Learning Vocabulary: Working from home

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Vocabulary: Working from home

Task: Advantages and disadvantages of working from home

Learning Vocabulary: Working from home

In this week's Premier Skills English Podcast, Rich and Jack talk about working from home and look at language connected to productivity, mental and physical well-being and creating your own workspace at home. Your task is to tell us about the advantages and disadvantages of working from home. Don't forget to listen to the end of the podcast because we have a new football phrase for you to guess.

If the listening was a bit difficult, you can listen again and read the transcript at the same time.

Read and listen at the same time.

Learning Vocabulary: Working from home

Introduction

Jack: Hello my name’s Jack

Rich: and I’m Rich and welcome to this week’s Premier Skills English podcast

Jack: Where we talk about football and help you with your English.

Rich: In this week’s podcast, we’re talking about some of the challenges of working or studying from home.

Jack: Many people in many countries are working and studying from home right now because of coronavirus.

Rich: That’s right. In many countries, schools, colleges and universities have closed and many people have also been asked to work from home instead of going to their office or place of work.

Jack: So, in this week’s roleplay, we’re looking at a few of the things that the experts say about working or studying from home.

Rich: But as we’re only experts in English, we will be focusing on words and phrases connected to working and studying from home.

Jack: We recommend that you listen to this podcast on the Premier Skills English website because that is where we have the transcript, language examples, activities, quizzes and a discussion page to help you understand everything we talk about.

Rich: However, if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, you can leave answers to our questions in the review section. We do read all the reviews and would love to hear from you.

Jack: Your task this week is to tell us if you are currently working or studying from home and some of the main differences between being at home and being at work or school, college or university.

Rich: Before all that though, we need to look at last week’s football phrase.

Last week’s Football Phrase

Jack: If you didn’t hear our football phrase last week we’re going to give you one more chance to guess now.

Rich: The phrase was ********* ********. This phrase is used when there are lots of players near the goal and the ball is flying around all over the place as one team tries to score and the other team defends desperately. There are two words in the phrase. The first describes the area directly in front of the goal. The word uses the part of the body you put food into. The second word is ******** and is used to describe the way that a person climbs a hill or a mountain quickly without any ropes. It can also be used to mean mixed up. I love ********* eggs for my breakfast.

Jack: We’ll give you the correct answer at the end of the show when we give you a new football phrase.

Rich: The first listener to get it right last week was Liubomyr from Ukraine. Congratulations Liubomyr - you were the first again but Marco from Mexico was only 20 minutes behind you! A few more of you got the phrase right, too.

Jack: A big well done to Alex and Sabanoleg from Ukraine, Ali Vasheghani from Iran, Elghoul from Algeria, Ahmed Adam from Sudan, Lakerwang from China, Hayato from Japan and The Next 75 from Italy.

Rich: If you want to hear your name in next week’s show you need to write the answer in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website or the review section on Apple Podcasts.

Jack: We’ll give you the answer at the end of the show and we’ll have a new football phrase for you to guess.

Introduction to Roleplay

Rich: In the next part of the podcast you are going to hear a roleplay. In the roleplay, I’m reading a magazine article about working from home.

Jack: While you are listening we want you to answer two questions. The first question is: What advice does Rich mention that I might find difficult to follow?

Rich: And the second question is: What advice might I find difficult to follow?

Roleplay - In the office

Jack: Another coffee break is it, Rich? You’re so easily distracted.

Rich: What do you mean? This is only my second of the morning and the other was at home with my breakfast.

Jack: Well, you’ll be able to have as many coffees as you want next week. The office is closing and everyone will be working from home.

Rich: Well, we thought it was going to happen. It’ll help keep people safer - away from this horrible bug which is going around.

Jack: I think Covid-19 is a bit more than a bug, but, yes, I think it’s for the best.

Rich: To be honest, I like working from home. I think I’m more productive.

Jack: Really? You go out of your way to look for distractions.

Rich: Look at us, chatting away. If I was at home now, I’d be working. It’d be much easier to concentrate. I wouldn’t have anyone disturbing me.

Jack: You wouldn’t just be reading a magazine like now?

Rich: No, someone else left it here. Look it’s full of rubbish - look at these titles. It’s all about gossip. Have you heard of the toilet roll challenge?

Jack: No.

Rich: Well, Premier League footballers are at home and they’re challenging each other to see how many kick-ups they can do with a toilet roll. Have a look on Twitter - they’re all doing it.

