📕 Part 1: Work

What was your dream job when you were young?

Well, like many kids, I think one of my childhood dreams was to be a vet. I loved the idea of working with animals and helping them get better, whether they were wild or domesticated.

Have you changed your mind?

Well, I'm a teacher now. So that's a radically different field to veterinary medicine. Obviously, life took me down a different path. But I don't regret it.

When did you make the decision about your job?

Well, strangely enough, it was after university. I was just messing around doing different casual jobs until a friend suggested I might be good at teaching. I've never looked back since.

How many jobs have you had?

Wow, quite a few, at least five or six, I think. I've been a barman, a creative assistant, which I'm not entirely sure was as interesting as it sounds, and a waiter, among other things.

What would you like to be in the future?

I'm pretty happy with the job I have now, but if I get bored of it, I quite fancy working in some small administrative role, to be honest. That's not a very high-flying position, but it would pay the bills, and there would doubtless be less drama.

Right, dear listener. The dream job. So when you were a child, what did you want to be? What would you like to be in the future? We mean the profession. What kind of job would you like to have in the future? So, what did you want to be? In the past, I wanted to be a doctor. What would you like to be in the future? I'd like to be a dentist.

Is that anyone's dream job?

No, dentists are highly paid. Yeah, they're always in demand.

Yeah, but when you're a child, you don't think about money, money, money. You think about what will be fun and cool.

I don't know, there are children who are very practical, they already know what's going on, like maybe a businessman. Okay. I wanted to be a businessman as a child.

Did you?

No. Let's Google jobs of the future. So, for example, in 2030, dear listener, jobs which will be in demand. Of course, AI specialist. Okay? So, for example, to answer the question, what would you like to be in the future, you can lie and say, oh, I would like to be into cyber security. I'd like to be a cyber security expert. So, this expert deals with cyber security. Internet security, digital security, you work with cyber attacks, online fraud and stuff.

Oh, wow, that sounds very dramatic.

Big data specialist, data analysts, delivery drivers. There we go, dear listener, okay? We will need delivery drivers.

However, regardless of what job we are talking about, if we asked about the dream job when we were young, we want to talk about childhood dreams.

Right.

And then regardless of whatever job we pick, we could also say I love the idea of working in this field, working with people in this field. So there's still vocabulary that can be used for talking about this in general.

Yeah, dear listener, and you can pick maybe two professions. Oh, I wanted to be a firefighter or a designer. Pick something interesting, if you don't say a doctor, say general practitioner, or pharmacist, so say something interesting, dear listener. Or a software developer, all right? You can Google professions.

A spy.

A spy. Oh, yeah, I wanted to be a spy. So, Google professions and choose three interesting words that you can remember. Okay? And off you go. An actor, dear listener, maybe you wanted to be an actor? Or a writer? Or an astronaut. This is your words. You wanted to go into space. So I wanted to be an astronaut. And you can say that my childhood dream was to be an astronaut. I loved the idea of going into space. Or I loved the idea of doing something. Then I've changed my mind, or I haven't changed my mind. I became an astronaut. And then the examiner looks at you like, really? Wow. And dear listener, you can lie. You can say that you are an astronaut.

Maybe you recognize me.

Exactly. Yeah. Have you seen me on TV? No?

That's because I was in space.

Or, for example, you've changed your mind and now you are a doctor. That's a radically different field to what I wanted to become when I was a child. Something that is radically different is very different. And field, like profession, career. Life took me down a different path. So you wanted to become an astronaut, and you became an IT person, an IT expert. Life took me down a different path. I made the decision about my job when I was at school, when I was at university. Or maybe my parents made the decision about my job. After university, after school, I messed around doing different casual jobs. Usually a waiter,

a bar person.

what, driver. A bar person. But if you decided not to do that, and you went directly to your dream job, then you could say I didn't mess around or I'm not planning to mess around. I'm not doing any casual jobs. I'm just going to do this one. A casual job is something in between. Yeah, so you're choosing what to do. And okay, so you work as a bartender for a year, you work as a driver for six months. So I've done some casual jobs, or I messed around doing different casual jobs. And you use the present perfect, you say, I've been a barman, I've been an assistant, I've been an editor, I've been a driver, I've been a waiter. Or you can lie, dear listener, just if you've done only one or two jobs, fine, just to use different vocabulary for jobs. Just say, Oh, yeah, I've done quite a lot of jobs. I've been this and this and this. And then go to the list on Google, choose four or five words that you can remember.

What if it's a very young person, like they're 16 or 17 years old, and they're taking IELTS and they get asked, how many jobs have you had?

I haven't worked in my life. And you say I haven't worked.

I am a minor. I cannot work. It is illegal for me to work in my country.

Right, it's illegal for me to work, but I'd love to. You see? So you just talk about the future, but I'd love to work as a... and as a... I'd love to do some casual jobs before I decide what to do. I'm pretty happy with the job I have now. With the job, dear listener, it's not work, not with work, but I'm happy with the job or with my career now. If I get bored of my job, I'd become a dentist. Or I quite fancy becoming a dentist. So I would love to become a dentist, or I fancy working as a dentist. I like, I enjoy. And if you want to be just a regular manager, not a director, not a leader, you can say, Well, I would not prefer a high-flying position. A high-flying position is something like a leader, a director, head of the department. But if you do want to be a leader, you can say I'd love to have a high-flying position. A career that is super successful. Or I would not love to have a high-flying position, something with less drama would do.

Maybe something with more drama. I'd love a high-flying job. I love the drama and the passion.

Or I'd love a job that would pay the bills. So pretty much just a simple job that would give me enough money to cover my bills. Bills for the house, water, gas, and stuff. Yay. And now, dear listener, Rory, we're ready for the joke. Joke time. Maria's joke.

Oh, is it a joke about dream job?

Yes.

Is that going to be the punchline?

Yeah, Rory, you just keep silent. Okay, please? Will you?

Okay.

I'd love to get paid to sleep. That would be my dream job.

Oh, what a... I was so right.

So, dear listener.

Your dream job is a job you really want, but if you're asleep, you dream. So you have a job in your dreams.

There is a job, there is a profession. Not a profession, but a job. A professional sleeper is someone who sleeps in different environments to test sleep products. Or they participate in medical, scientific research. So, for example, Rory, you are a professional sleeper, you go somewhere, you start sleeping, and they kind of put something on your head, or they drug you, and then they test your brain or they do some research. So such people who get paid for their sleep are called professional sleepers. And dream, when you sleep, you see dreams, dear listener. That's why I'd love to get paid to sleep. That would be my dream job. You can actually crack this joke if you get this topic about dream jobs, or just jobs. Ha ha ha ha ha.

If you want to get a band minus five.

Bye.

Bye.