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).

a.	The EU ruling only applies to people with no fixed office.	T / F
b.	The ruling applies to all workers' appointments throughout the day.	T / F
c.	The ruling will not apply to care staff or nannies.	T / F
d.	The EU wants ensure people do not work more than 48 hours a week.	T / F
e.	Thousands of companies will have to change workers' schedules.	T / F
f.	Companies will cancel the last appointments of workers each day.	T / F
g.	Bosses will have to ask workers to work longer than 48 hours a week.	T / F
h.	The EU ruling also applies to workers who commute to their offices.	T / F

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

1.	ruled	a.	safeguard
2.	impact	b.	possibly
3.	fixed	c.	modify
4.	potentially	d.	effect
5.	protect	e.	unlawfully
6.	forced	f.	running into
7.	appointments	g.	ordered
8.	adjust	h.	made
9.	illegally	i.	set
10.	facing	j.	commitments

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1.	workers with no	a.	their customers’ premises
2.	travelling to and from their first	b.	arrangements
3.	payroll	c.	risk
4.	travel between their home and	d.	and last appointments
5.	protect the health	e.	lawyer
6.	be forced to change their business	f.	and safety of workers
7.	rearrange the working schedules	g.	fixed office
8.	employment	h.	the number of hours
9.	exceed	i.	expenses
10.	be at	j.	of employees

GAP FILL

The European Union has (1) ____________ that workers with no fixed office should be paid for travelling to and from their first and last appointments of their day. This could have a (2) ____________ impact on the (3) ____________ expenses of companies across Europe. The European Court of Justice said that the (4) ____________ of workers who do not have a (5) ____________ place of work, and who travel between their home and their customers’ premises, are to be paid work. This means (6) ____________ higher salaries for care workers, sales staff, plumbers, nannies and other company employees who work from home. The court said it was to (7) ____________ the health and safety of workers and (8) ____________ they did not work longer than 48 hours per week.

potentially
journeys
huge
ensure
protect
ruled
fixed
payroll

The ruling means that thousands of companies across Europe could be (9) ____________ to change their business arrangements. Many will have to (10) ____________ the working schedules of employees to ensure that their first and last appointments are near their homes. A British employment (11) ____________, Chris Tutton, told the BBC that: "Unless [bosses] adjust working hours or ask employees to (12) ____________ out of the 48-hour working week, employees could quickly (13) ____________ the number of hours they are (14) ____________ allowed to work. Bosses could therefore soon find that they are operating illegally and be at risk of (15) ____________ costly claims against them." The ruling does not affect people's daily (16) ____________ to their normal, fixed place of work.

legally
opt
rearrange
commute
exceed
forced
facing
lawyer

LISTENING - Guess the answers. Listen to check.

1)	workers with no fixed office should be paid for travelling to and from their first ______
	a. and lasting appointments b. and least appointments c. and lost appointments d. and last appointments
2)	This could have a huge impact on the payroll expenses of ______
	a. accompanies across Europe b. companies a cross Europe c. accompanies a cross Europe d. companies across Europe
3)	the journeys of workers who do not have a fixed ______
	a. place of work b. place for work c. place off work d. place of works
4)	higher salaries for care workers, sales staff, plumbers, nannies and ______
	a. another company employees b. other company employees c. other company employee d. other company employers
5)	The court said it was to protect the health and ______
	a. salary of workers b. safety for workers c. safety of workers d. safe tea of workers
6)	companies across Europe could be forced to change their ______
	a. business arrangements b. businesses arrangements c. business arrangement d. business arrange mints
7)	Many will have to rearrange the working ______
	a. schedules off employers b. schedule of employees c. schedules of employees d. schedules of employers
8)	ensure that their first and last appointments are ______
	a. near their homes b. nearly their homes c. nears their homes d. near the homes
9)	adjust working hours or ask employees to opt out of the 48-______
	a. hour working in week b. hour work week c. hour working week d. hour working weekly
10)	operating illegally and be at risk of facing costly ______
	a. clams against them b. cranes against then c. climbs against them d. claims against them

LISTENING – Listen and fill in the gaps

The European Union has ruled that workers (1) ___________________ should be paid for travelling to and from (2) ___________________ appointments of their day. This could have (3) ___________________ the payroll expenses of companies across Europe. The European Court of Justice said that (4) ___________________ workers who do not have a fixed place of work, and who travel between their home and their customers’ premises, are to be paid work. This (5) ___________________ salaries for care workers, sales staff, plumbers, nannies and other company employees who work from home. The court said (6) ___________________ the health and safety of workers and ensure they did not work longer than 48 hours per week.

