Big Talks

Are we getting more productive, or just better at being busy?

A full lesson for adults who work. Students read a short piece about the difference between doing work and organising work, learn seven expressions they immediately need, and end by redesigning someone else's working week and defending the decision.

At a glance

Level: B2 · C1
Lesson time: 75 min
Who it is for: Adults and older teens
Class type: 1:1, Pairs, Groups
Skill: Speaking, Reading
Main language focus: Vocabulary, Functional language
Files: Teacher and student versions

Choose your version

Teacher files

For teachers running the lesson

Student PDF, teacher PDF with notes and timings, answer key

29,00 zł

Interactive lesson

For independent learners and online classes

The lesson in the browser, with tasks that check themselves

39,00 zł

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How the lesson runs

Define a productive day
Read why busy is easier to see
Learn seven expressions you will need
Rank five productivity habits
Redesign somebody else's week
Take it back to your own week

What's in the file

A short reading text about the difference between doing work and organising work, with comprehension questions.
Seven target expressions, each with a meaning and an example sentence.
Gap-fill, matching and multiple-choice exercises that reuse the same expressions.
A ranking task, two speaking tasks and a final challenge where students redesign someone else's working week.
A short podcast transcript and a piece of homework, plus a teacher version with notes, timing and a full answer key.

Expressions this material teaches

You can see every target expression before you buy.

fall behind: to fail to keep up with work, or with the people around you
stay on top of things: to keep control of your tasks so that nothing is forgotten
feel overwhelmed: to feel that there is far too much to deal with
one-size-fits-all approach: a single method that is supposed to work for everybody, whatever their situation

Show all 7 expressions

spread yourself too thin: to take on so many things that you do none of them properly
free up time: to make time available by removing or shortening something else
buy into: to accept an idea and believe that it is right

Good to know before you buy

What you get

Two PDF files, one for the student and one for the teacher, ready for print and for working on screen.

Licence

One purchase covers your own teaching: one to one, in pairs, in groups or with a full class, as many times as you like. The files are not for passing on to other teachers.

Preparation

The teacher version has notes for every stage, timing for each part and a full answer key, so you can open the file and teach.

Delivery

We send an email right after the payment with a link to your shelf on the site, and you download the files from there.

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