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ielts.magoosh.com
IELTS Listening
IELTS Listening deals with a variety of subjects. But IELTS listening topics all have one
thing in common: they involve conversational English vocabulary.
In fact, most IELTS listening audio tracks
are
conversations. But even IELTS Listening
speeches have
some conversational
language; they’re spoken as if they’re being given
to a live audience.
Perhaps the most common topics in IELTS Listening are work, travel, family, and school
life. Below is some common vocabulary within these topics.
Work
Work is a common topic in IELTS listening. Here are a few useful
work-related
vocabulary words:
career
“Career” is a more board term than “occupation.” It refers to the category of work
someone does, and suggests a long-term commitment. To help you understand
the difference between occupation and career, I will tell you about my career and
the occupations I
’ve had in it. I have a career as an educator.
My current
occupation in this career is a Test Expert position here at Magoosh. As a part-
time occupation, I am also a language tutor. And earlier
in my education career, I
was occupied (the verb form of occupation) as a middle school teacher, and then
as a university professor.
shift work
“Shift work” refers to work that is scheduled with a specific
beginning and ending
time. A shift at a workplace often lasts 8 hours, but can be shorter. Shift work is
usually paid on an hourly basis.
salary work
Salary work may have an expected schedule, a shift where
the worker will
normally be at work. But the schedule and hours per day for salary work are not
as strictly controlled. A salary worker may have to work
much longer hours than
usual on a given day, or come in on the weekends. Sometimes, however, a
salary worker’s situation is the opposite. A salary worker may also work shorter
hours and have more freedom to leave the workplace during their normally
scheduled shi
fts. Salary workers aren’t paid by the hour
and instead receive a
fixed rate of pay per week or month.
