Starting Something New 1
This is the first worksheet in a series that follows Tessa and Jason as they start a new business. The series is designed to get intermediate (B1) students chatting and practising useful structures and vocabulary.
This worksheet focuses on discussing things that annoy or irritate us and contains reading, writing, listening, and speaking elements.
The worksheet begins with a very rude email from Jason’s boss, which students must read and discuss. This email is important for understanding the overall story, as it pushes Jason to quit his job and start a business.
Next, the class completes sentences using commonly used phrases to describe things that annoy us, such as “drive me crazy” and “can’t stand.” Note that these phrases are all used in the listening exercise towards the end of the worksheet.
After this, students work in pairs to read through situations that people may find annoying (e.g. “Someone sleeping near you is snoring very loudly”) and discuss how annoying they find them.
Next, the class listens to Jason and Tessa discussing how frustrating they find their jobs and ultimately deciding to quit and start a small business together. Students listen to the audio and answer a series of comprehension questions.
Finally, students read through a list of ideas for small businesses and decide which ones they think are good, as well as what they would find irritating about each business.
The transcript for the audio is available at the end of the Teacher’s Version (TV).
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