Talking about dream jobs

Introduction Neil and Georgie have a real conversation in easy English about the jobs they wanted to do when they were younger. Learn to talk about the jobs you would like to do. Grammar tips Use the past simple + infinitive to talk about your childhood dreams. Use the second conditional to talk about your dreams now. You can say that things about your job are important to you. Transcript Georgie Hello and welcome to Real Easy English, the podcast where we have real conversations in easy English to help you learn. I'm Georgie. Neil And I'm Neil. To watch a video version of this podcast and download a free worksheet, go to our website - bbclearningenglish.com. Georgie Hi, Neil, how are you? Are you happy to be at work today? Neil Of course. I'm always happy to be at work. Georgie Great. Well, today we are talking about dream jobs. Obviously, this job is amazing, but we're going to talk about some different jobs we'd like to do. Neil Sounds good. Shall we start? Georgie Yes. Neil So, Georgie, when you were a child, what did you want to do when you grew up? What was your dream job? Georgie Well, when I was really little, about five or six. I remember telling people that I wanted to be a princess. When I realised that wasn't going to be possible for me, my next dream was to be a pop star, because my friends and I used to write songs and perform in front of our parents, and I thought that would be really fun. Yeah. What about you? Neil Well, I'm kind of similar. I think, actually, when I was, when I was a child, I thought that being a professional sportsman would be fantastic. Either a footballer or a cricketer. Georgie What went wrong? Neil I'm not good enough. I learned that lesson. But also, I wanted, when I got a little bit older, sort of teenage, and started playing guitar, I thought, yeah, maybe a rock star would be the thing for me. Georgie So, Neil, obviously you are not a rock star. But how or when did you decide to become an English teacher instead? Neil Well, when I finished university, I wanted to travel more than anything else. And I wanted to live in foreign countries, not just go on holiday. And I thought a good way to do that would be to become an English teacher. Georgie Yeah, I have a similar story. It was the same thing for me. I just wanted to live abroad. Neil Georgie, what is important to you about your job now? Georgie Well, many of us spend a lot of our lives working. So for me, it's really important to enjoy the day. We work nine to five. It's a lot of hours in the day. It's really important to me to have a nice team that you can have fun with. It's also really important for me to feel like I'm giving something good or doing a good job. What about you? Neil Yeah. I think it's important to feel that you're doing something useful. So hopefully our conversations like this are useful for people because they can learn something, and I like that. Georgie Yeah. Me too. So, Neil, if you didn't have to worry about money or anything else, what would your dream job be? I think I know the answer already. Neil Yeah, well, you said earlier that I didn't become a rock star, but there is still a future. And, you know, if I didn't have to work, I could just follow my dream. How about you? Georgie I think if I didn't do this job, I would like to be a travel photographer or someone that makes documentaries. I really love those nature documentaries, and it would be very fun to be involved in those. Neil Yes, that sounds like it would be amazing. Georgie OK, let's recap the language we heard during the conversation. We can describe something like a job as important to us. For example, I said that a nice team at work is important to me. Neil We talked about our dream jobs when we were children using the structure when I was younger, I wanted to be... So, for example, when I was younger, I wanted to be a footballer. Georgie And we talked about our dream jobs now using conditionals. So for example, if I could do any job, I would be a travel photographer. Neil And when we're talking about jobs, we can do them, or we can be them. For example, I teach English, or I am an English teacher. Georgie And that's it for this episode of Real Easy English. If you like our programmes, why not sign up to our email newsletter? You can get suggestions for other English lessons you might enjoy. There's a link in the notes for this programme. Neil Next time we'll talk about lunch. Join us again. Georgie Bye.   Now try this... Download a free worksheet