CHAPTER 3

JOBS AND ROUTINES

Elicitation
Look at the illustration before studying the dialogues below. Try to guess what the man’s job is,
where he works and what he does in that company.

Well, in this chapter, you will study about occupation. You will practice using Yes/No and WH -
questions to ask someone’s occupation, giving answer of yes/no and wh – questions about
occupation and describing occupations.

General Instructional Objective

After completing this leson, students should be able to identify and describe job accurately and
fluently both in spoken and written communication

Specific Instructional Objective:

  Identify jobs (occupation)
 Use Yes/No questions to ask someone’s job (occupation)
 Use WH - question to ask someone’s job (occupation)
 Give answer of yes/no-question about job (occupation)
 Give answer of WH-question about job (occupation)
 Describe a job (occupation)

Dialogue 1.
(Teacher asks one of the students, Made, about his father’s job)

Teacher : Excuse Made, Where does your father work?

Made : He works in a hotel.

Teacher : Is he a hotel manager?

Made : No, he is not.

Teacher : What is his occupation?

Made : He is a hotel cashier.

Teacher : Sorry, What is a hotel cashier?

Made : A hotel cashier is someone who receives and pay out money in a

hotel.

Teacher : Thank you, Made.

Made : you’re welcome.

Questions:
1. Does Made’s father work in a bank?
2. Where does he work?
3. Is he a hotel manager?
4. What is his occupation?
5. What does he do in the hotel every day?

Dialogue 2.
After you finish your study in the Polytechnic Department, you may be entering the world of
business. In your work, you will meet many different people with a variety of jobs. The
following are examples of people who talk about their jobs.

Carol, John Rickly and Chenni are in a human resource development meeting. During the break
time, Chenni tries to find out about their jobs.

Chenni : Carol what do you do?

Carol : I’m described as a sales representative. I visit different companies perhaps up to four

or six a day when I’m traveling. The rest of my time is spent in the office, writing

sales report, planning the next trip and answering enquiries. My trips often last

three to four days a week. But I work under the supervision of sales manager.

Chenni : What do you find rewarding about the sales area?

Carol : Well, I suppose you could say that I get paid to travel a lot around this country and to

meet different people.

Chenni : Us, the pay good?

Carol : Yes, quite generous.

Chenni : Do you sometimes find the work frustrating?

Carol : Well, some customers keep me waiting four hours and I must admit that I hate

waiting. But that’s part of the job.

Chenni : What about you, John? What do you do?

John : I’m a credit controller. My responsibilities are to handle banking matters, credit

issues, opening and closing bank accounts and maintaining good relationships with

other companies. Another responsibility is managing my staff to work as a team.

Chenni : What is the most enjoyable part of your work?

John : Well, I like to make decisions a low management level. I am responsible for making

sure that my decisions result in profits for the company. I also have aright to cease
 operating with a company which is “black listed”.

Chenni : And what’s the most annoying part about the job?

John : Well, the company is very bureaucratic. And some companies are very slow in

paying.

Questions
1. What is Carol’s job?
2. What is John’s job?
3. What does Carol do?
4. What does John do?
5. What does Carol find rewarding?
6. What does John find enjoyable?
7. What does John find frustrating?
8. What does John find irritating?
9. Ask your partner which of the occupations that you have read about would he most like
to do himself when he finishes his study in the Polytechnic Centre? Explain why this
work appeals to him.
10. Which would he least like to do? And why?

In dialogue 1 above, the teacher uses “Is he a hotel manager?, What is his job/occupation?” to
ask the job of Made’s father. And to answers those question Made says “No. he is not. He is a
cashier”. The teacher and Made also use article “a” in front of the word “cashier” and the
words “hotel manager” to modify each of the occupation. They use the article “a” because both
“cashier” and “hotel manager” are nouns with consonant sound at the beginning of each word.

The similar thing can also be seen in dialogue 2. Chenni uses “What do you do?” to ask Carol’s
occupation. To know details questions and answers about someone’s occupation, you can study
the following language expressions:

To know someone’s occupation, you can say:

  Are you a/an ………………………….?
 Is he/she a/an ………………………….?
 What is your Job/occupation?
 What do you do?

To answer those questions, you can say:

 Yes, I am / No, I am not.

 Yes, he/she is / No, he/she is not
 I am a/an …………………………….
 He/She is a/an ………………………

To describe someone’s job/occupation, you can say:

For example:

 John woks in in a hotel. He is a hotel gardener. His responsibility is to keep the hotel
garden clean. He is a professional hotel gardener.

