Amerilingua

Does It Bother You?

Category
Business English, Speaking Lessons
Topic
Emotions, People, Work
Media
Video
Level
B2 Upper-Intermediate, C1 Advanced
Grammar
Mixed Grammar
Focus
Speaking, Vocabulary, Listening
Lesson ID
B2C1.B-3
Lesson Time
30 minutes
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Visual representation of students discussing work relationships in an English lesson, providing engaging discussion activities and interesting tasks.
Teacher's Lesson Plan
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Workbook Tasks
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Workbook Key
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Review Tasks
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Review Key
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Lesson Description

You landed your dream job—nice! But at the end of the day, troubling workplace personalities can make or break your experience at work, sometimes overshadowing an amazing salary or great perks. In this lesson students will discuss a touchy aspect of office life: difficult coworkers. From harmless annoyances to toxic personalities, topics covered in this lesson provide students with engaging discussion activities and worksheets they can use to practice new vocabulary. Students also watch a video about coworkers they should probably avoid. The activities lead to a debate on which practices help create an employee-friendly work environment. The lesson activities have been developed for adults and teenagers.

Lesson Objectives


  • To develop speaking and listening skills

  • To discuss the topic of annoying habits and relationships with coworkers

  • To learn and use new vocabulary


Video

Do you have a difficult coworker? Difficult coworkers come in a few varieties. Before you know how to deal with them, you need to know which type of difficult person you are dealing with at work. Watch this video and find out the most common types of difficult coworkers.

Video Transcript

Vocabulary and Pronunciation

pungent [adjective]: (of a smell or taste) very strong, usually in an unpleasant way
construe [verb]: to understand the meaning of something in a particular way; to interpret
bulldoze [verb]: to force someone to do something, although they might not want to
pawn [noun]: a person controlled by others and used for their advantage
blow one’s top [idiom]: to become extremely angry
single out [phrasal verb]: to choose someone or something for special attention
sweet-talk [verb]: to talk to someone in a very kind way because you want to persuade that person to do or allow something
pull rank [idiom]: to use the power that your position gives you over someone to make them do what you want
backstabber [noun]: someone who says harmful things about you when you are not there to defend yourself
spiral out of control [idiom]: (of a situation) to become impossible to control because one bad event causes another
fracture [verb]: to divide an organization or society
derive [verb]: to get or obtain something
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