Talking about Jobs Games, Activities & Worksheets
Do you like your job?
Business English Work Likes and Dislikes Activity - Vocabulary, Writing and Speaking: Matching, Gap-fill, Rewriting Sentences, Asking and Answering Questions - Pair Work
Here is a free work preferences worksheet and speaking activity to help students talk about what they like and don't like about their jobs. First, students match...
Employment Exchange
Business English Talking about Jobs Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Asking and Answering Questions - Pair Work
In this useful talking about jobs activity, students practice work-related vocabulary by completing conversation questions with the words provided and then asking and answering the questions with...
I'm in...
Business English Jobs and Industries Game - Vocabulary: Matching, Forming Sentences - Pair Work
In this productive talking about jobs game, students match industries to jobs and form sentences with the phrases I'm in... and I work in the ... industry. In pairs, students take turns turning over one industry...
What do you do?
Business English Talking about Work Activity - Listening and Speaking: Dictation, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice - Pair Work
Here is an engaging talking about work activity that students can use to practice common questions about jobs and work. First, dictate the 12 questions...
Roles and Responsibilities
Business English Job Descriptions Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill - Writing Activity: Describing, Freer Practice
This comprehensive job descriptions worksheet helps students learn and practice common verbs used to describe job roles and responsibilities. To begin...
Wei Ling's Job
Business English Job Responsibilities Activity - Reading, Writing and Speaking: Information Gap, Asking and Answering Question, Discussion - Group and Pair Work
In this talking about jobs information gap activity, students practice asking and answering questions about work-related roles and responsibilities. First...
Job Titles Pelmanism
Business English Job Titles Game - Vocabulary: Matching, Pelmanism - Group Work
Here is an enjoyable job titles game to help students review and practice common job titles used in companies. In groups, students take it in turns to turn over one job title card and one job description card...
Professional Pursuit
Business English Talking About Jobs Board Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Impromptu Speech, Communicative Practice - Group Work
This rewarding jobs board game helps students practice talking about jobs and aspects of working life. Players take turns rolling the dice and moving...
Talking about your Industry
Business English Industry Worksheet, Game and Activity - Vocabulary Exercises: Gap-fill - Speaking: Pelmanism, Discussion, Freer Practice - Pair Work
In this industry vocabulary worksheet, game and activity, students learn words and phrases for talking about industry and then ask and answer related questions...
Remote Work Bluff
Business English Remote Work Game - Writing and Vocabulary: Writing Definitions, Guessing - Pair Work
In this fun remote work vocabulary game, students create false definitions for phrases related to remote working and then play a game where they guess which remote work definition is correct...
Talking About Jobs
Talking about jobs involves explaining what people do, describing their responsibilities and discussing their experiences and preferences at work. Clear job language helps students move beyond naming a profession to asking questions and giving a fuller picture of working life.
This page contains ten resources across A2, B1, B2 and C1, including worksheets, games and speaking activities, with one free worksheet and speaking activity resource. Topics include job titles, industries, responsibilities, work preferences and remote working vocabulary.
The table gives examples of language for different aspects of jobs and work.
| Communication function | Purpose | Example language |
|---|---|---|
| Name a job | Say what someone does for a living. | 'I'm an accountant.' |
| Identify an industry | Describe the sector someone works in. | 'I work in the construction industry.' |
| Describe a responsibility | Explain a duty within a role. | 'I'm responsible for preparing the monthly reports.' |
| Describe a regular task | Give a concrete example of the work. | 'I check customer orders and arrange deliveries.' |
| Express a preference | Explain what someone likes or dislikes about work. | 'I enjoy solving problems, but I don't like working late.' |
| Ask for more detail | Develop a conversation about a job. | 'What does a typical working day involve?' |
How to Describe Jobs and Responsibilities
Connect a title with actual duties: A job title may not tell the listener what the person does. Add a specific task or responsibility, using verbs that make the work clear, such as preparing reports, arranging deliveries or handling enquiries.
Distinguish the role, employer and industry: Use work as for a role, work for for an employer and work in for an industry or area of work. These patterns help students answer different questions without confusing who employs them with the kind of work they do.
Build on an answer: Follow a general question with a relevant request for detail or a reason. When discussing preferences, encourage students to explain their own experience without presenting it as true of everyone in that profession. As a teacher adaptation, offer fictional roles to learners who do not have a job or prefer not to discuss their workplace.
3-Step Framework for Talking About Jobs
The first stage supports job conversations at A2, the second develops questions about responsibilities at B1, and the final B2 stage extends spoken responses. Use the stages across lessons according to learners' readiness; the page's C1 remote work vocabulary game is a separate extension.
1. Prepare and Exchange Job Information: Students complete conversation questions with supplied work vocabulary, then ask a partner the questions and note the answers. Reporting their findings to the class gives them a reason to listen carefully and organise information about another person's job. This establishes question-and-answer patterns before learners use them to obtain missing details.
2. Ask About Roles and Responsibilities: Two groups complete questions about missing information in a text describing someone's job. Students then pair with someone from the other group, exchange questions and answers, and complete their texts before comparing them. This makes each question serve an information need and prepares learners to discuss work in more detail.
3. Sustain a Response About Working Life: Students play a board game in which each landing square gives them a jobs topic to discuss for 30 seconds. Stopping early means moving back two squares. Use the timed turns to practice developing an answer beyond a single sentence, while treating the time limit as a classroom challenge rather than a rule for real conversations.
Common Mistakes with Language for Talking About Jobs
Omitting an article before a singular job title: Use a or an when saying that someone has a particular job. Incorrect: 'She is engineer.' Correct: 'She is an engineer.'
Using an infinitive after enjoy: When an activity follows enjoy, use the -ing form. Incorrect: 'I enjoy to work with customers.' Correct: 'I enjoy working with customers.'
Common Questions About Teaching Jobs and Work
What worksheet helps teach job responsibilities?
The worksheet Roles and Responsibilities introduces verbs for describing what people do at work. Students match jobs with descriptions, check verb meanings and complete descriptions before writing about two professions from job cards. Reading their descriptions aloud for classmates to identify the jobs gives the writing a clear audience and purpose.
What activity helps practice talking about work preferences?
The free worksheet and speaking activity Do you like your job? develops language for work likes and dislikes. Students complete vocabulary exercises and change statements from positive to negative or vice versa. Pair discussion and a class survey then let them ask follow-up questions and report what they learned about classmates' preferences.
What game helps practice talking about jobs?
The game I'm in... asks students to match industry cards with job cards, then use a phrase card to make sentences about both. Correct matches and sentences let players keep the pair and take another turn. This combines recalling vocabulary with practicing how to introduce a job and its industry.
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