Jack: That is a bit daft just a bit of fun though - they can’t really work from home. They haven’t got the manager interfering and disturbing them - they can do what they want like playing with toilet roll rather than doing something more productive.

Rich: Well, I did see Everton’s Theo Walcott doing it while he was washing his hands. That probably creates a bit of awareness - good personal hygiene is important at the moment. I might give it a go - it could be fun.

Jack: One problem with that, Rich.

Rich: What?

Jack: You can only do two kick-ups, you’re supposed to wash your hands for twenty seconds.

Rich: Very funny.

Rich: What about this article? This could be useful for everyone. Five things to do or not do when working from home.

Jack: Come on then let’s have a look. What does it say?

Rich: Well, the first thing it says is to get dressed. Don’t work in your PJs. You need to get into the right frame of mind.

Jack: Well, I have lots of meetings on Skype or Zoom so it’d be embarrassing if I was still in my dressing gown.

Rich: It’d be more embarrassing in the summer when it’s hot - I don’t wear anything in bed.

Jack: Please, I don’t want to know. Yes, having a shower and getting dressed is definitely a good idea when working or studying from home - it helps you get into the right mindset. What’s the next bit of advice?

Rich: Number two is to take regular breaks.

Jack: That is one for you. What does it say? A coffee every twenty minutes?

Rich: No, actually. It says it’s important to take breaks so you’re not sat in front of the screen for long periods of time. It can be bad for your eyes and the rest of your body.

Jack: You can get some fresh air. You could go for a walk or a run.

Rich: Yeah, you could do some full-on exercise but it says here that just getting up every half an hour or so and moving or doing some stretches for two minutes is useful. It actually says that people’s productivity levels drop if you don’t take regular breaks.

Jack: And it’s good not to have your eyes glued to a screen for hours.

Rich: It says that too - that’s number three - take care of your eyes. It says that you need to check the lighting where you work - not too bright and not too dark.

Jack: Yes, don’t sit in the dark. You need to switch on your lights.

Rich: Number four is creating a workspace. It says don’t work from your bed or the sofa - especially if there are other people in the house.

Jack: I totally agree. You need your own office or study space. If you can have a whole office great but you need to have at least a desk or table where you have your work things.

Rich: That’s what it says. You need your own workspace. It needs to be big enough for all your stuff and it’s much better if it’s next to a window.

Jack: Oh, why’s that?

Rich: It says that it’s easier on your eyes and it can improve your mood.

Jack: Good advice. And what’s number five?

Rich: Number five is all about posture. It says that you shouldn’t use a dining room chair - they’re not good for long periods of time.

Jack: A big office chair?

Rich: Yes, one that is adjustable is better. You should adjust your chair so you can sit upright and not slump down as you might do on the sofa which is bad for your back.

Jack: That makes sense.

Rich: But the physiotherapist that is quoted here says that movement is better than staying still so she recommends we sit on a fit ball - you know those big balls they use in pilates.

Jack: A fitness ball? Really?

Rich: Yes, a pilates ball. You probably can’t use it in the office but you can at home, it’ll mean you move all the time and it will make sure you sit upright and don’t slouch or slump.

Jack: A pilates ball - I’d be on the floor more than at my desk.

Rich: Me too. I don’t think I could do it.

Jack: You could use one of those giant space hoppers - you know those that children use to bounce around on.

Rich: Yeah. I could imagine an important video call with me bouncing up and down on a space hopper. I don’t think so.

Roleplay Questions

Jack: Before the roleplay, we asked you two questions. We asked you which of the five bits of advice about working from home we’d find difficult to follow.

Rich: But the thing we’d both find most difficult is to work from home while sitting on a pilates ball. I can’t see that happening. It might work for some but not for me.

Jack: Me neither, I think I’ll stick to my big office chair. It’s really comfy.

Rich: In the next part of the podcast, you’re going to listen to the roleplay in three sections and after each section, we’re going to look at some of the language.

Jack: Try to listen for special language related to working effectively from home and some of the challenges you will face if you’re working or studying from home.

Rich: Here’s section one.

Roleplay - Part 1 - Being productive

Language Part 1

Rich: In this section, we’re going to look at some vocabulary connected to working effectively but first let’s start by looking at the title of this podcast: working from home.

Jack: Working from home is the phrase we use to say that we are doing our normal job in our house rather than where we normally do it - this is usually the office.

Rich: We say things like I’m working from home today or I work from home on Tuesdays.

