INTERMEDIATE

Units 5–7
Reading and Speaking Holiday jobs

1 Answer the questions.

1 How do students in your country earn extra money? What sort of jobs can they do?
2 Have you ever had a holiday job? What did you do?

2 Check the meaning of these words and phrases from the article.
chalet staff ski resorts demanding guests 5 star food

3 What do you think the article is about? Read the first

two paragraphs and check your ideas.

4 Answer the questions.

1 Why do young people want to work in ski resorts?
2 Before they go abroad, do the chalet staff understand what they will have to do?
3 Do chalet staff work hard?
4 What can Tricia Cox teach the young people?
5 Is Gemma Hawkins excited about going to Austria?
6 Are Gemma’s employers going to give her menus?
7 Why is Tom Stringer doing the course?
8 Why are eight friends visiting Tom next weekend?

Vocabulary
5 Find words or phrases in the article which mean:
1 a small amount of money – usually given to children by parents or for day-to-day
expenses (paragraph 1)
2 a person with lots of experience (paragraph 2)
3 a new opportunity to sell something (paragrpah 2)
4 things which experienced workers know (paragraph 2)
5 money that is saved for a particular reason (paragraph3)
6 to tolerate something (paragraph 3)
7 the first part of a meal (paragraph 4)
8 the most important part of a meal (paragraph 4)

What do you think?

6 Discuss these questions in groups.
What advice would you give
• a young person starting work?
• someone going to work in another country?
• someone coming to work in your country?

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Reading and Speaking
All work,
no ski
very year hundreds of
E young British people are
employed as chalet staff
in European ski resorts.
Most go expecting to do a little bit of cooking
and cleaning in exchange for a lot of skiing and
some pocket money. Unfortunately the reality
is very different: they will work eighteen-hour
days looking after demanding guests.
It’s not easy to provide 5 star food if you
usually live at home with mum and dad.
Tricia Cox, a veteran chalet maid, has seen
this gap in the market and is offering a two-
day training course for new chalet staff. ‘I’ve
been doing the job for the last six skiing
seasons so I know all the tricks of the trade.
New chalet staff think they are going to have
lots of fun and that they will be skiing all day,
every day. But the reality is very different.
You must get up before everyone to cook
breakfast and you go to bed after the last
guest. You have to be incredibly well
organised if you are going to cook good
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INTERMEDIATE Units 5–7 Holiday jobs
meals, clean all the bedrooms and
bathrooms and have time to enjoy yourself. ’
I spoke to some of her trainees before the
course started. Gemma Hawkins, ‘I’m going
to Austria in two weeks time to run a chalet
for 12 people. I’m looking forward to it – but
I’m a bit nervous too. I’m paying for the
course from my savings. I like cooking but
I’ve never cooked for strangers and I’ll need
to come up with some interesting menus.
Skiing holidays are expensive so the guests
won’t put up with pizza and chips.’
Tom Stringer, ‘I’m hoping the course will help
me be more confident about my cooking.
This morning we’re learning to make cakes –
I’ll have to make one every day in France.
This afternoon we’re making starters.
Tomorrow we’re going to cook three main
courses. Next weekend I’m going to practise
at home – I’ve invited eight friends to stay
and I’m going to do all the cooking and
cleaning. It’ll be a good test.’
Headway © Oxford University Press PHOTOCOPIABLE