Use the article “a” in front of an occupation (singular noun) with consonant sound at the
beginning of the word. For example; a gardener, a cashier, a teacher, a student, etc.

use the article “an” in front of an occupation (singular noun) with vowel sound at the beginning
of the word. For example: an English teacher, an engineer, an artist, etc.

Use possessive adjective “my…, your…, his……, her….., our….., their……..” to express possession,
for example: my occupation, your job, his responsibility, etc.

Practice 1 (individual work)

There are a lot different people at work in the following places. How many different
occupations can you think of for each picture? Write them down on your note book!

Lihat gambar pada buku profesi 1 hal.5 Practice 3. (Pair work)

Practice 2 (individual work)
Complete the dialogue below with appropriate words!

A : ………….. brother work in a travel agent?

B : No, ………………….

A : ………………….. does he work?

B : He ……… in a university

A : So, he …….a lecturer, isn’t he?

B : No, he is not.

A : ………… is his occupation?

B : He is a phone operator. He …………………

Practice 3 (pair work)

To find out about someone’s occupation, study the example:

A : Where do your work?

B : I work at a hotel

A : Are you a waiter?

B : No, I am a credit controller. I handle credit issues and banking matters.

Now hold similar dialogue by using the clues below. Each time say exactly what your occupation
is in the company.

Hotel/waiter? /credit controller.

Bank/teller? /sales marketer.

Supermarket/cashier? /personal manager.

PT TELKOM Indonesia Company/secretary? /computer programmer.

TVRI/announcer? /secretary.
Garment factory/financial controller? /owner.

Bank/computer programmer? /teller.

Computer company/programmer? /money collector.

SCTV/receptionist? /reporter.

ASTRA/sales representative? /quality controller.

Summary.
Expressions used to describe someone’s occupation:

I am an English Student. I study and practice my English every day

He is a credit controller. He handles banking matters, credit issues, opens and closes bank
accounts and maintains good relationships with other companies.

Questions and answers used to ask about someone’s occupation are as follows:

Are you a teacher? Yes, I am/ No, I am not

Is he a waiter? Yes, he is/ No, he is not

What is your occupation? I am a driver

What is her job? She is waitress

What do you do? I am an accountant

The articles used in identifying occupation are: a/an.

“a” is used to modify occupation (singular noun) with consonant sound.

“an” is use to modify occupation (singular noun) with vowel sound.

The possessive adjectives used to modify noun are:

My…… Your…..

His…… Her……

Their… Our…..
Formative test
I. Complete the following sentences!

1. Mrs. Brown usually teaches English at school. She is ………………………………………………

A. a director
B. a driver
C. an administrator
D. an English Teacher
2. Mrs. Monik works in Mr. Made’s house. She cleans the floor of the house, washes the
dishes, washes the clothes, takes care of the children and cooks in the kitchen. She is
……………………………………………..
A. House wife
B. Driver
C. Servant
D. secretary
3. …………. Is his occupation? He is a Bank Director.
A. What
B. Where
C. How
D. who
4. ………….. does Mr Black work? He works in a library.
A. What
B. Where
C. How
D. who
5. What is your job? I am ……. Director of BRI.
A. a
B. an
C. the
D. this
 6. He works in ……. University. He is a lecturer.
A. an
B. a
C. the
D. those
7. Mrs. Brown is a …………….. She handles banking matters and credit issues.
A. credit controller
B. credit maker
C. secretary
D. cashier
8. Budi is a hotel waiter. He ………… food and beverage for the guest in a hotel.
A. cooks
B. orders
C. serves
D. tries
9. Susi is a bank teller. She ……… and pay out money in a bank.
A. puts
B. saves
C. counts
D. receives
10. John is a hotel room boy. He …….the room always clean.
A. cleans
B. keeps
C. sweep
D. mops

Use the key to formative test 11 given at the end of this book to check your answer. Calculate
your correct answers and then use the formula below to see the degree of your comprehension
to the material of chapter 11.
 The total of correct answers
The degree of comprehension = ---------------------------------------- X 100 %
The total of items

Note: 90 – 100 % = very good

80 – 89 % = good

70 -79 % = Ok

< 70 % = bad

If your comprehension is ≥ 80 %, you can continue to chapter 12. It is good. However, if it is <
80 %, you have to read chapter 11 again especially the materials that you do not understand
well yet.

Glossary

- Teacher - professor
- Typist - taxi driver
- Gardener - security
- Cashier - teller
- camera man - artist
- actor - credit controller
- hotel manager - waiter
- room boy - hotel cleaner
- supervisor - singer
- pilot - dancer
- news reader - painter
- golf player - librarian
- barber - nurse
- seller - English guide
- English translator - Shop keeper