Work-life balance: Can we have it all?

Exclusive

60-90 min

Speaking

Intermediate

Overview

In this conversation lesson, students will explore the challenges and possibilities of achieving a healthy work-life balance. Using the growing popularity of the 4-day work week as a starting point, students will learn and practise vocabulary and expressions such as gain traction, deadline, and embrace, while discussing modern work trends, personal routines, and ways to avoid overwork.

The lesson centres around a reading activity that explores the rise of the 4-day week. Students will scan the article for key information, review vocabulary, and share their personal views through interviews, role-plays, and debate. The session includes both structured practice and open conversation, finishing with a homework task where your students will watch a short news report on a 4-day week trial at Medibank.

View Lesson Outline

Media & Worksheets

Reading Activity

Lesson PDFs

e-lesson Version

Our speaking lessons follow a consistent six-stage structure: warm-up, presentation (with video, images, or reading), controlled practice, free conversation, deeper discussion, and a final homework task to introduce in class.

Lessons come with a printable student worksheet and a teacher version containing notes and answers. For online teaching, we provide an editable Google Slides e-lesson that can be downloaded or exported to PowerPoint.

The purpose of this stage is to activate your students' existing knowledge and prepare them for the lesson's theme.

Activity 1: You will lead a warm-up discussion by asking students questions about modern work routines and work-life balance, gradually narrowing the focus to the idea of the 4-day work week.

Activity 2: Students will take part in an interview activity where they ask each other questions about their routines and how they manage work and free time.

The presentation material for this lesson is an article describing the rise of the 4-day work week.

Activity 3: Students will review and discuss key terms and expressions from the article they are about to read.

Activity 4: Students will read the article and scan for the answers to the questions on the worksheet.

To reinforce their understanding of the new language or concepts introduced in the lesson, the students will work on a couple of controlled practice activities.

Activity 5: Students will complete a gap-fill activity using vocabulary from the article. Each sentence is based on ideas from the reading and uses one of the key vocabulary items.

Activity 6: For this activity, students will interview each other using two different sets of questions related to work-life balance and flexible working.

We move into free practice for this stage, where the students apply the language in more open-ended, communicative activities.

Activity 7: In this activity, students will discuss multiple-choice questions. The questions have no clear right or wrong answers, encouraging students to express their opinions and justify their reasoning.

Activity 8: Students will discuss three quotes related to work-life balance.

This stage allows students to explore the lesson’s theme in more depth, tackling complex ideas and expressing their thoughts and opinions on related topics.

Activity 9: Students will discuss a series of controversial statements related to modern work culture. They will share their opinions in small groups before presenting their ideas to the class.

Activity 10: Students will take part in a role-play debate on whether a company should introduce a "right to disconnect" policy. One group will represent the company’s board of directors (against the idea), and the other will represent the employees (in favour).