Unit 2 section 1: About Laura

This is the first part in the series with Laura. She talks about her job, what is involved and why she is a self-employed cleaner. Use your listening skills to correct mistakes and answer questions. You will also complete a web research activity. Most of all, you will be able to learn what it’s really like to be a self-employed domestic cleaner in the UK.

If you want to find out a bit more about being self-employed in the UK, go to unit 1 ‘An introduction to self-employment.’ Please read ‘Before you listen!’ first.

Instructions and downloads

Before you do the listening activities in Tasks 1 and 2, you are going to look at a table showing the most common types of self-employed jobs in the UK.

The information in the table shows the most common jobs that men and women typically do. (But of course, men and women can do any jobs if they want to because of the equality laws in the UK). Please download the following documents and answer the questions in the worksheet.

Worksheet for web research

Table of most prevalent self-employed occupations in the UK

Answer key for web research

Preparation - ways to listen

Before you listen!

How to get the best from the activity:

It is a good idea to have a dictionary so that you can find the meanings to new words. It is also very helpful to have a pen/pencil and notebook. You can write lists of words or phrases you have learned. You can then practise the new words/phrases. If you practise a lot, you can remember them!

Before you listen, you can choose to learn the easier way or the harder way.

The easier way:

Look at the activities before you listen.
Use a dictionary to find meanings to words you don’t understand.
Then listen to the interview.
Listen to parts of the interview separately.
Listen to the interview for as many times as you need to.
Read the transcript after you have listened.
Then do the activities.

The harder way:

Listen to the interview.
Only listen to the whole interview once.
Do the activities.

Task 1 - first listening

Here is a summary of what Laura says but there are some mistakes! Rewrite the correct sentence in the white box. You must use the correct punctuation and spacing between words.

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Task 2 - second listening

Here are some of the questions the interviewer asks Laura. Match the two halves of the question.

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Transcript

T So hello and thank you very much for agreeing to this interview. So can I start by asking your name?

L Yeah, my name is Laura.

T Laura- and where are you from, Laura?

L I am from Ecuador.

T Ecuador - And how long have you been in the UK?

L I’ve been in this country nearly three years.

T Three years – and what do you do in the UK?

L I’m working as a cleaner.

T OK – and did you do the same job in your home country in Ecuador?

L No, I left my country 13 years ago – I was living in Spain. I did the same job in Spain.

T Ah, OK – and it’s the same language?

L Yeah.

T So, that’s good. Mm, so you’re a self-employed cleaner?

L Yeah, I’m self-employed.

T So how long have you been self-employed?

L Two years.

T And why did you want to be self-employed?

L Um, I can own my hours and can share my time with my family, my kids, my husband.

T Ah, that’s good. So you can do your hours around your family?

L Yeah.

T Yeah, that’s really good. So did you receive any advice or help before becoming self-employed?

L Um, in this country no – but I received in Spain, I know how this working, and…

Discussion

Have you tried the other activities in this series? You could try the next activity about Laura or you could find out about Habib who is a self-employed taxi driver.

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Unit 2 section 1: About Laura

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