Summer jobs
Lesson plan overview
This ESL worksheet for adults and teens focuses on summer jobs, helping students explore work experiences while practicing past tenses (simple and continuous). It is most suitable for B1-level learners and can be used both in Business and General English classes. It features engaging speaking activities to discuss responsibilities, funny work moments, and creative excuses. Other lessons you might like are “Seasonality in Business“, “Customer satisfaction“, “Phrasal verbs: customer service“, “Internships“.
Speaking: The lesson begins with warm-up discussion questions about first jobs, teenage work culture, and the pros and cons of working during school holidays. Students also give opinions on statements about summer work.
Listening: Learners watch a video titled “Top Summer Jobs of 2025” and complete comprehension tasks by filling in key job-related verbs and phrases.
Vocabulary: Students match job titles (e.g. lifeguard, camp counselor, barista, dog walker) to detailed role descriptions and responsibilities. Then they rank different job types, and reflect on jobs they could or would like to do.
Grammar: The lesson features targeted practice of the past simple and past continuous tenses, including how to use both together to describe events and interruptions in storytelling. Students apply this through structured writing and speaking prompts based on workplace mishaps and job experiences.
This resource is ideal for learners looking to improve fluency in everyday English, develop storytelling skills, and gain practical vocabulary for real-world work settings.
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Pre-class activities
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In-class activities
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Additional resources
Each video-based lesson plan includes links to additional resources (videos and articles), which are FREE can be found online (in the pre-class activities page. These links aim to extend the learning experience, enabling students to connect classroom knowledge with real-world applications.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
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