Jack: In the roleplay, we said that ‘everyone will be working from home’ because of Covid-19.

Rich: In the roleplay, I said ‘If I was at home now, I’d be working now’. I’m at home, I’m at the office, I’m at the match - why do we say working from home and not working at home?

Jack: We can use both prepositions and we often use both of them to mean the same thing but the correct phrase is working from home when we are talking about our main job or what we do for a living.

Rich: We might say working at home to talk about things in a more general way. We use work at home if we’re fixing something in our house or maybe cleaning the house.

Jack: In the roleplay, you said you would be more productive if you were working from home. Productive basically means to do or achieve a lot.

Rich: If you do all of your work well and in a short amount of time you are being very productive.

Jack: You said that you would be more productive at home but I wasn’t so sure in the roleplay. We spoke about distractions. I said that you were always looking for distractions so you stop work.

Rich: A distraction is something that takes your attention away from something else. Some distractions when working from home could be children running around, other family members to talk to, football on the TV - things like that.

Jack: Yes, we said in the roleplay that other people could disturb you. Well, Rich said no one would disturb him but I don’t think that is true.

Rich: To disturb someone means to interrupt someone when they are doing something - especially work.

Jack: We used the word interfere in the roleplay too. This is when someone tries to get involved with what you are doing and is usually used when we don’t want someone to get involved with what we are doing.

Rich: Maybe at home people want to interfere with what you are doing. So at home people could disturb you, interfere with what you are doing or distract you.

Jack: We could use the nouns too. At home, there might be interference from other people, disturbances and distractions.

Rich: But we get these in the office, too. Right, have a listen to the second part of the roleplay.

Jack: In this section try to listen out for some words and phrases connected to physical and mental health.

Roleplay Part 2 - Physical and mental health

Rich: Very funny. What about this article? This could be useful for everyone. Five things to do or not do when working from home.

Jack: Come on then let’s have a look. What does it say?

Rich: Well, the first thing it says is to get dressed. Don’t work in your PJs. You need to get into the right frame of mind.

Jack: Well, I have lots of meetings on Skype or Zoom so it’d be embarrassing if I was still in my dressing gown.

Rich: It’d be more embarrassing in the summer when it’s hot - I don’t wear anything in bed.

Jack: Please, I don’t want to know. Yes, having a shower and getting dressed is definitely a good idea when working or studying from home as it helps you get into the right mindset. What’s the next bit of advice?

Rich: Number two is to take regular breaks.

Jack: You’ll like this one. What does it say? A coffee every twenty minutes?

Rich: No, actually. It says it’s important to take regular breaks so you’re not sat in front of the screen for long periods of time. It can be bad for your eyes and the rest of your body.

Jack: You can get some fresh air. You could go for a walk or a run.

Rich: Yeah, you could do some full-on exercise but it says here that just getting up every half an hour or so and moving or doing some stretches for two minutes is useful. It actually says that people’s productivity levels drop if you don’t take regular breaks.

Jack: And it’s good not to have your eyes glued to a screen for hours.

Rich: It says that too - that’s number three - take care of your eyes. It says that you need to check the lighting where you work - not too bright and not too dark.

Jack: Yes, don’t sit in the dark. You need to switch on your lights.

Language Part 2

Rich: In this section of the roleplay we looked at some phrases that are connected to physical and mental well-being.

Jack: Let’s start with physical health. We said it’s important to stretch when you are in front of a computer all day.

Rich: To stretch means to pull your muscles in your arms and legs. We often stretch before we do sport but it’s important to stretch at other times of the day too.

Jack: We also said it’s important to take regular breaks and to get some fresh air.

Rich: To take regular breaks. To take a break means to stop what you are doing for a while and relax. To do something regularly means to do something often with the same amount of space between each time. You might do something every day or every hour.

Jack: To get some fresh air means to go outside for a while. It’s a good idea to go and get some fresh air if you’ve been in your house all day.

Rich: Taking regular breaks and getting some fresh air is good for your physical health but is also good for your mental health.

Jack: We looked at another couple of phrases connected to mental health in the roleplay. We said that getting out of your pyjamas is good because it will get you into the right frame of mind.

Rich: This phrase - frame of mind is used to describe how you feel at a specific time.

Jack: It’s frequently used with the word right. People need to be in the right frame of mind to work well and be productive. If you’re not in the right frame of mind you’re probably not going to work as well.

Rich: A similar phrase we used in the roleplay was mindset. We said that getting dressed and ready for work, even in your home, puts you in the right mindset.

