m Use after lesson 4C Youth versus experience = Scanning for specific information ~ Reading for detailed understanding — Comparing older and younger workers in business Materials One copy of the worksheet for each student Vocabulary to believe creative, developed / developing world, to disappear, dynamic, impersonal, influence, mmidle-agd, revolution, to share to touch, worker Procedure © I can be done with the whole class as a quick warmer, to introduce students to the topic and check vocabulary. = For 2, students read the text quietly and check their answers individually, with whole-class feedback. '@ For 3, students can check their answers with a dictionary ‘t via whole-class feedback. © For 4, encourage students to answer the questions first without looking at the text. This can be done individually or in pairs 1 For 5, students work in pairs with whole-class feedback 10 encourage discussion, One-to-one 5 should be done as an open discussion or given for homework, with a discussion in the next clas. I the text has not already been read out (see Tip below), 4 could be checked by the teacher reading the text aloud, to give extra listening practice and vary the dynamics of the lesson, Pp = The text in 2 canbe read out bythe teacher as extra listening practice, with student checking their answers to 1 Follow-up ~ Higher level students could prepare a debate on the topic Yotmger workers are much more useful than older worker, with the class divided int those Tor and against. ~ Students could analy some ob advertisements in thei ‘own language to discover if there are any age limits and what they are, presenting their findings tothe cas 1 ‘4 Suggestion) 1 False 1 Inthe past, oder workers had advantages over 2 Te younger workers. 3 True 2 There aretwo reasons why younger workers are 4 abe ‘Row more important. 5 Fale 3 Younger workers are oten more fsb than older workers, 4 The siuation fs changing gradual in the developing world. 5 Older workers wl not disappear in the future.Youth versus experience 1 What do you think? Are these statements about older and younger workers true or false? 1 Young workers have always been important for companies, 2 Older workers learn new things mare slowly. 3. Everything changes faster now in the business world, 4 Young workers are marc expensive than older workers. 5 Most of the world’s young people live in the developed world, ‘ow read the text and check your answers. revolution For mast of history, middle-aged people have been the bosses With age came knowledge, experience, ard influence, But now companies in the West want fo attract a younger workforce, But why? One reason is technology. The internet revolution means that young people have become much more important for Companies. Tey crated Netscape, Yahoo, and Napster. the rmuscshanng teeny that has changed the music indus But another reason vung people are mee | success todays because of changes in the business word im general. nthe past. companies grew slowly and stayed on tp Now a company can go from sucess tate inst But is the situation the same in the rest the world? Japan fas seen some changes, but they stil beheve that age and | ‘experience are very important in business. Some business people in southern Europe think that a good personal tclationship is more important than fast. imypersonal re And, of course, most of the world’ young people live in the | thee months. Things change much move quickly and young people learn faster and adapt more quickly to these changes. than alder people. the salaries of young workers are also lower than older workers and, because enany of them aren't smartied or don't have families. they are more flexible and can work longer hours. 3. What do the underlined words and phrases mean. si no Gapper, uth Rave o earn to stare ter | 4 All these sentences are incorrect according to the text. Correct them by making the necessary changes, 1 In the past, older workers didn’t have any advantages over younger workers. 2 ‘There is only one reason why younger workers are now more important, 3. Younger workers are not as flexible as older workers. 4 The situation is changing quickly in the developing world, 5 There won't he any older workers in the future. 5. What do you think? Discuss these statements: '= Older workers have experience and are a good influence over the rest of the workers. I's often dificult to retrain older workers. 1® Older people only think about their personal fe and retirement '® You train young workers and then they leave the company, Older workers stay much longee.New markets for older people Before you read ie 2a 3e 4b 5d 4 a) 40 (percent) ) elghty (percent) ©) forty (percent) 9 50 €) 86 (percent) 4) tworthirds 2a)X bY OV AX Ov Ny Young manager Before you read a) more 1) important ©) good 4 good ©) angry 1) bad 1 a)notused b)4 Oi @notused > 2 2 a) How old 2) Why Did ais ©) What The midlife crisis 1 dcead 2 aii Di Ott dillYoung manager Before you read Undertine the correct word o complete the sentences. 4) Ifyou promote someone you give them a more /less responsible ob at work 1) An arrogant person thnks they are very important /unimportant. ©) Amanager needs good /bad people sil 4) A confident person knows that they can do good /bad job. €) An annoying person makes you fel happy /ongny. 4) If something is horible, itis very bad /gcod. Reading Read this article adapted from the Financial Times and answer the questions. Too young to manage ‘There was a young manager who was brilliant and creative. His bosses thought he was very good. When he was 35, his company 5 gave him an important new job. But after bis promotion he was anybody. His new job didn't go well. He wasn't ready for the mposition. He had business ‘experience, but he didn’t have ‘Companies often make this ss young workers people skills. % mistake. They promote ambitious too quickly because they don’t want them to leave the company. Often young managers get too confident. ‘They don't have enough work arrogant. He didn't listen to 2 experience. They need to do more things that are new to them. Its a good idea for managers to get experience before they are promoted. It isn't easy to be a good ‘manager. Young managers are not 4 Number the sentences below in the order thatthe information appears inthe article. Two ofthe sentences are not used. 4) Experienced managers are always good. oO b) Itis.a good idea to promote people more stowly. The company gave a young manager an important new job. o 4) Companies want ambitious young workers to leave. L] €) It isnt easy to be a good manager. £) Some young managers are too confident. QO 2 Use the question words to complete the sentences. Why Is Howel Did What a) How old was the manager? He