RETIREMENT

INTERMEDIATE CONVERSATION
SEMESTER 5, LESSON 002
“THERE IS AT LEAST
ONE STUDY SHOWING
THAT PEOPLE ARE
HAPPIER, EVEN IF
THEY’RE NOT
HEALTHIER, AFTER
RETIRING, ESPECIALLY
IF IT WAS THEIR OWN
DECISION, BUT THE
EVIDENCE OVERALL IS
NOT CLEARCUT.”
DIRECTIONS:
Explain and interpret the quote.

INTERMEDIATE CONVERSATION, SEMESTER 4

 REVIEW
What can you remember from the previous lessons? Write
down and share useful words, vocabulary, and idioms below.

1. _______________________________

2._______________________________

3. _______________________________

4. _______________________________

5. _______________________________

6. _______________________________

7._______________________________

8._______________________________

INTERMEDIATE CONVERSATION, SEMESTER 4

TABLE TOPIC
Discuss the first question for 5 minutes. Then create
conversation questions of your own.

Do you dream of retirement?

What do you have planned?

Now, create one table topic of

your own.  Think of something
creative, fun, and thought-
provoking.

INTERMEDIATE CONVERSATION, SEMESTER 4

 USEFUL
WORDS
Read and practice the vocabulary and idioms below.

Retire: to leave/quit your job, typically around 60 years old

My grandfather retired when he was 65 and moved to Florida
to enjoy the beaches.
Retirement plan: your plan for saving and spending money for
retirement.  
Most people start their retirement plan in their 20’s so that
they’ll have enough money saved.
Spry: lively, active (usually when an older person is
surprisingly lively)
My grandmother’s sister was a spry 80 year old.  Every friday
night she went out dancing.
Regret: to feel sad because you did something you wish you
hadn’t, or didn’t do something that you wish you had
I regret insulting my friend.  I really wish I hadn’t done that.
Miss out: to to not do something that you wanted to do
When I was 12, I missed out on a school camping trip because
I was sick.

INTERMEDIATE CONVERSATION, SEMESTER 4

 GREAT
IDIOM
Read and practice this useful idiom. It's great to use with this topic.

Make up for lost time: to do something

quickly, or more earnestly, because
you missed out on it before

I hadn’t seen my family for 10 years, so

when I finally visited home, we made
up for lost time by spending every
minute together.

When my car broke down, we fell

behind schedule by 2 hours.  To make
up for lost time, we drove a little
faster.

INTERMEDIATE CONVERSATION, SEMESTER 4

 DISCUSSION
Using these questions and also your own, have a fun
conversation about this topic.

Will your parents retire?  What do you

think they’ll do?

In your culture, who is reponsible for

retired family members?  For example,
will your parents have enough money
to pay for themselves?  Or will you
have to give them money?

What will you do when you retire?

If you’re married, has your retirement

plan changed since meeting your
wife/husband?

INTERMEDIATE CONVERSATION, SEMESTER 4

 ARTICLE
This is an extra article to read if you're interested in the topic.

Does early retirement mean an early death?

A spot of gardening, going travelling – who hasn’t daydreamed about early
retirement? So damn the latest study in the Journal of Epidemiology and
Community Health that shows an early retirement can mean less time to
enjoy it. You might assume the effect was caused by sicker people retiring
earlier and dying prematurely, but this study really tries to take that into
account. The researchers analysed data from 2,956 people who were part of
the Healthy Retirement Study funded by the National Institute on Aging in
America. People were divided into unhealthy and healthy retirees based on
whether they said sickness influenced their decision to stop work: about two-
thirds were healthy and a third unhealthy.

During the 18 years of the study, 12% of the healthy and 25.6% of the
unhealthy group died. After taking into account factors such as the healthy
group’s better education and finances, they found that healthy retirees who
worked a year longer (over the age of 65) had an 11% lower ‘all-cause
mortality risk”. Even the unhealthy group reduced their likelihood of dying by
9% if they delayed retirement. The solution This seems counterintuitive. If
anything should kill you, surely it’s dragging yourself into work until your late
60s.

There is at least one study showing that people are happier, even if they’re
not healthier, after retiring, especially if it was their own decision, but the
evidence overall is not clearcut. An Israeli study of 2,374 people found that
those who retired earlier had the same lifespan as those who did not. A
German study from 2009, Time to Retire – Time to Die?, is one of the few to
find that healthier people who retire before the age of 61 may live longer
than those who continue to work.

But this study, like some others, may not fully account for differences in
occupation – heavy manual jobs may take more of a toll than managerial
ones. A Swedish study found that women in non-manual jobs who retired had
a higher risk of dying from heart disease whenever they left work, compared
with those who stayed in jobs. But a Swedish study of army officers found
early retirement reduced the likelihood of dying by the age of 70 by 26%.
Many people will continue working from financial necessity.

INTERMEDIATE CONVERSATION, SEMESTER 4

 ARTICLE
This is an extra article to read if you're interested in the topic.

But if you can afford to stop working earlier and you’re healthy, you shouldn’t
postpone retirement out of fear it could kill you. Chenkai Wu, lead author of
the latest paper, says that it may be what work represents to people that
prolongs life – not employment itself. “Keeping active and getting involved in
voluntary work definitely brings retirees a lot of benefits that would have
been brought about by keeping on working.”

SOURCE: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/02/early-
earlier-retirement-retire-death-risk-data-research-jobs

INTERMEDIATE CONVERSATION, SEMESTER 4