The (7) ___________________ thousands of companies across Europe could be forced to change their business arrangements. Many will have (8) ___________________ working schedules of employees to ensure that their first and last appointments (9) ___________________ homes. A British employment lawyer, Chris Tutton, told the BBC that: "Unless [bosses] adjust working hours or ask employees (10) ___________________ 48-hour working week, employees could (11) ___________________ the number of hours they are legally allowed to work. Bosses could therefore soon find that they are operating illegally and be at risk of facing costly claims against them." The ruling does not affect people's daily (12) ___________________ normal, fixed place of work.

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1.	Which workers come under the EU's new ruling?
2.	What kind of expenses could the ruling have a huge impact on?
3.	What could be higher for nannies and care workers?
4.	What does the EU want to protect?
5.	What is the maximum hours per week the EU wants for workers?
6.	What could businesses be forced to change?
7.	Where should a worker's first and last appointments be near?
8.	What is the job of Chris Tutton?
9.	What could bosses be at risk of facing?
10.	Who does the ruling not affect?

MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ

1.	Which workers come under the EU's new ruling?	6.	What could businesses be forced to change?
	a) commuters b) employment lawyers c) company bosses d) those with no fixed offices		a) contracts b) offices c) business arrangements d) countries
2.	What kind of expenses could the ruling have a huge impact on?	7.	Where should a worker's first and last appointments be near?
	a) legal b) payroll c) weekly d) fixed		a) their home b) company HQ c) a train station d) the beginning of the month
3.	What could be higher for nannies and care workers?	8.	What is the job of Chris Tutton?
	a) travelling costs b) expectations c) working hours d) salaries		a) CEO b) plumber c) lawyer d) EU politician
4.	What does the EU want to protect?	9.	What could bosses be at risk of facing?
	a) itself b) privacy c) workers' health and safety d) employers		a) overtime b) costly claims c) the music d) the sack
5.	What is the maximum hours per week the EU wants for workers?	10.	Who does the ruling not affect?
	a) 42 b) 38 c) 46 d) 48		a) regular commuters b) everybody c) plumbers d) nannies

ROLE PLAY

Role A – Soldier

You think being a soldier is the best job. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their jobs aren't so good. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): care worker, teacher or flight attendant.

Role B – Care worker

You think being a care worker is the best job. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their jobs aren't so good. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): soldier, teacher or flight attendant.

Role C – Teacher

You think being a teacher is the best job. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their jobs aren't so good. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): care worker, soldier or flight attendant.

Role D – Flight attendant

You think being a flight attendant is the best job. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them why their jobs aren't so good. Also, tell the others which is the worst of these (and why): care worker, teacher or soldier.

AFTER READING / LISTENING

1. WORD SEARCH: Look in your dictionary / computer to find collocates, other meanings, information, synonyms … for the words 'fixed' and 'office'.

fixed

office

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:

ruled
huge
payroll
care
protect
48

forced
near
lawyer
therefore
risk
daily

WORKING SURVEY

Write five GOOD questions about working 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.

WORKING DISCUSSION

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

1)	What did you think when you read the headline?
2)	What springs to mind when you hear the word 'working'?
3)	What do you think about what you read?
4)	Should all workers get paid for travelling?
5)	What do you think companies feel about this new ruling?
6)	What effect do you think this will have on the economy?
7)	Should the traveling to work rate be the same as the working rate?
8)	Is this new ruling fair if a company goes out of business?
9)	How does this apply to the health and safety of workers?
10)	What do you think of the 48-hour limit on the working week?

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

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

11)	Did you like reading this article? Why/not?
12)	What laws about working are unfair?
13)	What laws need to be introduced to protect workers?
14)	Will customers be happy about higher charges because of this new ruling?
15)	Why might a worker opt out of the 48-hour working week?
16)	What things do you dislike about working?
17)	What do you think workers in offices think about the ruling?
18)	What can companies do to reduce the effect of the ruling?
19)	How will this change those professions affected?
20)	What questions would you like to ask the European Court?

DISCUSSION (Write your own questions)

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

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

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)
1.	________________________________________________________
2.	________________________________________________________
3.	________________________________________________________
4.	________________________________________________________
5.	________________________________________________________
6.	________________________________________________________

LANGUAGE - CLOZE

The European Union has (1) ____ that workers with no fixed office should be paid for travelling to and from their first and last appointments of their day. This could have a huge impact (2) ____ the payroll (3) ____ of companies across Europe. The European Court of Justice said that the journeys of workers who do not have a fixed place of work, and who travel between their home and their customers’ (4) ____, are to be paid work. This means potentially higher salaries for care workers, sales staff, plumbers, (5) ____ and other company employees who work from home. The court said it was to protect the health and safety of workers and (6) ____ they did not work longer than 48 hours per week.

