- Look at the cartoons below on typical ways employees misbehave at work. What do you make of them?
- Can you think of other rules employees bend or other ways in which they tend to misbehave?
- How common is it for people in your country to do so?
- Have you ever made up an excuse to miss work or to arrive late? If so, what did you say?
- What are the most typical excuses workers come up with in these cases?
- What is the weirdest excuse you’ve ever heard?
- Have you or has any of the people you know ever been caught?
- How do companies go about handling “workplace misbehavior”?
- What would you do if you were the employer and you discovered that the employees are bending the rules?
WATCH AND COMPLETE THE MINDMAP
Teacher's notes:
- Language to exploit or integrate:
- Conditional 2 (what would you do if you were the employer?)
- Modals (MUST/ HAVE TO for employees' obligations at work/ MUSTN'T for prohibition)
- TENSES: Simple Present (employee habits at work) Simple Past & Present Perfect (to talk about students' experiences)
- Passive Voice: BE EXPECTED TO/ NOT BE EXPECTED TO
1. misconduct
2. call in sick
3. nab a pen
4. harmless
5. mandatory
6. kidney stones
7. shift workloads
8. get-well-Soon card
at a five-year high
at a five-year high
9. look the other way
10. set a bad example
11. spiral into
12. track
13. slacker
14. tracker
15. bend over
16. load (v)
17. trunk
18. do yard work
19. performance
20. spot
21. surveillance van
22. Loafer
23. ditch work
24. breakdown
25. cause for alarm
26. job-hopping workers
27. have a false sense of entitlement
28. loyalty
29. at will
30. get away with sth
31. day of leave
32. big time
33. join a company
34. plot the next move
