Advanced Conversation Material #1 Life Outside Work Exercise 1: Read Aloud A. Read the article below. (3-4 minutes) 次の文章を読んでください ( 所要時間目安 :3~4 分 ) Hey! We re on a vacation. You shouldn t be working. I can t help it. I have to reply to these emails. P a g e 1
Ted is a hardworking person. He believes that extreme dedication to his work will give him what he needs and wants in life. He works on weekends, skips family gatherings, and doesn t leave the room for any fun activities. Have you ever been in Ted s place? You may become so engrossed in your heavy workload that you forget to give yourself the opportunity to live a life outside of work. This may seem rewarding at the beginning, but it s exhausting in the long run. Start by spending time with people who are important to you and participating in recreational activities. Resist the temptation to open your work email on weekends. Catch up on your favorite TV shows. You ll be surprised at how little things like these can actually give you more energy to face another day at work and make it more productive. B. Quick Q&A (2-3 minutes) 1. How do you maintain your work-life balance? 2. Do most people at your workplace have time for activities outside work? Why or why not? 3. Describe the best recreational activity you ve ever done. 4. What would you do if you had a one-week vacation? 5. Come up with one small goal for maintaining work-life balance. P a g e 2
Exercise 2: Say It! (3 minutes) Read each word and sample sentence below. Next, use the word in your own sentence. 次の単語と例文を読んでから それぞれの単語を使って自分でも文を作ってみましょう Sample Sentence Your Own Sentence priority 優先順位 social life 社会生活 negotiate 交渉する recreational 娯楽の work-life balance ワーク ライフ バランス ( 仕事と私生活の 両立 ) I ve been spending more time at work than with my family. I need to straighten out my priorities. 私は今まで家族と過ごすよりも仕事に多くの時間を割いてきました 自分にとっての優先順位を見直さなければなりません You work really hard, but you have such an active social life at the same time. How do you manage your time so well? あなたの仕事はとても大変なのに 仕事以外の生活もとても充実していますね どうすればそんなにうまく時間を管理できるのですか I always try to negotiate with my boss whenever he gives me too much work. 上司が要求する仕事量が多すぎる場合 私はかならず交渉するようにしています I do a lot of recreational activities on weekends, like surfing and biking. 私は サーフィンやサイクリングなど 週末はいろいろなレクリエーションを楽しみます Spending time with my family after an eight-hour workday is one way for me to maintain work-life balance. 一日 8 時間働いた後は家族と過ごす これが私のワーク ライフ バランスを保つ秘訣です P a g e 3
Exercise 3: Complete the Dialogue (5 minutes) Complete the dialogue using your own answers. You can use any of the new vocabulary words and expressions, if possible. 好きな言葉を入れて会話を完成させましょう 今日学習した単語や表現を使っても構いません Argh! I ve been working til 4AM every day this week. I only go home to sleep. What should I do? (sympathize with your tutor and tell him/her what he/she can do) Yeah, you re right. I ve been thinking a lot about that lately. I think this is the right time to take a break. (encourage him/her to push through with the plan and give possible activities he/she can do) Wow, that sounds cool. (tell your tutor something about work-life balance) Yeah, I know. I ll keep that in mind. Thanks for your advice. (provide an encouraging statement to end the conversation) P a g e 4
Exercise 4: Defend Yourself! (5 minutes) Pick your stand on each of the following items. Explain your choice. Your tutor will be asking follow-up questions. Make sure you can convince him/her! 次のテーマについて あなたの意見に合う考えを選択肢から選び その理由を説明してください それについて講師が質問するので 納得させられるように答えてください OPTION A OPTION B Number of working days I prefer to work four days a week with a 10-hour workday, because I prefer the current fiveday work week, where you work 8 hours a day, because Work vs. family Family time matters more than work, because Working hard for the family is more important than spending time with them because Vacation leave My company provides employees with (provide a number) days of vacation leave every year. I think it s a fair number because My company provides employees with (provide a number) days of vacation leave every year. I think it s not enough because P a g e 5
Exercise 5: Conversation Starter (5 minutes) Pick one of the four scenarios below, and start a conversation with your tutor. 次の 4 つのシナリオから好きなものを選んで講師と会話を始めましょう Convince your tutor to take a day off by presenting the benefits he/she can get from it. Think of the possible benefits of overtime work. Present overtime work in a positive light. Pretend that your tutor is your boss. Negotiate for a one-week vacation after an extremely difficult project that you pulled off successfully. Convince your tutor to keep his/her high-paying but extremely stressful job. P a g e 6