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Escaping the Office
Before you read Work with a partner.
• Is it easy for people to contact you? How do you keep in touch?
Vocabulary Match the word/phrase with the correct meaning.
thrive (v) request something strongly
the rat-race (n) moving up a company to a more senior position
promotion (n) guess a number
estimate (v) be successful
demand (v) far from a town or city
remote (adj) living and working with people (usually in a city)
Reading Read the following text, and fill in the spaces using a word from the box below.
The office can be a stressful place. There are endless meetings to attend, targets to attain and 1
deadlines to meet. Although many people thrive under such conditions, most also look forward
to escaping the rat-race for a few days, by taking a holiday.
1
A holiday is traditionally seen as a time to rest and recuperate. It allows you to ……………….
about troubled times at the workplace, and concentrate on recharging your batteries. Until 5
recently, it was also a time when you were unable to contact the office. However, in the age
of mobile phones and email, it is now very easy to communicate with the workplace while on a
trip.
2
It’s estimated that around 40% of American ………………….. keep in touch with the office while
on holiday. Some keep in contact out of a sense of duty. Others worry that being ‘out of the loop’ 10
could affect future promotion prospects. Recently, there has even been a growth in the
phenomenon of companies demanding that their employees leave contact details while on
holiday.
So should an employee on holiday keep an eye on the workplace by phone or email? Or is it
3
acceptable to leave the mobile phone ………………? If you are the type to worry, then perhaps it 15
is better to check in with the office every few days. However, many argue that it is more beneficial
for a company to allow its employees to relax and not contact the office.
The alternative is to take a trip somewhere particularly remote – mountain climbing, or trekking in
4
a jungle – where there is no mobile phone ………………, or Internet connection. However, the
pace of technological advances means that very soon, even in these places, you won’t be able to
escape the office. 20
Missing Words
managers behind signal forget
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Comprehension Questions Answer the questions below.
1. According to the article, what are the benefits of taking a holiday?
2. Why do some managers keep in touch with the office while on holiday?
3. What is the benefit of a remote location when choosing a holiday?
Collocation Check #1 Match the two halves of these collocations.
1. attend an eye on something
2. recharge the loop
3. keep your batteries
4. a sense in touch
5. be out of a meeting
6. keep of duty
Collocation Check #2 Rewrite these sentences using collocations from exercise five.
1. How do you contact your office when you’re on a business trip?
2. Lucy didn’t know what was happening at work, because she’d been in hospital for several weeks.
3. I’m going to rebuild my strength by taking a long holiday!
4. Could you watch my car while I’m away?
5. Kate went to a meeting on budget proposals.
6. Bob helps his elderly neighbour because he thinks he should.
Discussion Work in small groups.
Questions based on the collocations:
• How often do you have to attend meetings?
• Is your job tiring? How do you recharge your batteries?
• Are you good at keeping in touch with old school friends and family members?
• Have you ever kept an eye on anything for a friend / family member who was on holiday?
Questions based on the topic:
• Have you ever contacted your office (or been contacted) while on holiday?
• Do you think companies have the right to demand employees’ holiday contact details?
• Do you often take work home with you?
• Have you ever taken a holiday in a very remote location? (If not, would you like to?)
• Your ideas!
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Escaping the Office: Teaching Notes
Target Structure: Theme Lesson: Reading, Vocabulary and Discussion
Vocabulary: General
Level: Upper-Intermediate & Advanced
Time: 1 hour, depending on discussion
Preparation: None
Suggested Teaching Method
This worksheet builds vocabulary and collocation skills, with reading and discussion practice. The worksheet is
designed to be suitable for both business and general-English classes. The questions at the end are particularly
conducive to extended conversation, so make sure you leave lots of time.
Give one worksheet to each student. Students should discuss the opening question in pairs, or small groups.
Don't spend too long on this section - the main discussion questions come at the end of the worksheet.
Students can work alone on this exercise, and check their answers in pairs. If necessary, tell the students to find
the vocabulary in the text, to allow them to guess from context.
Direct the students to the missing words under the text. This is the task for the reading. The students should
read the article at brisk pace, filling in the spaces with the words in the box.
After reading the text, they can check their answers to the task with a partner.
Follow the directions on the worksheet. Students can work in pairs, reading and answering the questions.
Explain the idea of collocations. Explain that these collocations all come from the text. Students should not refer
to the text while completing this exercise. When finished, students can check their answers by scanning for the
collocations in the article.
Go through the answers with the group, and check understanding. If necessary give further examples. Avoid
using examples which are too similar to the sentences in exercise six.
Students can work in pairs. To make this more challenging, the answers to exercise five can be covered.
Explain that the collocations may need some slight grammatical changes.
Leave plenty of time for class discussion. To maximize student talking time, it’s best to put students in pairs, or
small groups. Students should read all the questions first, before beginning the discussion.
Encourage eye contact and follow-up questions.
While the students are speaking, monitor the conversations, but try not to interrupt. When the discussion comes
to a close, ask a few of the questions yourself, and go through any points of English you made a note of while
monitoring.
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Answer Key (Other answers may be possible.)
thrive (v) be successful
the rat-race (n) living and working with people (usually in a city)
promotion (n) moving up a company to a more senior position
estimate (v) guess a number *
demand (v) request something strongly
remote (adj) far from a town or city
* Contrast with ‘guess’, which is random. ‘Estimate’ includes the idea of judgement.
1. forget
2. managers
3. behind
4. signal
1. It’s a chance to rest, recuperate and forget about problems in the office.
2. Either out of a sense of duty, or because they fear that being ‘out of the loop’ could affect
promotion.
3. It’s almost impossible for your company to contact you.
1. attend a meeting
2. recharge your batteries
3. keep in touch
4. a sense of duty
5. be out of the loop
6. keep an eye on something
1. How do you keep in touch with your office when you’re on a business trip?
2. Lucy was out of the loop at work, because she’d been in hospital for several weeks.
3. I’m going to recharge my batteries by taking a long holiday!
4. Could you keep an eye on my car while I’m away?
5. Kate attended a meeting on budget proposals.
6. Bob helps his elderly neighbour out of a sense of duty.
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Updated 7/19/2010
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