Describing your job: routines, roles, and responsibilities

Summary

This 90-minute ESL lesson for B1 learners explores Describing your job: routines, roles, and responsibilities through a real audio recording. Across 11 interactive exercises, you'll develop listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, practical communication, speaking skills — all built around authentic English content.

What you'll practise:

• 5 key vocabulary items with definitions and usage notes
• Grammar focus: using gerunds and infinitives for responsibilities with examples and practice
• Real-world phrases for describing your typical workday
• Gap-fill and cloze exercises to test vocabulary in context
• Matching exercise to connect terms with their meanings
• Error correction to sharpen grammar awareness
• A reading passage to practise newly learned language

Lesson activities (11 exercises)

Each exercise builds on the previous one. Work through them in order for the best learning experience.

1. Warm-up — Discussion questions to activate what you already know about the topic.
2. Comprehension — Answer questions to check your understanding of the main ideas and supporting details.
3. Vocabulary — Learn key words and expressions from the audio recording, with definitions and usage notes.
4. Matching — Connect words, phrases, or concepts to their correct counterparts.
5. Grammar — Study using gerunds and infinitives for responsibilities — explanation, examples, and key rules.
6. Error correction — Find and fix the mistake in each sentence — a great grammar workout.
7. Practical English — Learn phrases for describing your typical workday — ready to use in real conversations.
8. Fill the gaps — Complete sentences with the correct vocabulary. Drag and drop or type your answers.
9. Reading — Read a short passage on the topic and answer comprehension questions.
10. Discussion — Reflect on the topic and share your opinions using the language you've learned.

Vocabulary

This lesson introduces 5 key terms drawn directly from the audio recording:

• To be in charge of (something) — to have responsibility for a team, a project, or a task
• To deal with (someone/something) — to handle a situation, solve a problem, or work with certain people or things
• To meet a deadline — to finish a task or project by the agreed time or date
• Day-to-day tasks — the regular activities that you do every day as part of your job
• To report to (someone) — to have a particular person as your manager who is responsible for your work

Grammar

This lesson focuses on using gerunds and infinitives for responsibilities.

When we describe our job responsibilities, we often use specific verbs and phrases. Some of these are followed by a gerund (the -ing form of a verb, like 'managing'), while others are followed by an infinitive ('to' + verb, like 'to prepare').

Examples from the lesson:

• My role involves supporting the sales team. — We use a gerund (-ing) after the verb 'involve'.
• I'm responsible for updating the client database. — We also use a gerund after a preposition, like 'for'.
• I need to organize a meeting with the new clients. — We use an infinitive (to + verb) after verbs like 'need', 'plan', and 'have to'.

Key rules:

• Use a gerund (verb + -ing) after phrases like 'my job involves...' or 'I'm responsible for...'.
• Use an infinitive (to + verb) to express purpose or after verbs like 'need', 'want', 'plan', or 'decide'.
• A common mistake is mixing them up. Remember: 'responsible for doing', not 'responsible for to do'.

Practical English

Describing your typical workday

When someone asks 'What do you do?', they often want to know what your daily work looks like. Use these phrases to describe your routines and responsibilities in a clear and natural way.

Phrases you'll learn:

• "A typical day for me involves..." — use this to start your description with a general overview of your main activities.
• "My main focus is..." — use this to highlight your most important responsibility or the primary goal of your role.
• "I also handle..." — use this to add a secondary responsibility or task to your description.
• "I work closely with..." — use this to talk about teamwork and collaboration.
• "It really depends on the day, but..." — use this to show that your job has variety and is not always the same.