Dealing with stress at work (Level B1 +)

Hello! In this video activity set you will practise:

• vocabulary: modern work life

• skills: making suggestions, saying “no”

• EXTRA: warmer questions and classroom activities (just click the green button on the right)

Let’s start! (4 exercises, duration: 15 – 20 minutes)

WARMER QUESTIONS (to think, discuss, or write about)

1. Do you ever feel stressed at work? Why?

2. What can we do to deal with stress at work?

3. What do you do in stressful situations when you need to keep calm?

4. Should companies do more to help their employees with stress at work? What could they do to help?

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

• Activity 1

You and a colleague have been asked to organise a one week workshop for yourselves and ten other colleagues from your department. The topic of the workshop is ‘Stress Management’ and you have a budget of €600 per participant for the location and refreshments. You also need to hire one speaker/instructor for each day but this cost is not paid from your budget.

Working with your partner and using your laptop/smart phones, plan the one-week workshop and be ready to present a full itinerary including location, travel details and activities to the class.

• Activity 2

Working alone, identify some areas of your personal and professional life where you regularly experience stress. Now share this information with your partner who should make suggestions for improvements you could make.

When you have finished, create a short summary to present to the class.

SKILLS: MAKING SUGGESTIONS

When giving advice in English, it’s always a good idea to avoid using imperative structures, as in:

Leave the house earlier if you find traffic stressful!

Starting the sentence with a verb like this is too direct and often considered impolite. Let’s look at some alternatives.
Example Explanation
You should leave the house earlier. Using ‘should’ is still direct but polite and a stronger form of advice.
You could leave the house earlier. ‘Could’ is not as strong as ‘should’, it is often used to focus on options/possibilities.
How about leaving the house earlier? A more friendly/informal way is to make the advice into a question.
I suggest leaving the house earlier.
I recommend leaving the house earlier.		 ‘Suggest’ and ‘recommend’ are great words to use in business situations. They are polite and formal ways of giving advice.

– VOCAB REFRESHER –

Match the words to their definitions. Just drag the boxes to the correct positions.

– VIDEO –

Now watch the video and be ready to answer some comprehension questions while watching.

– SKILLS: MAKING SUGGESTIONS –

Put the words in brackets in the correct order to complete the suggestions.

Now look at the sentences below and decide if the given advice is strong, neutral, friendly, or formal.

Tip: I recommend to do this. vs I recommend doing this. – Infinitive or gerund?

Check out our gerund vs infinitive grammar sprint to revise this topic.

– SKILLS: SAYING NO –

Complete the sentences below to practise some polite expressions for saying “no”.

Tip: Remember to use capital letters if you need to.

Good job! You’ve completed this activity set.

Don’t hesitate to ask your trainer if you have questions.

 

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