Jobs, Career Choices and Ambitions

What this topic actually gives you

Look at the vocabulary for this topic before you start learning it, because it comes in two kinds and they are not learned the same way. One kind is job titles: nurse, chef, farmer, shop assistant, police officer, lorry driver, builder. Those are nouns, they are easy to test and easy to recognise, and there is nothing to understand about them beyond the word itself. The other kind describes the shape of a job rather than its name: work, career, office, employee, working hours, shift work, full-time work. Those are the words that let you say something. A list of job titles tells an examiner you have learned a list; a sentence saying that somebody works shifts, or that you would need to decide between full-time work and study, shows you can use the language. So learn the titles by recognition, quickly, and spend your effort on the shape words, because they are the ones that go into sentences. That is how this module is arranged, and it is the map of the topic worth carrying into the exam.

Words for the shape of work

Six words describing what a job is like rather than what it is called. These are the ones that build sentences.

Match the job to what it is

Which one is not a job title

Three of these words name a job somebody does. One describes where work happens. Which is the odd one out?

• משרד
• אח
• מוכר
• נהג משאית

Where you work and how

The shape words divide again, into where a job happens and how it is arranged. Both are worth having, because a question about work usually asks about one or the other.

Which two describe the hours

Select the TWO that describe how work is arranged rather than what somebody does.

• עבודה במשמרות
• משרה מלאה
• שוטר
• שף

Saying what one has to do

You already have one frame from the Education post-16 topic: the possession structures, which let you say that you have or do not have something. They work here too, and they are listed in your specification as Foundation content, so everybody needs them: you can say you have a job, or working hours, or that you do not have an office. This topic gives you a second frame worth knowing, and it is a good one for talking about careers, though it is listed as Higher-tier content so check which tier you are entered for before spending long on it. Hebrew can build a sentence with no stated subject at all, using a word meaning one must or it is necessary, followed by an infinitive. Your specification gives its own worked example of exactly this, and it is worth seeing rather than just being told about: צריך לדבר עם המורה, meaning one must speak with the teacher. The frame is the first word, צריך, followed by an infinitive. The possession frame you already have works the same way in miniature: יש לי means I have, and אין לי means I do not have. Notice what that shape lets you do. Careers advice is almost always impersonal in this way. Rather than saying I must decide, you can say that one must decide, which sounds more natural, is closer to how the advice is actually given, and needs no pronoun at all. Combine it with a verb you already met under Education post-16 and you can express a whole idea about choosing a career with two words.

The shape of work in words

Complete each gap with the Hebrew for the English meaning given. My sister has a _____ in medicine and is a _____ in a hospital. She does not work in an _____. Her _____ are long because she does _____.

The word that is not employment

Four Hebrew words from this topic. Three of them name a job somebody does. Select the ONE that does not.

• אח
• חקלאי
• שעות עבודה
• מוכר

Jobs drill

Five quick questions on the job titles. These are recognition rather than understanding, so drill them and move on. Three lives.

Say what one has to do

Build two short Hebrew phrases. The first uses the impersonal frame with a verb meaning to decide; the second says that you have a career.

Choosing what to say about work

You are writing a short answer in Hebrew about jobs and what you might do. Take the decisions in order.

• You want to say what somebody does for a living. Which kind of word do you need?
• You want to say something about the week rather than the job. What should you reach for?
• You want to say that a choice has to be made, without naming who makes it. Which frame?
• You are entered for Foundation. How much time should the impersonal frame get?

Write about a job you want

Write in Hebrew about a job somebody you know does, and one you might want to do, using the vocabulary from this module.

• Name at least two jobs, using the job titles from this topic
• Say where somebody works, using the word for an office or another place
• Describe how the work is arranged, using working hours, shift work or full-time work
• Use the possession frame to say what somebody has
• Use the word for a career at least once
• If you are entered for Higher, use the impersonal frame with an infinitive
• Include at least one full sentence rather than a list of nouns
• Finish by saying which job you would choose