Changing careers

This Business English lesson is about changing careers. It is ideal for business professionals who are considering making a career change. II is focused on speaking.
It can be combined with the following lessons: “Start and grow your side hustle”, “Apprenticeships vs university”, “The importance of company culture”, “Phrasal verbs: change and innovation”, and “Idioms: entrepreneurship” and “Idioms: burnout“.

Speaking: First, students look at 7 statements and decide whether or not they are true for them and for their current job. After that they discuss the statements with a partner, giving reasons are examples for their answers. Next, students look at the differences between a job change and a career change and decide what are the characteristics of each transition. Then they look at 7 scenarios and decide what action (changing careers or jobs) will be more appropriate in each case. After that students discuss a few questions related to career changes.
Vocabulary: Students look at a few situations and work out what is described in each one (side hustle, upskill, job shadowing, internship). Then they discuss how each of these things might be useful for a person who is looking to change careers. This task is similar to speaking task 3 of Cambridge First and Advanced exams.
Video: Students watch a video “How to change careers at 30” and complete 2 tasks.
The last task is focused on speaking: students imagine they are looking for a career change and discuss a few questions in pairs or small groups.
The conversation cards provide additional speaking practice.