The ruling means that thousands of companies across Europe could (7) ____ forced to change their business arrangements. Many will have to rearrange the working schedules (8) ____ employees to ensure that their first and last appointments are near their homes. A British employment lawyer, Chris Tutton, told the BBC that: "(9)____ [bosses] adjust working hours or ask employees to opt out of the 48-hour working week, employees could quickly (10) ____ the number of hours they are legally allowed to work. Bosses could therefore soon find that they are operating illegally and be (11) ____ risk of facing costly claims against them." The ruling does not affect people's daily (12) ____ to their normal, fixed place of work.

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

1.	(a)	rule	(b)	ruling	(c)	ruled	(d)	rulers
2.	(a)	on	(b)	by	(c)	at	(d)	from
3.	(a)	expenses	(b)	expanses	(c)	expends	(d)	expands
4.	(a)	premises	(b)	promises	(c)	primroses	(d)	presumes
5.	(a)	daddies	(b)	grannies	(c)	mummies	(d)	nannies
6.	(a)	assure	(b)	sure	(c)	reassure	(d)	ensure
7.	(a)	be	(b)	have	(c)	do	(d)	take
8.	(a)	for	(b)	to	(c)	by	(d)	of
9.	(a)	unless	(b)	useless	(c)	far less	(d)	limitless
10.	(a)	succeed	(b)	exceed	(c)	recede	(d)	cede
11.	(a)	by	(b)	at	(c)	for	(d)	as
12.	(a)	commute	(b)	commune	(c)	compute	(d)	commutate

SPELLING

Paragraph 1
1.	their first and last ptetpoinansm
2.	have a huge tcaipm
3.	payroll npesexes
4.	their customers’ meisrpse
5.	teayliptoln higher salaries
6.	nueser they did not work longer
Paragraph 2
7.	change their business aesernmtngar
8.	the working lsecsehdu of employees
9.	jsduat working hours
10.	ecdeex the number of hours
11.	operating yllgaleil
12.	people's daily ocetmum

PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER

Number these lines in the correct order.

( )	paid work. This means potentially higher salaries for care workers, sales staff, plumbers, nannies and other
( )	week, employees could quickly exceed the number of hours they are legally allowed to work. Bosses could
( )	The ruling means that thousands of companies across Europe could be forced to
( )	that their first and last appointments are near their homes. A British employment lawyer, Chris Tutton, told
( 1 )	The European Union has ruled that workers with no fixed office should be paid for travelling to and
( )	therefore soon find that they are operating illegally and be at risk of facing costly claims against
( )	the BBC that: "Unless [bosses] adjust working hours or ask employees to opt out of the 48-hour working
( )	safety of workers and ensure they did not work longer than 48 hours per week.
( )	them." The ruling does not affect people's daily commute to their normal, fixed place of work.
( )	change their business arrangements. Many will have to rearrange the working schedules of employees to ensure
( )	place of work, and who travel between their home and their customers’ premises, are to be
( )	of companies across Europe. The European Court of Justice said that the journeys of workers who do not have a fixed
( )	from their first and last appointments of their day. This could have a huge impact on the payroll expenses
( )	company employees who work from home. The court said it was to protect the health and

PUT THE WORDS IN THE RIGHT ORDER

1.	office should be paid for travelling Workers with no fixed .
2.	expenses This could have a huge impact on the payroll .
3.	salaries This for means care potentially workers higher .
4.	home from work who employees company Other .
5.	longer work not did they Ensure week per hours 48 than .
6.	the will working have schedules to rearrange Many .
7.	the opt Ask working 48-hour out employees week of to .
8.	of quickly hours exceed the Employees number could .
9.	claims risk costly them at facing against Be of .
10.	commute not affect The people's ruling daily does .

CIRCLE THE CORRECT WORD (20 PAIRS)

The European Union has ruling / ruled that workers with no fixing / fixed office should be paid for travelling to and from / fro their first and last appointments of their day. This could have a huge impact / compact on the payroll expenses of companies across Europe. The European Court of Justice said that the journeys of workers which / who do not have a fixed place of work, and who travel between their home and their customers’ promises / premises, are to be paid work. This means potently / potentially higher salaries for care workers, sales staff, plumbers, nannies / mummies and other company employees who work from home. The court said it was to protect the health and safe / safety of workers and ensure they did not work longer than 48 hours per / par week.

