Vocation hay Job hay Work là những chủ đề rất quen thuộc đối với cuộc sống hàng ngày của chúng ta nói chung và trong các bài thi IELTS Speaking Part 2 nói riêng. Hôm nay, chúng tôi sẽ đem đến cho các bạn những kiến thức cơ bản và cần thiết liên quan đến chủ đề này để bạn có thể tự tin bước vào phòng thi nhé!

1. Từ vựng về Vocation

To be called for an interview: to be invited to attend an interview

Run your own business/be self-employed: to have your own business

A nine-to-five job: a normal job that consists of an 8 hour a day

To be stuck behind a desk: to be unhappy in office job

One of the perks of the job: an extra benefit you get from a job

Job satisfaction: the feeling of enjoying a job

Manual work: work that requires physical activities

Temporary work: work done for a limited time only

Voluntary work: to work without pay

To be well paid: to earn a good salary

Working conditions: the hours, salary and other entitlements that comes with the job

To meet a deadline: to finish a job on time

To take early retirement: to retire early

A heavy workload: to have a lot of work to do

Shift work: a system in which different groups of workers work somewhere at different times of the day and night 

Tempting offer (cám dỗ)

Land a new job: get a new (and usually a good) job

Lay off staff: dismiss staff because there is no work for them to do

Volume of work: workload

Move up the ladder: being promoted

Get the sack: be dismissed (từ này nên dùng trong speaking hơn vì informal)

A retirement package: chế độ hưu trí, tiền và các quyền lợi khác được nhận từ công ty sau khi nghỉ hưu

Holiday entitlement: the number of days off work that you are allowed as holidays (số ngày nghỉ phép)

Sick leave: permission to stay away from work because of illness or injury

Annual leave: a period of time when you are allowed to be away from work for a holiday/vacation

Promotion opportunities: cơ hội thăng tiến

To move up the career ladder:  a series of stages by which you can make progress in your career

To pursue a successful career:  to have a series of jobs in a particular area of work, with more

2. Cue card và bài mẫu thường gặp về Vocation

Describe a person whose job is important to society. You should say:

- who this person is

- what his/her profession is

- how he/she helps others

- and explain why the job this person does is important to society.

Answer 1

This is such an important topic to ponder over every once in a while. So, I would be more than happy today to talk about a person (and his job) who I think has a far greater impact on our society than any other person or professional.

Anyway, the person, I want to talk about, is a policeman and also a cousin of mine, who has been working in the police force for more than 5 years. Now, I don’t really want to put my police cousin in any negative light, but initially, I didn’t really like him to work in the police force because I thought that it would complicate his relationship with his family and friends by essentially turning himself into an “unsocial” fellow.

After all, as a policeman, he would almost always need to deal with all kinds of “bad” elements of our society. But, as time went on, and I found how hard and tirelessly he works in order to keep the good citizens of our country safe and secured from dangerous and criminal activities, I had no other choice but to change my mind about the job of a police officer.

Of course, some would argue that in a first-world country, like ours, police has a rather limited role to play since we all more or less are law-abiding citizens, but that may not necessarily be true always. In fact, after seeing my good cousin how he helps the elderly walk out of a grocery store and find her car in a parking lot, and helping a little, lost kid to find his parents in a stadium, I know that a police officer does a lot more than just keeping the bad elements of society at bay.

Anyway, I think, the job my cousin does is important to society because it is the dedication and hard works of police personnel, like my cousin, that we have managed to thrive and peacefully coexist in a beautiful country like ours. Besides, it is usually the police people who always extend their helping hands whenever we are in any kind of danger or distress.

Answer 2

Every honest job is noble in my opinion if it somehow helps others. While police officers risk their lives to protect the people and ensure the law and order, lawyers defend the innocents or prove a criminal guilty. Likewise, politicians devote their time and life for the greater good of the country, doctors heal our illness, scientists and researchers put our civilisation one step forward and this list goes on and on. However, for this cue card topic, I would like to talk about a person who is a teacher and in my opinion, her job is quite important to society as well as to the country.

The name of this teacher is Mary Margaret and she is an English teacher in a high school located in our area. She is in fact, a much-revered teacher among her students and colleagues and I like the invaluable contribution she has for teaching in an excellent way. Besides, she is an honest person with many other excellent qualities that make her an exemplary person in our society.  

Teaching, in my opinion, is a very noble profession and makes society a better place by eradicating our ignorance and by creating an enlightened generation. This profoundly important job is done by teachers who are doing a really great job for all of us. In this present era, formal educational institutes help us to enhance our knowledge and prepare us for the future. Creating an illuminated society is the main purpose of the education and teachers are helping us to acquire the wisdom and knowledge we need to lead a better life. This is why I personally think that a teacher's job is one of the most important jobs in our society.  

Speaking of Mary Margaret, I was one of her favourite students and her teaching style was quite unique. Her excellent teaching style helped me learn many grammatical rules and use English more fluently. As a teacher, she was quite devoted and punctual. She must be very proud that some of her students are in important positions nationwide and some of them still visit her.

Hẹn gặp lại các bạn ở những bài học tiếp theo!