Work-life Balance
This B2 business English lesson tackles work-life balance head-on, using real opinions, a video discussion, and vocabulary that comes up often in professional settings. Students look at who’s actually responsible for managing boundaries between work and personal life. It works well for adult learners who are already in the workforce or heading there soon.
Lesson overview
- Discuss personal work-life balance opinions using professional vocabulary and real examples
- Practice key business English terms like grit, prospective candidates, and ask outright
- Analyze three contrasting viewpoints from a short video discussion
- Build speaking confidence through timed opinion tasks and This or That scenarios
Student's Version (Light/Dark)
Teacher's Version (Answer Keys)
Printable Classroom Version (A4)
| Level | Vocabulary | Video Length | Lesson Time |
| B2 / Upper-Intermediate | 8 words | 3:29 min | 60 min |
Vocabulary
- analogy
- drop out
- grit and determination
- tremendous
- ask outright
- ask around it
- prospective candidates
- stressed out
Contents
- Quote
- Lead-in
- Vocabulary
- Definitions
- Video
- Comprehension
- Speaking
- Discussion
- Practice
- This or that
- Online research
Start the lesson with the opening quote on slide 1. Give students 30 seconds to read it silently, then ask who agrees and who disagrees. Don’t explain it yet. Just let them react. This gets them talking right away and gives you a sense of what they already think about work-life balance. Move to the lead-in questions on slide 2 and pick two or three that feel most relevant to your group. Question 1 about the 60-hour week and question 5 about success without sacrifice tend to get the strongest responses from working adults.
The vocabulary section on slide 3 works best in pairs. Students read each sentence and try to explain the bold word before checking the definitions on slide 4. Don’t skip this step. Words like “ask around it” and “prospective candidates” come up directly in the video, so students need them before they watch. Give pairs three to four minutes, then go through the definitions together quickly. Check that everyone understands “grit and determination” versus “stressed out” since those two come up a lot in the comprehension task.
The video on slide 5 is 3:29 minutes and has three speakers with different views on work-life balance. Play it once without stopping and ask students to just listen for the three main opinions. Then show slide 6 and put students in groups of three, one student per speaker. Each group member uses the word prompts to summarize their speaker’s position in full sentences. This works well because students are accountable for one voice, not three. Walk around and help with any vocabulary gaps. After groups finish, ask one or two to share what they found most surprising or unfair in the video.
The speaking task on slide 7 is simple but effective. Students speak for one minute without stopping. Give them ten seconds to think, then start timing. Remind them not to overthink it. The This or That scenarios on slides 10 to 12 make a strong wrap-up activity. Each scenario puts two career options against each other and students have to choose. These are designed for B2 learners to push them past simple yes or no answers into genuine justification. Assign the online research task on slide 13 as homework and ask students to bring a quote with a short explanation to the next class.