The ruling / ruled means that thousands of companies across Europe could be forced to charge / change their business arrangements. Many will have to rearrange the working schedules of employees to insure / ensure that their first and last appointments are near / nearly their homes. A British employment lawyer, Chris Tutton, told the BBC that: "Unless / Useless [bosses] adjust working hours or ask employees to opt in / out of the 48-hour working week, employees could quickly exceed / succeed the number of hours they are legally allowed / allowance to work. Bosses could therefore soon find that they are operating illegally and be at / to risk of facing costly claims against them." The ruling does not affect people's daily commute to their normally / normal, fixed place of work.

Talk about the connection between each pair of words in italics, and why the correct word is correct.

INSERT THE VOWELS (a, e, i, o, u)

Th_ __r_p__n _n__n h_s r_l_d th_t w_rk_rs w_th n_ f_x_d _ff_c_ sh__ld b_ p__d f_r tr_v_ll_ng t_ _nd fr_m th__r f_rst _nd l_st _pp__ntm_nts _f th__r d_y. Th_s c__ld h_v_ _ h_g_ _mp_ct _n th_ p_yr_ll _xp_ns_s _f c_mp_n__s _cr_ss __r_p_. Th_ __r_p__n C__rt _f J_st_c_ s__d th_t th_ j__rn_ys _f w_rk_rs wh_ d_ n_t h_v_ _ f_x_d pl_c_ _f w_rk, _nd wh_ tr_v_l b_tw__n th__r h_m_ _nd th__r c_st_m_rs’ pr_m_s_s, _r_ t_ b_ p__d w_rk. Th_s m__ns p_t_nt__lly h_gh_r s_l_r__s f_r c_r_ w_rk_rs, s_l_s st_ff, pl_mb_rs, n_nn__s _nd _th_r c_mp_ny _mpl_y__s wh_ w_rk fr_m h_m_. Th_ c__rt s__d _t w_s t_ pr_t_ct th_ h__lth _nd s_f_ty _f w_rk_rs _nd _ns_r_ th_y d_d n_t w_rk l_ng_r th_n 48 h__rs p_r w__k.

Th_ r_l_ng m__ns th_t th__s_nds _f c_mp_n__s _cr_ss __r_p_ c__ld b_ f_rc_d t_ ch_ng_ th__r b_s_n_ss _rr_ng_m_nts. M_ny w_ll h_v_ t_ r__rr_ng_ th_ w_rk_ng sch_d_l_s _f _mpl_y__s t_ _ns_r_ th_t th__r f_rst _nd l_st _pp__ntm_nts _r_ n__r th__r h_m_s. _ Br_t_sh _mpl_ym_nt l_wy_r, Chr_s T_tt_n, t_ld th_ BBC th_t: "_nl_ss [b_ss_s] _dj_st w_rk_ng h__rs _r _sk _mpl_y__s t_ _pt __t _f th_ 48-h__r w_rk_ng w__k, _mpl_y__s c__ld q__ckly _xc__d th_ n_mb_r _f h__rs th_y _r_ l_g_lly _ll_w_d t_ w_rk. B_ss_s c__ld th_r_f_r_ s__n f_nd th_t th_y _r_ _p_r_t_ng _ll_g_lly _nd b_ _t r_sk _f f_c_ng c_stly cl__ms _g__nst th_m." Th_ r_l_ng d__s n_t _ff_ct p__pl_'s d__ly c_mm_t_ t_ th__r n_rm_l, f_x_d pl_c_ _f w_rk.

PUNCTUATE THE TEXT AND ADD CAPITALS

the european union has ruled that workers with no fixed office should be paid for travelling to and from their first and last appointments of their day this could have a huge impact on the payroll expenses of companies across europe the european court of justice said that the journeys of workers who do not have a fixed place of work and who travel between their home and their customers’ premises are to be paid work this means potentially higher salaries for care workers sales staff plumbers nannies and other company employees who work from home the court said it was to protect the health and safety of workers and ensure they did not work longer than 48 hours per week

the ruling means that thousands of companies across europe could be forced to change their business arrangements many will have to rearrange the working schedules of employees to ensure that their first and last appointments are near their homes a british employment lawyer chris tutton told the bbc that "unless [bosses] adjust working hours or ask employees to opt out of the 48-hour working week employees could quickly exceed the number of hours they are legally allowed to work bosses could therefore soon find that they are operating illegally and be at risk of facing costly claims against them" the ruling does not affect people's daily commute to their normal fixed place of work

