Speak With Me: English Speaking Practice

Vanessa: Hey, I'm in the market  

for a new gig. My day job is in sales, but it's  not my dream job so I'm looking for something  

in the medical field. Do you think you could  help me? Would you know how to respond to this?  

Well, let's talk about it. Vanessa: 

New gig, day job, medical field. Today we  are going to practice speaking together  

about your job. You are going to  learn some important vocabulary,  

questions, and a sample conversation.  Plus a chance to practice speaking with me  

about your job today. I hope that this lesson will  boost skills because talking about your job is an  

extremely common daily conversation topic, so with  today's lesson, you'll be on your way to success.  

To help you remember everything that you  learn in this lesson, I've created a free PDF  

worksheet that you can download and use all of the  vocabulary, expressions, questions, conversations,  

and you can answer Vanessa's challenge question  at the end of the worksheet. You can click on  

the link in the description to download it.  All right, let's get started with some common  

vocabulary about jobs. Vanessa: 

The first category have to do with employment.  We'll talk about unemployment later. You might  

say, my day job is in an office, but I'm  taking some night classes to become a nurse.  

This expression, my day job usually means your  primary job. The way that you make the most money,  

it could imply that it's during the day. But if  you happen to work a night shift, you can still  

say my day job. This is my main job and how I make  money. It's my day job. Another way to talk about  

your main job is to say my nine to five is in a  marketing firm. My nine to five, this talks about  

the hours that you work, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. You  might work different hours. You might work 7:00 AM  

to 4:00 PM. You might work in the afternoon or the  evening, but we still use my nine to five to talk  

about your primary job, my nine to five. Vanessa: 

There is kind of a new movement talking about this  expression and it's often about how people don't  

like their nine to five, that this is something  that they're not satisfied with. And people who  

are not enjoying their nine to five might find  some articles online that say, "Want to ditch  

your nine to five? Here's how to find your dream  job." An expression we'll talk about in a moment,  

but sometimes in this modern age, nine to five  implies that it's just a job. I don't really care  

about it, it's my nine to five. It's the way that  you make money, but it's not really your passion,  

it's my nine to five. Vanessa: 

What about jobs that are not your primary money  making job? You can use a lot of different  

expressions. We could call those jobs a gig, a  side-gig, a hustle, a side-hustle. Or you might  

just say I do it on the side. So let's imagine  that you make earrings, but it's not your nine  

to five. It's not your primary job. Well, you  might say, I do it on the side. I make earrings  

on the side. Or you could say, I have a side gig  making earrings. This is not your primary job,  

but it's something that you do and you still  make some money, but it's not your primary job. 

Vanessa: If you don't work 40 hours a week at a job,  

then you have a part-time job. In the US, 40  hours per week is considered a full-time job.  

But a lot of jobs are part-time jobs. So you  might say, yep, I work a part-time job on the  

weekends at a restaurant. I work a part-time  job. Maybe it's your main way of making money,  

you just work less hours or maybe it's just  a side thing, or maybe you're also a student  

and you have a part-time job at the same time.  That's a great way to describe something that you  

work less than 40 hours a week on. Vanessa: 

Now let's talk about unemployment. Unfortunately,  over the last few years, a lot of people  

became unemployed. This is really scary. You don't  know how you're going to survive, feed you family,  

take care of your future. You might be laid  off, laid off means you didn't personally  

do something wrong, but the company either cut  your position, they couldn't pay for you anymore  

and it's not something personal. It's usually  a problem within the company. So when a company  

is suffering usually financially, or they  change their whole system, their whole model,  

and they don't need some people anymore. They  might lay you off. This is a great phrasal verb.  

Of course you don't want it to happen to you,  but it's a great phrasal verb to know, to explain  

the situation, because it's not that you were  fired, to be fired means you did something wrong  

and they said, "sorry, you can't work  here anymore." And there was a problem. 

Vanessa: Maybe you were late to work too many times,  

you got fired. This is different than  being laid off. When you're laid off,  

it's not your fault. And it's not embarrassing to  say, ah, man, I was laid off during the pandemic.  

That's not embarrassing. That's fine. It's  not your fault. But if you say, I was fired,  

usually there's a little bit of embarrassment  to talk about that because it means there was a  

problem. We can also say, I lost my job. This  is a little more indirect than being fired.  

It might be because you did something wrong. I  was late to work so many times that I lost my job.  

This means you were fired, but you didn't directly  say that. But it could also mean that you were  

just laid off. During the pandemic I lost my job. Vanessa: 

That's not your fault, you didn't do anything  wrong, there were just problems with the economy,  

problems with the world in general. So you  lost your job. So this expression to lose,  

my job can be used either way. It can be used if  you get fired or if you get laid off. Now, let's  

talk about how you feel about your job. Let's  imagine that you are a waiter at a restaurant.  

