Unit 2 — The World of Work

Track E · Klasse 10 · Niveau E

Template: Activate → Input → Practise → Produce → Reflect.
Niveau: E. class test (“Klassenarbeit”) at Niveau E (45 BE).

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

  1. Match: brief → instructions; milestone → checkpoint; deliverable → finished output.
  2. T or F: the senior architect said the biggest skill is drawing.

Niveau E — productive Link to heading

  1. Build 5 sentences using 5 workplace-vocabulary words about a real or imagined internship.
Answer key

Controlled. 1. all true. 2. F (the biggest skill is listening to a brief twice before answering once).

Productive. 3. Open.

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

class test ("Klassenarbeit") — Niveau E (45 minutes)
Time. 45 minutes. Total. 45 points.

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.”

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. The firm __________ (work) on small-scale buildings for 15 years. (perfect cont.)
  2. If she __________ (start) earlier, she __________ (have) more experience. (third)
  3. ___ the limited scope, the café work taught me rhythm. (despite)
  4. 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.

Answer key
T1. 31; drawing on paper → building on screen; listening; listen to a brief twice before answering once. T2. kindergartens, libraries, a community centre; 15 years; 31; listening to a brief twice before answering once. T3. has been working / had started — would have had / Despite / has not changed. T4. Open.
grading scale (Notenschlüssel) (von 45)
| 42–45 | 1 | 36–41 | 2 | 30–35 | 3 | | 22–29 | 4 | 13–21 | 5 | 0–12 | 6 |

Downloads Link to heading

**Slide deck timing.** 45 minutes total. Lead-in 4 min · Activate 5 min · Input 14 min · Practise 8 min · Produce 11 min · Reflect 3 min.

Differentiation. Below Niveau E: scaffold card. Above Niveau E / into Oberstufe: extension prompt linking to Klasse 11 (Basisfach / Leistungsfach choice).

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

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