Jack: Again, to be in the right mindset is a phrase which is used to describe how you are feeling mentally.

Rich: It’s important to take care of your physical and mental health. To take care of is a useful phrase. We should take care of our physical health and we should take care of our mental health.

Jack: To take care of something means to be responsible for something. We are all responsible for our health and we need to take care of it or look after it.

Rich: In the last part of the roleplay, we talk a bit about setting up a healthy home office.

Jack: As you listen, think about where you work or study at home. Do you have the things we talk about?

Roleplay Part 3 - Equipment & posture

Rich: Number four is creating a specific workspace. It says don’t work from your bed or the sofa - especially if there are other people in the house.

Jack: I totally agree. You need your own office or study space. If you can have a whole office great but you need to have at least a desk or table where you have your work things.

Rich: That’s what it says. You need your own workspace. It needs to be big enough for all your stuff and it’s much better if it’s next to a window.

Jack: Oh, why?

Rich: It says that it’s easier on your eyes and it can improve your mood.

Jack: Good advice. And what’s number five.

Rich: Number five is all about posture. It says that you shouldn’t use a dining room chair - they’re not good for long periods of time.

Jack: A big office chair?

Rich: Yes, one that is adjustable is better. You should adjust your chair so you can sit upright and not slump down as you might do on the sofa which is bad for your back.

Jack: That makes sense.

Rich: But the physiotherapist that is quoted here says that movement is better than staying still so she recommends we sit on a fit ball - you know those big balls they use in pilates.

Jack: A fitness ball? Really?

Rich: Yes, a pilates ball. You probably can’t use it in the office but at home, it’ll mean you move all the time and it will make sure you sit upright and don’t slouch or slump.

Jack: A pilates ball - I’d be on the floor more than at my desk.

Rich: Me too. I don’t think I could do it.

Jack: You could use one of those giant space hoppers - you know those that children use to bounce around on.

Rich: I could imagine an important video call with me bouncing up and down on a space hopper. I don’t think so.
Language Part 3
Jack: In this section of the roleplay we looked at a few phrases connected to setting up our home office and how important it is to sit correctly at your desk.

Rich: You will know the words office, desk and chair but let’s look at a few others that are a bit more difficult.

Jack: We spoke about our workspace quite a bit. Your workspace is the area where you work - your workspace will include your desk and chair and office furniture around your desk.

Rich: When we were speaking about our office chair we said it was important that it was adjustable - that you can adjust it.

Jack: If something is adjustable it means you can change it. A good office chair is adjustable because you can change its height and move and adjust the back of the chair to suit your needs.

Rich: It’s important that a chair is adjustable for your physical health especially for good posture. We spoke about posture in the roleplay. What’s that?

Jack: Your posture is the way you hold yourself when you sit or stand. Do you stand or sit very straight or are you more or less lying on our computer when you are at your desk.

Rich: Having a straight back when you are sitting at a desk is seen as good posture. You shouldn’t be slumping or slouching.

Jack: We used these verbs in the roleplay to slouch or to slump. They are both very similar and they mean to sit or stand with your head and shoulders forwards.

Rich: This is not a good way to sit at a computer all day. It’s not good for your back or physical health.

Task

Jack: Your task this week is to tell us if you are currently working or studying from home.

Rich: And we also want you to tell us some of the main differences between working or studying from home and working or studying at work or school, college or university.

Jack: What are the advantages and what are the disadvantages?

Rich: You can write all your answers, comments and opinions in the comments section on the Premier Skills English website or in the review section on Apple Podcasts if that’s where you listen to us.

Football Phrase

Rich: It’s your turn with the football phrase this week, Jack.

Jack: Yes, it is but before I give everyone this week’s phrase I wanted to remind people about our new football vocabulary series called Premier Vocabulary. This is a series of mini podcasts where you learn football English one phrase at a time.

Rich: You can find all our Premier Vocabulary episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and on the Premier Skills English website. On the homepage click on words and Premier Vocabulary. Right, let’s hear this week’s football phrase.

Jack: This week’s football phrase is ******* ******. I like this phrase because the two words rhyme together. The phrase describes the player who plays in goal when they are doubling up as a defender. Manuel Neuer is a great example of a ******* ****** He often plays outside his penalty area and cleans or clears up any defensive problems!

Rich: The original ******* ****** was Liverpool’s Bruce Grobbelaar. He would come miles off his line to clear the ball.

