TOEIC Lesson Plan: “Jobs and Businesses”
Find the list of 80 words you’ll need for this lesson on one of the top TOEIC topics “Kinds of Jobs and Kinds of businesses” including five suggestions for making your own vocabulary games that are proven to engage students and increase retention of new words. To round out the lesson on jobs find three extra speaking and writing activities. The total class time needed should be around three hours.
This list of 80 words was compiled from the listening and reading passages and incomplete sentences in the Official Practice Test N°1 “Les Tests TOEIC Officiels Corrigés” by Hachette publishing here in France. Not only were the passages rich in job vocabulary but, surprisingly, I found many of these terms among the answer choices.
Let’s have a look at the two lists below. Are these the terms you’d select for a TOEIC lesson on jobs? My list from previous years omitted: geologist, carpet installer, auctioneer, historical archiving and meteorologist. But my old list contained lost of jobs in a restaurant (waitress, matre d’, chef, busboy), and jobs in a hotel (maid, room service, bellboy) We can only make an educated guess as to what vocabulary will appear the day of an actual test.
Kinds of jobs/fields: carpet installer, office receptionist, interior designer, cleaning staff, trainees, maintenance workers, bus driver, geologist, architect, landscaping staff, corporate trainer, youth education, historical archiving, nature conservationist, urban developer, interns, shift personnel, delivery person, vendor (supplier), hotel receptionist, caterer, kitchen staff, chef, auctioneer, librarian, meteorologist (weather forecaster), insurance agent, book publisher, journalist, magazine editor, newspaper editor
Kinds of businesses/services: Clothing Store, furniture factory, dry-cleaning shop, bicycle shop, law firm, jewelry store, career counseling, home improvement, garden landscaping, research laboratory, nature park, real estate agency, construction company, cleaning service, carpet installers, interior design, shipping company, an engineering firm, catering company (food preparation), cooking lessons, grocery delivery, nutritional counseling, moving company, tax preparation service, publishing company, hotel chain, travel agency, office supply store, department store, shipping company, fabric manufacturing, design firm, hotel chain, paper supplier, office supplies, delivery person, shuttle bus service, chauffeur service, rental car agency, insurance company, publishing house, newspaper
Five suggestions for an engaging TOEIC lesson that builds vocabulary
I like to create activities using flashcards or board games where the students work in teams, learning, and practicing together. Competing teams encourage stronger students to help out the lower levels and randomly forming these teams by drawing a number from a bag guarantees fair play.
Suggestion N° 1: translate the new words
Many experts advise having the students translate the new words into their native language. They claim that translating long lists of new vocabulary is the fastest method of learning a large number of new words such as the TOEIC word lists found online containing up 1,500 words!
You could type up these two word lists above (Kinds of jobs and Kinds of businesses) and simply ask the students to make flashcards with the English word on one side and the native language on the back.
However, in a large class, how would you verify that the translations are correct and from the good context? Here’s my solution. I used this method one year with a group of 20 university students here in France.
Type up the list of words (with the context in parenthesis ) in a two-column document in Word leaving the right column blank for translating. Print and pass that out. Next, cut up small cards and write the term in English on one side, then pass out the cards evenly to the class.
Each student works independently or in pairs to translate their cards. When they are done writing the translation on the back, they pass the cards to the person on their right.
The lists are filled in by copying the translated word from the back of the cards just passed to them. By the time all the cards circulate through the class, each student has had time to analyze each translation done by his neighbor and ask for verification if he’s in doubt.
I encourage students to question the translation and ask for help from me if needed. It would be terrible for them to memorize a bad translation! Check quickly to see that each student has filled in his list and then collect the cards to be used later for review in flashcard games. After every Practice Test in class, I had the habit of making a new list of vocabulary and expressions like “in a couple of days”, “to have someone’s back’ etc.
Suggestion 2: Use photos of the new word
Some vocabulary words lend themselves well in a photo. You could create a two-column table in Word or PowerPoint and find corresponding photos quickly in the Clip Art feature. These could be your flashcards with the photo on one side and the word in English on the back.
I prefer this method for a TOEIC lesson over translating because all the learning is done in English. Even though the TOEIC Listening and Reading exam does not test pronunciation or recalling a word, this is good practice for students. Once they know how a word is pronounced, they will recognize it when heard.
Suggestion N°3- job title with short description
Make flashcards with new words on one side and a short definition on the other side. Look for short definitions of jobs in an online dictionary like Cambridge or on a job site like Monster.co.uk.
Here’s an example of a plumber job description from Monster. I didn’t even need to go to the site. The Google snippet provided all the information I needed to write a definition. These Google searches went very quickly. Just type in the search bar “name of job + job description Monster”. Repeat this for every job on your word list.
