Meeting 3

DESCRIBING JOB ROUTINES

Language in Context
Watch a video entitled ‘Describing Job Routines’ and pay attention to the expressions
used by both speakers in describing their job routines.

Transcript:
Marie : Hi, I’m Marie.
Cathy : Hi, I’m Cathy. Nice to meet you.
Marie Nice to meet you too! What do you do?
Cathy : I work as a data scientist for a big candy company. Basically, I analyze our
company’s data and we figure out how to make a better candy.
Marie : Awesome! Do you also taste the candy?
Cathy : That’s such a nice perk, but it’s just a little part of my job, yeah. What
about you? What do you do?
Marie : I’m a software developer. I work on apps for mindfulness company.
Cathy : Oh, that’s interesting! I have an app like that on my phone, and it really
helped me to concentrate.
Marie : Awesome! I really like our products. It really helped me get into meditation
when I started two years ago.
Cathy : Oh, you do meditation too?
Marie : Yeah, I do.

Analysis
Describing Job Routines

To ask about someone’s job and their job routines, you can use the following
expressions:
• What do you do?
• Where do you work?
• What is your position there?
• What are some of your responsibilities?
• What qualities do you need to do your job?
• Do you like your job?
• How many hours a week do you work?

To describe job routines, you can use the following expressions:

• I work as an accountant/ a mechanical engineer/ a lawyer.
• He works as an electrician/ a judge/ an auditor.
• I work at a publishing company/ a lawyer office/ a construction site.
• I am a maintenance engineer/ a tax auditor/ a prosecutor.
• She is our new secretary/ an attorney/ a consultant.
• We work for Microsoft/ a private company.
• As a bank teller, I help people with transactions.
• I design a building.
• I am in charge of researching evidence and making reports.
Job Routines

• He provides clients with legal advice

1
Function
Simple Present Tense

In a conversation between Marie and Cathy earlier, they describe their jobs using these
expressions:

I work as a data scientist for a big candy company.

I’m a software developer.

When talking about facts and routines, we use simple present tense.

Form:

Positive Negative
S + V1 (s/es) + Complement S + Does/Do + Not + V1 + Complement
He He
does not/
She + runs She + + run
doesn’t
It It
I I
You You do not/
+ run + + run
We We don’t
They They

Question
Does/Do + S + V1 + Complement + ?
He
Does + She + run?
It
I
You
Do + + run?
We
They

Practice
Choose the correct option to complete the sentences.

1. We’re shop assistants. We not like / don’t like rude customers.

2. Jim is an aircraft engineer. He don’t like / doesn’t like his tight schedule.
3. I work in a lawyer office. My job start / starts in the morning.
4. Laura is a bank accountant. She examine / examines financial reports.
5. You’re a welding engineer. You work / works in a workshop.

Role Play
Work in pairs to have a dialog about job routines. Each person should have at least
five turns. Record your role play in a video format and submit it to your lecturer.
Job Routines