Dream Jobs. Speaking exercise

Many kids dream of becoming an astronaut.

In this lesson we will be talking about Dream Jobs in English, and looking at adjectives ending in -ed and -ing (e.g. Bored v Boring)

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
— Confucius

We all have a dream job when we’re children, whether that’s an astronaut, a rock star, a football player, or a princess. However, before we’re even teenagers, we usually realise that this is not going to happen, and change our goals to something a little more realistic. However, the concept of a ‘dream job’ is very much still alive, and many people agree that if you can make money doing something you love, you are in the minority, and can consider yourself very fortunate!

Before we get started with this conversation lesson, here is a list of vocabulary that will help you talk about your dream job, with your native English-speaking teacher in your online classes via Skype.

Dream job vocabulary in English

English vocabulary related to Dream Jobs

• astronaut
• backup plan
• exciting
• happiness
• realise a dream
• success
• qualifications
• wealthy
• workaholic
• work-life balance

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Grammar to use in your online English conversation class

Adjectives ending in -ed and –ing

Ajectives ending in -ed and -ing are often confused by students learning English, but the explanation of the difference between the two is very simple.

First let’s look at some commonly confused adjectives:

And here’s the simple rule!

• Adjectives ending in -ed are used to describe how a person feels.
• Adjectives ending in -ing are used for a person’s opinion of something or someone.

Examples:

• Feeling: The children were so bored.
• Opinion: Their uncle was telling them stories, and he’s terribly boring.

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• Feeling: I am tired.
• Opinion: I’ve had a really tiring week.

• Feeling: The crowd were excited.
• Opinion: The football match was very exciting.

• Feeling: The staff are really motivated.
• Opinion: Their job is highly motivating.

• Feeling: I was shocked to hear the news.
• Opinion: The news was really shocking.

Useful verb forms:

• Dream - dreamt - dreamt
• Win - won - won
• Sell - sold - sold

Common mistakes:

X Doctors win a lot of money
√ Doctors EARN a lot of money

X He paid to test computer games
√ He IS paid to test computer games

X She does a lot of money
√ She MAKES a lot of money

Common pronunciation problems:

• Astronaut /ˈæstɹəˌnɔːt/
• Bored /'bɔ:d/
• Idea /aɪ'dɪə/

What's your dream job now?

Questions we will discuss in your online English conversation class:

• When people talk about a dream job, what do they mean?
• What was your dream job when you were a young child?
• What was your dream job when you were a teenager?
• What’s your dream job now?
• If you won the lottery would you continue working? Would you do a different job? Would you retire?

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• If you could do any job in the world, would you do what you’re doing now?
• What do you encourage your kids to do when they’re older? (Something reasonably well paid? Something well paid? Something fun, but badly paid?)
• What career advice did your parents give you when you were a kid?
• Have things changed since the credit crunch hit? Is people’s ‘dream job’ just ‘any job’?
• Should people refuse jobs that aren’t ‘perfect’ for them, rather than take any job and continue looking while working?

Practice reading and listening before speaking with your native English-speaking teacher:

We often think that the dream job involves earning a lot of money for doing something we love, or for doing very little. In this article, rich people talk about how happy money actually makes them, and you might reconsider prioritising money so much when thinking of your dream job

“There's an oft-cited study out there that says money does buy you happiness — but only up until a certain point. It says that after you make $75,000 per year, increasing your income is not going to make you any happier…” Read more…

Speaking practice:

Now book your online English conversation class with one of our native English-speaking teachers to put into practice what you’ve learned in this lesson.

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