PUT A SLASH ( / ) WHERE THE SPACES ARE

TheEuropeanUnionhasruledthatworkerswithnofixedofficeshouldbep
aidfortravellingtoandfromtheirfirstandlastappointmentsoftheirday.
Thiscouldhaveahugeimpactonthepayrollexpensesofcompaniesacro
ssEurope.TheEuropeanCourtofJusticesaidthatthejourneysofworker
swhodonothaveafixedplaceofwork,andwhotravelbetweentheirhom
eandtheircustomers’premises,aretobepaidwork.Thismeanspotentia
llyhighersalariesforcareworkers,salesstaff,plumbers,nanniesandot
hercompanyemployeeswhoworkfromhome.Thecourtsaiditwastopro
tectthehealthandsafetyofworkersandensuretheydidnotworklongert
han48hoursperweek.Therulingmeansthatthousandsofcompaniesac
rossEuropecouldbeforcedtochangetheirbusinessarrangements.Man
ywillhavetorearrangetheworkingschedulesofemployeestoensureth
attheirfirstandlastappointmentsareneartheirhomes.ABritishemploy
mentlawyer,ChrisTutton,toldtheBBCthat:"Unless[bosses]adjustwo
rkinghoursoraskemployeestooptoutofthe48-hourworkingwee
k,employeescouldquicklyexceedthenumberofhourstheyarelegallyal
lowedtowork.Bossescouldthereforesoonfindthattheyareoperatingill
egallyandbeatriskoffacingcostlyclaimsagainstthem."Therulingdoes
notaffectpeople'sdailycommutetotheirnormal,fixedplaceofwork.

FREE WRITING

Write about working for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

ACADEMIC WRITING

Travelling to work is work and companies should pay workers for it. Discuss.

_____________________________________________________________________________

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 working. Share what you discover with your partner(s) in the next lesson.

3. WORKING HOURS: Make a poster about working hours. Show your work to your classmates in the next lesson. Did you all have similar things?

4. TRAVELLING TO WORK IS WORK: Write a magazine article about the new ruling that says travelling to work is work. Include imaginary interviews with people who are for and against it.

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. WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Write a newspaper article about the next stage in this news story. Read what you wrote to your classmates in the next lesson. Give each other feedback on your articles.

6. LETTER: Write a letter to an employment expert. Ask him/her three questions about working hours. Give him/her three of your opinions on changes that should be made to employment laws. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.

A Few Additional Activities for Students

Ask your students what they have read, seen or heard about this news in their own language. Students are likely to / may have have encountered this news in their L1 and therefore bring a background knowledge to the classroom.

Get students to role play different characters from this news story.

Ask students to keep track of this news and revisit it to discuss in your next class.

Ask students to male predictions of how this news might develop in the next few days or weeks, and then revisit and discuss in a future class.

Ask students to write a follow-up story to this news.

Students role play a journalist and someone who witnessed or was a part of this news. Perhaps they could make a video of the interview.

Ask students to keep a news journal in English and add this story to their thoughts.

Also...

Buy my 1,000 Ideas and Activities for Language Teachers eBook. It has hundreds of ideas, activity templates, reproducible activities for:

News
Warm ups
Pre-reading / Post-reading
Using headlines
Working with words
While-reading / While-listening
Moving from text to speech
Post-reading / Post-listening
Discussions
Using opinions
Plans
Language
Using lists
Using quotes
Task-based activities
Role plays
Using the central characters in the article
Using themes from the news
Homework

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ANSWERS

TRUE / FALSE (p.4)

a

T

b

F

c

F

d

T

e

T

f

F

g

F

h

F

SYNONYM MATCH (p.4)

1.	ruled	a.	ordered
2	impact	b.	effect
3.	fixed	c.	set
4.	potentially	d.	possibly
5.	protect	e.	safeguard
6.	forced	f.	made
7.	appointments	g.	commitments
8.	adjust	h.	modify
9.	illegally	i.	unlawfully
10.	facing	j.	running into

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS (p.8)

1.	Those with no fixed office
2.	Payroll
3.	Salaries
4.	Workers’ health and safety
5.	48
6.	Business arrangements
7.	Their home
8.	Employment lawyer
9.	Costly claims (against them)
10.	Regular commuters with a fixed place of work

MULTIPLE CHOICE - QUIZ (p.9)

1.

d

2.

b

3.

d

4.

c

5.

d

6.

c

7.

a

8.

c

9.

b

10.

a

ALL OTHER EXERCISES

Please check for yourself by looking at the Article on page 2.
(It's good for your English ;-)

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