Well, you might say, I'm a waiter, but it's just  a job. I'm looking for something else. It's just  

a job. This is a common expression to talk about  a job that you don't really love. It's not your  

dream job. This is the opposite. If you  love your work, for me, I love being your  

teacher. I love being able to be your teacher  online, too. It's really a great combination. 

Vanessa: Great for you, I can touch a lot of people  

and also my life can have a lot of flexibility.  Working online as your English teacher is my dream  

job, but there can also be some problems with  work. You might say, it's hard to find a good  

work/life balance. This expression, a work life  balance is often used when you're working so much,  

or maybe like me you work from home. So it's  hard to have a good line between your personal  

life and your work life. So maybe if you've been  working a lot, you might say, I just need to take  

a break and find a better work/life balance.  That's really important. If you've been working  

a lot, maybe you've even been studying a lot,  you might face burnout, burnout. This doesn't  

have to do with fire, but it kind of has the sense  that your figurative flame and love of your job  

has gone out. Vanessa: 

So if you experience burnout, it means the thing  that was your dream job, the thing that you felt  

passionate about, you no longer feel passionate  about. This might be temporary. This happens to  

a lot of people like me who create content on  YouTube. You have to be creative and come up  

with a lot of ideas and sometimes there aren't  many good ideas. Maybe I just have some kind of  

temporary writer's block and don't come up  with a good idea. And I feel overwhelmed.  

Well, that might mean I am burnt out. I  am experiencing burnout, or we might say,  

I'm burnt out. I'm burnt out on my job, I've been  working for 12 hours a day for the last three  

weeks, I'm burnt out. I need a break. I hope that  you can avoid this before it gets too serious,  

but it's something that's really common if you are  working too much or if you're studying too much. 

Vanessa: Now let's talk about four common  

phrases for describing your job. And just a little  note, a while ago, I made this video a hundred  

jobs in English. So if you would like to learn how  to pronounce your personal job, or if you would  

like some more information about specific jobs  in English, you can check out that video and get  

some more details about that. But let's talk about  four common phrases to talk about what you do. You  

might say, I am a teacher. I am a doctor. I'm a  healthcare worker. I'm a construction worker. I'm  

a designer, whatever you might be, I am. But  we could also say I work in... Plus a field.  

I work in education. I work in healthcare. I  work in business. I work in marketing. So here  

we have a general term. It doesn't talk about your  specific position, but it's a common expression  

used when you're describing your job. Vanessa: 

I work in education. Maybe you're not specifically  a teacher, maybe you help to create a curriculum  

or maybe there's something that's a little  complex that you don't want to explain.  

You might just say, I work in education. Cool.  You could also talk about the company you work  

for. I work for Amazon. I work for Google,  especially if this is a well known company,  

even if it's just well known locally, this  is a common expression you might use. Yeah,  

I work for Samsung. I work for Duke Power, which  is the power plant in my city. If I said this to  

somebody who lived in France, they would have no  idea what I was talking about because this is a  

local business. But if I said that to someone  locally, they would understand exactly. So it's  

kind of all about the context here. Vanessa: 

What if you have your own business? What if  you run your own business, you can use that  

expression, to run. For me, I run my own business.  We could say I run an online education business.  

Well, that means that I teach online,  but it means I'm the CEO, the boss,  

I wear all the hats. I run a business. So we could  use this for a lot of different situations as  

long as you are the entrepreneur, you're the one  who's in charge of the business. I run a business. 

Vanessa: Before we get to our  

sample conversation, of course, we need to talk  out some common job questions. This is essential  

for daily conversation because usually these are  the questions we use in small talk. So that's why  

this topic is really important to know about. One  of the most common small talk questions after you  

say, hey, my name's Vanessa. Oh, nice to meet  you. What do people say next? What do you do?  

What do you do? The full expression for this  is possibly, what do you do for work? But we  

often just say, what do you do? And this doesn't  mean I'm sitting here right now talking to you,  

what are you doing right now? This  means what's your job. What do you do? 

Vanessa: So you might use one of  

those expressions as we talked about earlier and  say, oh, I work for Google. I work in marketing.  

Awesome. What do you do? Or what do you do for  work? When you tell someone what you do, if they  

are a good conversationalist, they might ask more  questions. Or you could ask this question too.  

