Unit 2 — The World of Work
Track E · Klasse 10 · Niveau E
Learning objectives Link to heading
- I can read a job-profile and pick out 8 facts.
- I can hold a 5-minute structured job-interview role-play.
- I can write a 200-word reflection on my future career interests.
curriculum framework (“Bildungsplan”) alignment Link to heading
- 3.3.1 Soziokulturelles Orientierungswissen / Themen
- 3.3.2 Interkulturelle kommunikative Kompetenz
- 3.3.3.2 Leseverstehen
- 3.3.3.3 Sprechen – an Gesprächen teilnehmen
- 3.3.3.7 Verfügen über sprachliche Mittel – Wortschatz
(Source: https://www.bildungsplaene-bw.de/,Lde/LS/BP2016BW/ALLG/SEK1/E1)
Lead-in story Link to heading
Maja is preparing for a one-week internship at a small architecture firm in Stuttgart. She has read the firm’s portfolio twice. She has prepared four questions and one polite refusal in case the coffee they offer is, as her aunt warned, the kind that looks like coffee but isn’t.
1. Activate Link to heading
Job-shadow scan. With your partner, list four fields you would want a one-week internship in, plus one specific reason for each.
2. Input Link to heading
Reading — Inside an Architecture Firm (extract) Link to heading
The firm has been working on small-scale public buildings — kindergartens, libraries, a community centre — for the past fifteen years. The senior architect, who founded the firm at 31, says the biggest professional change of her career has been the shift from drawing on paper to building on screen. The biggest skill, she adds, has not changed: listening to a brief twice before answering once.
Vocabulary — workplace (extended) Link to heading
portfolio, brief, milestone, deliverable, stakeholder, senior / junior, line manager, probation, performance review, mentor, mentee, feedback loop, pivot, lateral move, soft skills, hard skills.
3. Practise Link to heading
Niveau E — controlled Link to heading
- Match: brief → instructions; milestone → checkpoint; deliverable → finished output.
- T or F: the senior architect said the biggest skill is drawing.
Niveau E — productive Link to heading
- Build 5 sentences using 5 workplace-vocabulary words about a real or imagined internship.
4. Produce Link to heading
Structured job-interview role-play. 5 minutes each direction. 6 questions including: experience, motivation, mistake / lesson, future ambition. Use 2 present perfect continuous + 1 third conditional + 1 despite / because of.
Sample Link to heading
— What experience do you bring? — I have been doing weekend shifts at a café for two years. Despite the limited scope, the work has taught me to read a busy room. If I had started earlier, I would already have line-manager experience.
5. Reflect Link to heading
- I can pick out 8 facts in a job-profile.
- I can run a 5-minute structured job-interview.
- I can write a 200-word career reflection.
One thing in your notebook: Write one sentence using something you learned in this Unit.
Exam example Link to heading
Task 1 — Listening (10 BE) Link to heading
Listen twice.
“The senior architect founded the firm at 31. The biggest professional change of her career has been the shift from drawing on paper to building on screen. The biggest skill, she adds, has not changed: listening to a brief twice before answering once.”
- Founded at age: ___ . 2. Biggest change: ___ . 3. Biggest skill: ___ . 4. The skill specifically: ___ .
Task 2 — Reading (12 BE) Link to heading
Read the Inside an Architecture Firm extract above.
- Building types: ___ . 2. Years on small-scale work: ___ . 3. Founder’s age at start: ___ . 4. Constant skill: ___ .
Task 3 — Use of English (10 BE) Link to heading
Mixed grammar.
- The firm __________ (work) on small-scale buildings for 15 years. (perfect cont.)
- If she __________ (start) earlier, she __________ (have) more experience. (third)
- ___ the limited scope, the café work taught me rhythm. (despite)
- The biggest skill __________ (not / change).
Task 4 — Writing (13 BE) Link to heading
Write 200 words: a career reflection. Use 2 perfect continuous + 1 third conditional + 1 despite.
Downloads Link to heading
Differentiation — support (below Niveau E).
Use these starters to build your interview answers. Finish each line with your own idea:
- I have been learning ______ for ______ (months / years).
- The most useful thing I have been doing is ______ .
- One mistake I made was ______ , and it taught me ______ .
- Because of ______ , I would like to work in ______ .
Extension (above Niveau E / Oberstufe).
Rewrite your interview as the same candidate speaking to two very different employers — a fast-growing tech start-up and a long-established public library — and adapt tone, vocabulary and self-presentation to each. In a short spoken commentary afterwards, analyse which of your “soft skills” and “hard skills” each employer would value most, and argue which workplace culture would let you grow further and why.
Common pitfalls Link to heading
- Vague claims (I am a hard worker) — replace with one specific example.
- am working since → ✗ / have been working since → ✓.
- Don’t romanticise a sector — name one specific downside you’ve considered.
Further reading / listening Link to heading
- BBC Worklife — short articles.
- Harvard Business Review — accessible career articles.
Downloads
Listen
The vocabulary, dialogues and reading texts of this unit as audio, spoken by a native voice. The spoken text is shown beneath each clip.
Show text
"Mrs Dahl has been running the bakery for 32 years. She has been kneading dough by hand for most of that time. Her three apprentices have been showing up at five every morning, six days a week."
Show text
"Sam has been visiting different workplaces this term: a bakery, a small electrician's, a graphic-design studio. He has been writing one paragraph after each visit. So far the bakery has surprised him most — because of the silence at 5 a.m."