💼 What Was Your Job Before?
New unit: Work! It's Career Day at Karim's school, and the guests talk about their jobs — today's job and the jobs before. Learn the past of be ("I was a mechanic." · "They were drivers."), put events in order (last, before that, after that) and talk about a job: "How was your last job?"
Career Day
Thursday morning. Karim's uncle Hedi is the first guest of Career Day. He holds an old taxi driver's cap…
🤔 What was your mom's or dad's first job?
⏪ The Past Of Be: Was & Were
The verb be has two past forms: was and were.
1️⃣ was → I, he, she, it
- I was a banker.
- He was a computer programmer.
- She was a supervisor.
- It was very difficult.
👥 were → you, we, they
- You were an actor. · You were writers. (you = one person or many!)
- We were designers.
- They were drivers.
❓ Questions
Move the verb to the beginning:
He was an illustrator. → Was he an illustrator?
They were managers. → Were they managers?
Short answers: Yes, he was. / No, they weren't.
🚫 Negatives
was not → wasn't: I wasn't a cleaner.
were not → weren't: They weren't editors.
She was a driver. → She was not a driver.
⚖️ Was Or Were?
Choose the right form. 10 sentences.
🔄 The Flip Machine
Flip the sentence into a question or a negative. 8 sentences.
🧭 Past Simple Time Markers
These words help us talk about the past and put events in order.
🕙 last
- The recent past:
- Last week I was on vacation.
- Where were you last night?
- I like my job now, but my last job was terrible!
⬅️ before / before that
- She was a waiter before she was a supervisor.
- She was a supervisor. Before that, she was a waiter.
➡️ after / after that
- After she was a supervisor, she was the manager.
- She was a supervisor. After that, she was the manager.
How long? A: How long were you there for? B: I was there for eight months. · Remember from Lesson 57: for + a length of time (for two years, for a week).
🧭 The Career Timeline
Mrs. Amel owns a restaurant. Click a job on her timeline: hear what came before that and after that.
💬 Talking About Your Job
Jobs — today's and yesterday's — are a very common topic of conversation between adults. Here's how they talk about them.
❓ Questions
- How's your job?
- What's your job like?
- How was your last job?
- What was your last job like?
- Where were you before?
⏰💰👔 Hours, pay, boss
- I like my job, but I work too many hours.
- The pay is really good in my new job.
- My boss is OK, but sometimes he's difficult.
⚖️ Compare
- My last job was easier than this job.
- My pay is better now, but I work longer hours.
- I was at LM Computers for only one year.
😀 A new job you love
A: How's your new job?
B: I love it! I'm so happy I got it. The pay's higher than my last job, and my boss is really nice.
😖 A last job you didn't like
A: How was it there?
B: It was terrible. The pay was low, and my boss was horrible. Business was really bad. I'm much happier now!
👍 Good Job Or Bad Job?
The guests talk about their jobs. Is it a good point or a bad point? 8 comments.
🎤 The Career Day Interview
You are Ines. Interview the next guest, Mrs. Amel, about her jobs — choose the right question!
Listen And Repeat!
Click 🔊 Listen to hear the phrase, 🐢 Slowly to hear it slower, then 🎙️ My turn and say it out loud into your microphone!
✍️ Practice Time!
Exercise 1 — True Or False?
Exercise 2 — Complete The Dialogue
Fill in the missing word in each line of the conversation.
🎭 Create & Record: My Career Day Interview
Interview a parent, a grandparent or a neighbor about their jobs, then write the interview. Ask about their job now and their jobs before, how long they were there, and what the job was like. Use was / were, before that / after that and one comparison.
🎙️ Now, Record It!
Read the interview out loud with the person you interviewed — like a real reporter! Then listen back.
🎯 Final Quiz — Jobs In The Past
Answer 7 questions to test everything you learned in this lesson!