What's that like? What's that like? So you're  asking about their experience. What's it like to  

be a nurse in the hospital these days? Well, you  might say, well, I like the doctor I work for, but  

it's just been really intense lately and it's not  my dream job. I really want to be a photographer  

for foster and animals and help them to find a new  home. That's what I would love to do. I'd love to  

get into photography. Vanessa: 

Okay. Well, here, you just answered the question,  what's that like, with a lot of juicy details  

that can further the conversation more. So when  you ask someone what's that like, if they give  

you some details, don't miss that opportunity,  you can pull any of those details and say, oh,  

you like foster animals. Have you ever had  any foster animals? Oh, I have a dog too.  

And you can kind of snowball the conversation. So  this is a great way to get more information and  

learn about someone else. If you're talking with  someone who you already know, maybe you kind of  

think you know what work they do, but you're not  sure or you haven't talked with them for a while.  

You might ask this question, where are you working  these days? Where are you working these days? 

Vanessa: These days means  

now. But if you haven't seen someone for five  years, maybe you knew what their previous job was  

and you're trying to make small talk conversation  again and get to know maybe something's changed  

in their life. So you could ask, where are  you working these days? And you might say,  

oh yeah, actually I'm still working at Google.  I've had the same job for the last five years,  

I feel really lucky that I didn't get laid off,  so that's where I'm at. And let's say you're  

talking with someone and you know what job they  have. Well, you could ask this question. How's  

work going? This is similar to asking, how's your  family? Oh, how was your vacation? This is just a  

common, small talk question about someone's job. Vanessa: 

How's work going? And maybe they'll just say,  oh, it's going fine. Okay, that's fine. But if  

they give you more information, they might say  something like, oh, it's going okay, it was kind  

of my side-gig for a while and then I got hired  full time, but I'm having a hard time finding a  

work/life balance, so I think I'm going to look  for something in a different field soon. Oh,  

well, you just had a great conversation there  and you've got lots more information to be able  

to have more conversation with someone, just  from the simple question, how's work going? 

Vanessa: All right. Now it's time to see a sample using all  

of these expressions or many of these expressions  that we just talked about. You'll see my husband,  

Dan and I having a little chit chat about our  jobs. And I hope that you recognize some of these  

expressions and questions that we talked about  because in a moment after the sample conversation,  

it will be your turn to use them and to have a  conversation with me. Are you ready? Let's watch. 

Dan: Hey Vanessa, where are you working these days? 

Vanessa: Oh, Hey Dan. I run an online business so  

I can work from anywhere, it's pretty great. Dan: 

Wow. What's that like? Vanessa: 

Well, I help students learn English and  speak with confidence. It's my dream job,  

but I have to be careful to avoid burning out. Dan: 

Oh, that's awesome, but I understand. Vanessa: 

What about you? Dan: 

Well, unfortunately I just got laid off  at the coffee shop when they closed,  

but I got a job working part-time at a hotel. Vanessa: 

Oh man, that's a bummer. Have you ever worked  in marketing? I'm looking for someone to help  

if you want a side-gig behind the scenes. Dan: 

That'd be great, tell me more about it. Vanessa: 

I wonder if Dan will get the job in marketing,  working for Vanessa. All right, now it is your  

turn. And what I want to tell you is I will be  asking you some questions and having a little  

conversation, but I recommend going back and  reviewing this. You're welcome to pause the  

video and answer longer if you would like, this  is a great chance to have kind of a structured,  

no pressure conversation in English. All right,  are you ready to get started? Let's imagine we  

were at a gathering and the host said, oh Vanessa,  this is your name. And we get introduced to each  

other. And then the host leaves. Here we  need to have some small talk. So I ask you,  

so tell me what do you do? And now  it's your turn to talk. Go ahead.  

And what's that like, do you enjoy your work? Vanessa: 

Oh, me? Oh, I run an online English business  where I teach English online to students around  

the world. It's really my dream job. I feel pretty  lucky. Well, good luck with your work. I'm so glad  

to meet you. And I'll talk to you later, bye. How  did you do? Did you have a chance to speak out  

loud and practice with me? Feel free to go back  and review that last segment or this whole video  

as many times as you would like  to boost your confidence because  

when you have small talk in English, you will  absolutely encounter this conversation topic. 

Vanessa: Don't forget to download the free PDF worksheet  

for today's lesson, with all of the important  vocabulary, questions, sample conversation,  

and Vanessa's challenge question at the end of the  worksheet. And now I have a question for you. What  

is your dream job? Let me know in the comments,  I would love to see what it is. Maybe it's your  

current job. Maybe it's a job you would love to  have in the future. Let me know, what's your dream  

job and I will see you again next Friday for  a new lesson here on my YouTube channel, bye. 

Vanessa: The next step is  

to download the free PDF worksheet for this  lesson. With this free PDF, you will master  

today's lesson and never forget what you have  learned. You can be a confident English speaker.  

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel  for a free English lesson every Friday, bye.