was 35, ») didn’t his new job go well? Because he was arrogant and didn’t tsten, ° hhe have good people skills? No, he didn't. d ‘easy to be a good manager? No, it isnt ° comes to good people in time? Good jobs. Over to you 1 always bad. And experienced managers are not always good. But young people with bad people ye skills are very annoying. When an experienced manager does not listen, it is bad. When a young ‘manager does the same thing, itis horrible. What can companies do? 3s Itis a good idea to promote people more slowly. Good jobs always come to good people in time, | "Brom the Financia Times Is ita good idea to promote people when they are young or ‘when they have experience? Can you think of any adjectives to describe old and young managers? In your country do people usually get promoted quickly or slowiy?New markets for older people Before you read Reading Match the words 15 to their meanings a)-e) Use a dictionary Read this article adapted from the Guardian and answer the tohelp you. questions 1 healthy a} have lots of interests 2 active lives and fiends 3 wealth ) give attention to 44 focus on roti 5. ignore dont give attention to ©) have money Older people, new markets (of Britain's wealth. They are 40 per- Advertisers focus on young. 25 bought by the over 50s. ‘ent of the consumer market. So. x5 people. But young people have less Adverts don’t have to focus only s why don't more companies focus money tospend and thelr market is on the over 50s, But advertisers marketing and advertising on getting smaller. A survey showed shouldn't ignore this group. Why people over 50 years old? And why that mast over 50s didn't llke 86 aren't advertising agencies and don't companies develop products percent of all advertising. This 3 marketing companies interested? and services for this group? Today 2» includes advertising for cars. But Perhaps i's because the people who the over 50s live longer, are this group spends more on cars, work in advertising and marketing They are 40 percent of the They alo have money to spend, of the younger age groups Two: | | healthier ond lead active lives. Including sports models than anya often under So | population. They have 80 percent But companies ignore this market. thirds of cars bought privately were peered 4 Correct the numbers in the sentences. ‘Over to you i . a) The over 50s are 3 percent of the population. ‘You work for an advertising agency. Think of five products or +b) They have eight percent of Britain's wealth. services for the over 50s market. Compare your list with a 8 fgets mae so porter Ean your chien, SD nseeup dunt ihe sSpreanotaasersang, | thin holidys are good for this market because 1) Half of the cars bought privately were bought by the the over 50 have time and money ease Ree eee re Theoerses 2D playpens ) lead active lives, spend money on cars. 4) go skiing. ‘) have money to spend are healthy.The midlife crisis Before you read What do you understand by ‘midlife crisis"? What are the signs, that someone is having one? Reading Read this article from the Financial Times and answer the questions. Making the most of the midlife crisis Astrid Wendlandt Feeling deeply bored and burnt out? If you are over 30, you may be showing the first signs of a midlife 2 crisis, You could completely schange your career, as did Gauguin, the French painter who gave up his job as a stockbroker to But there are many ways of se'doing a Gauguin’. For some it means going back to university, for others it may be opening a beach bar in the Caribbean or finding a new partner. Those who at ss have the money may take a year Insead off to sail around the world and think about the meaning of life. Whatever the exit, it usually takes.» courage to find it. Midlife crises can happen at 31, at 56 or several times during one’s life. As well as having a huge personal impact, they can have 4e horror, 1 would begin to disappear a significant impact on organisa- travel the world and paint. as tions. At midlife, executives are normally at the peak of their careers and charged with making critical decisions. ‘Manfred Kets de Vries, professor ye of management and leadership business Fontainebleau, viewed 200 senior executives from around the world (average age 46) and published a study of what they went through in midiife. ‘One interviewee, the chief executive of a Swedish newspaper, explained his feelings: “To my emotionally in the middle of presentations ... People would see it. They would become nervous their attention would wander 45 To this strange state of mind was also added my inability to listen to and function with other people’ school, inter: France, rom the Financial Times 1 Imagine that each paragraph in the article has a heading. Choose the best heading for each paragraph from the list below and number them in the correct order. a) Abusiness school professor interviewed 200 senior managers around the world about the midlife crisis, b) An example of someone in a midlife crisis ©) Different people have different ideas about what they would do if they had a midlife crisis 4) Feeling bored may be the first sign of a midlife crisis () ) Midlife crises can happen at almost any age from early 305 onwards 2 Choose the correct altemative, Then comment on the verb tenses in italics. 4) Feeling deeply bored and but out? If you are over 30, you may be showing the first signs of a midlife crisis, (ine 2) This means that itis 1) certainly a midlife crisis. | possibly a midlife crisis. ii) certainly not a midlife crisis, b) Those who have the money may take a year off to sail ‘around the world .. (line 15) This means that they 1) will possibly sail around the world, i) have permission to sail around the world. {iD will certainly sail around the world ©) Midlife crises cam happen at 31, at 56 oF several times during one's life, As well as having a huge personal impact, they can have a significant impact on organisations. (lines 20 and 23) This means that midlife 1) always happen in the way described. 1) sometimes happen in the way described Ii) never happen in the way described. 4) ‘I would begin to disappear emotionally in the middle of presentations... People would see it. They would become nervous ... their attention would wander (ines 40-44) This means that people did these things. 9 never, i) once. li) several times. Over to you A friend of yours is having a midlife crisis. Which of these ings would you recommend, and why? ‘© sail around the world ‘+ coach (= give advice to) young people in the organisation ‘+ take ajob in the same company, but in another country ‘+ do voluntary work (= low-paid or unpaid work with social objectives) ‘+ stay at home for a year, read a lot of books and work on the garden