Suggestion N°4- Use Photos + job title + job description
This is a board game idea where you have three columns: one for the picture, the second for the job title, and the third for the short definition. It’s a combination of suggestions 2 and 3. It should look something like my game below.
Be sure to print two copies of the filled-in board to be used to cut up as flashcards and the second copy as an answer sheet. The three cards could be lined up like a Dominoe game or boards could be made by deleting the job title and job description in the answer sheet and resaving.
If you don’t feel like making the game yourself, you can buy mine for $3 on TeachersPayTeachers.com. There are 30 different jobs frequently found on the TOEIC exam. I’ve used this successfully in the past with university students. //www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/TOEIC-exam-prep-board-game-Job-Titles-and-Matching-Descriptions-5456432 The pdf download comes with instructions for using the game in three different ways: as a board game, as flashcards using the photo to recall the job title, and as flashcards using the definition to recall the job title.
There is also a gap-filling quiz included that tests the 30 new words. Don’t need a quiz? Make a PowerPoint slide with each question and its answer choices. In class, click through the slide deck and call on different students to answer. This would be a good opportunity to point out any other useful vocabulary found in the question. Check it out!
Suggestion N°5: Name of business and main job title
Using the list of “kinds of business”, write the name of the business on one side of a flashcard and elicit the job title that normally goes with the business on the back. Examples from the list of businesses above: Dress shop = sales clerk, Bakery = baker, Law firm = attorney (lawyer), Jewelry store = jeweler, Career counseling = career counselor, Research laboratory = scientist, Nature park, = park ranger, Real estate agency = real estate agent, etc.
Extra Speaking Activity N°1: Practice talking about your job.
Write these phrases on the board before watching the Oxford University Press video. They will be used as prompts later on in the lesson when students are asked to write their own job descriptions. Point out articles and prepositions as well as verbs in +ing.
I’m a _______________ (kind of job). I work in ______________________ (field or type of work) for __________________ (name of company) in the _______________ (department or place). I work for a/an ___________________ (adjective: big, multi-national) compnay which _______________ (verb in present simple: makes, produces, provides something). I have to ______________ (verb in infinitive). I’m responsible for ________________ (noun or doing something). Most of my time is spent _____________ (doing something). I like my job because it’s ______________ (adjective: stimulating, creative; rewarding, challenging). I don’t like my job because it’s _____________ (adjective: boring, difficult, a dead-end, thankless).
Watch this well-done video with your students then ask them to write their own “elevator pitch” using the prompts. If your class is made up of high school or college students who haven’t worked yet, ask them to imagine a job or describe the job of one of their parents or an acquaintance. You can also ask them to use a job description from Monster.co.uk. finding funny or unusual jobs. The more unusual the job the better.
Extra written activity N°2: Describing Jobs
I know some teachers prefer written exercises in their TOEIC lessons as this improves writing skills and recall for those students who need to write down vocabulary several times in order to remember new words. This was certainly my case as a beginning French student.
This exercise is from LinguaHouse.com //www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/general-english/describing-jobs . It’s basically the same lesson as the video from Oxford with some added adjectives. I like it too. You may need to do both for lower levels.
Extra speaking activity N°3 for reviewing jobs and forming questions in present simple
I call it my “What’s my job?” TOEIC lesson where one student draws a job title from a bag and answers “yes” or “no” to rapid-fire questions from fellow students. Questions such as “Do you wear a uniform?” or “Do you work at the weekend?” The first student to guess the job correctly wins. Use the list of jobs above to make your little cards with job titles. I suggest writing some example questions on the board for students to refer to during the game.
If you find that you won’t have time to make your own game, you can buy mine here for $3. //www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Whats-My-Job-speaking-activity-5490968 There’s a handout with example questions that you could write on the board or print and pass out. There are 15 ready-to-print cards with five jobs each. Put students in a circle and pass out the cards. This should be a fast-paced game with lots of questions in rapid-fire. I try to refrain from correcting too much, just “Do you + inf” because that’s the goal of the game question forms in present simple.
Read these related articles on TOEIC Vocabulary Lessons
You may also like these two related blog posts “Focus on Top TOEIC Topics in class” and “TOEIC Experts Agree Vocabulary is Vital”.
Read about managing a large TOEIC class by using teams and friendly competition here “How to Engage Millennials in ESL/EFL Class.”
This blog post talks about the need to review vocabulary in a timely manner and suggests using just a simple vocabulary game following the lesson as the first review. /game-reviewing-english-vocabulary/
Also, check out the “TOEIC Teachers Page “ tab above to find all my TOEIC-related blogs listed together.
Be sure and leave a comment if you liked this post and want to see more TOEIC topics covered. Or feel free to contact me via email ellendubois@businessenglishallure.com. Ciao!