Jack: Let’s see who can get the phrase. Before we leave you we also need to tell you last week’s football phrase. The answer was a goalmouth scramble.

Rich: Right, that’s all we have time for this week! Don’t forget to write your answers to our questions and make a guess at our football phrase in the comments below. If you get it right, we’ll announce your name on next week’s show.

Jack: If you have any questions or comments or suggestions for the podcast or anything football or English related, you can leave them on the website in the comments section, on social media, on apple podcasts or you can email us at premierskills@britishcouncil.org.

Rich: Bye for now and enjoy your football!

How much did you understand?

In the podcast, Rich and Jack used some words and phrases that might be new for you. Do you know the words in bold?

Another coffee break is it, Rich? You’re so easily distracted.

Working from home will keep people safer - away from this horrible bug which is going around.

Premier League footballers are at home and they’re challenging each other to see how many kick-ups they can do with a toilet roll.

I saw Everton’s Theo Walcott doing it while he was washing his hands. That probably creates a bit of awareness - good personal hygiene is important at the moment.

The first thing it says is to get dressed. Don’t work in your PJs.

And it’s good not to have your eyes glued to a screen for hours.

There were a few more tricky words in the podcast. Do you know what they all mean? Try the activity below, then, listen to the podcast again to hear how we used the words.

Have you heard of the toilet roll challenge?

Working from home

In the roleplay, Rich and Jack were talking about working from home. Working from home is the phrase we use to say that we are doing our normal job in our house rather than where we normally do it e.g. the office. We can also say working at home but this may also mean working on things that are not related to employment e.g. decorating your house. If you work as a writer or a similar job you may work from home all the time.

You’ll be able to have as many coffees as you want next week. The office is closing and everyone will be working from home.

A: Where do you work? B: I work from home. A: How lucky you are!

Do you ever work from home?

Being Productive

In the roleplay, Jack and Rich spoke about being productive when working from home. Being productive basically means to do or achieve a lot in a short period of time. In the roleplay, Rich said he thinks he's more productive when working from home but Jack doesn't believe him and says there are more distractions at home. Have a look at the words in bold. Do you understand all of them?

To be honest, I like working from home. I think I’m more productive.

If I was at home now, I’d be working. It’d be much easier to concentrate. I wouldn’t have anyone disturbing me?

That’s the problem - they haven’t got the manager interfering and telling them what to do.

Playing with toilet roll is a distraction as they can't go to training. I suppose they could be doing something more productive!

There are lots of distractions at home: Netflix, children runnng around, the match on TV ...

Everton's Theo Walcott does kick-ups whilst washing his hands. Could you do that?

Physical & Mental Health

Later in the roleplay, Jack and Rich spoke about the importance of both physical and mental health when working from home. You might be sat down at a desk for long periods of time and you might not speak to many people. Rich was looking at a magazine article that gave some advice. Have a look at the words in bold connected to physical and mental health when working from home. Do you understand all of them?

The first thing the article says is to get dressed. Don’t work in your PJs. You need to get into the right frame of mind.

Yes, having a shower and getting dressed is definitely a good idea when working or studying from home as it helps you get into the right mindset.

It actually says that people’s productivity levels drop if you don’t take regular breaks.

You could do some full-on exercise but it says here that just getting up every half an hour or so and moving or doing some stretches for two minutes is useful.

It’s a good idea to go and get some fresh air if you’ve been in your house all day.

It's important to set up your home office in the right way.

A Home Office

In the final section, Jack and Rich spoke about where they work in the house. They said it's important not to use a bed or a sofa as an office. You need your own space to work from home. Have a look at the words in bold. Do you know what they mean?

You need your own workspace. It needs to be big enough for all your stuff and it’s much better if it’s next to a window.

Take care of your eyes. It says that you need to check the lighting where you work - not too bright and not too dark.

It’s important that a chair is adjustable for your physical health especially for good posture.

Having a straight back when you are sitting at a desk is seen as good posture. You shouldn’t be slumping or slouching.

The physiotherapist that is quoted here says that movement is better than staying still so she recommends we sit on a fit ball - you know those big balls they use in pilates.

Working from home

What are the advantages and disadvantages of working from home?

Quiz

In this week’s task, we want you to talk about working from home. Here are some questions to help you:

Have you ever worked from home?
Are you working from home now?
What are the advantages of working from home?
What are the disadvantages of working from home?

Write all your answers in the comments section below, try to use some of the vocabulary we introduced in the podcast and don't forget to make a guess at this week's football phrase!