Unit 7: The Titanic
Past simple and past continuous
Select a unit
- 1 Nice to meet you!
- 2 What to wear
- 3 Like this, like that
- 4 The daily grind
- 5 Christmas every day
- 6 Great achievers
- 7 The Titanic
- 8 Travel
- 9 The big wedding
- 10 Sunny's job hunt
- 11 The bucket list
- 12 Moving and migration
- 13 Welcome to BBC Broadcasting House
- 14 New Year, New Project
- 15 From Handel to Hendrix
- 16 What's the weather like?
- 17 The Digital Revolution
- 18 A detective story
- 19 A place to live
- 20 The Cult of Celebrity
- 21 Welcome to your new job
- 22 Beyond the planets
- 23 Great expectations!
- 24 Eco-tourism
- 25 Moving house
- 26 It must be love
- 27 Job hunting success... and failure
- 28 Speeding into the future
- 29 Lost arts
- 30 Tales of survival
Session 4
"What were you doing when...?" is a question people often ask when sharing memories about important events such as natural disasters, the death of someone famous, or big sporting events. For older people in the USA, a classic example is "What were you doing when JFK was shot?"
Activity 2
News Report: The happiest job in the world?
Happy and sad jobs
Does your job make you happy? Which jobs do you think make people happiest and unhappiest? You might be surprised by the answer.
In this episode of News Report, you'll hear about some interesting research into happiness at work and meet a man who's done the job that makes people happiest - and the job that makes people least satisfied.
Listen to the audio
Which would make you happier? Working in a pub, or at the pulpit?
In early 2014, BBC news reported on research about the connection between jobs and levels of life satisfaction. It found pub workers are unhappiest and members of the clergy are most satisfied.
But is this true in real life?
Paul Mundy was working in a pub when he decided to become a vicar. He says the two roles are very different, but he actually enjoys both. And there are similarities: both are quite stressful and let you see people at the "best and worst of times".
He says: "If you've got people coming through the door and the till's ringing, you're the happiest publican in the world.
"And if you're standing in the pulpit and you've got lots of bottoms on seats, you're the happiest vicar in the world as well."
Download
You can download News Report on our Unit 7 Downloads page.
Vocabulary
pulpit
high place in a church where the priest speaks
research
a detailed study of a subject
satisfaction
feeling of being happy when you do or receive something you wanted
clergy
priests or other religious leaders, especially in the Christian Church
vicar
priest in Church of England who is in charge of a church
roles
jobs
actually
used in sentences to show surprise
similarities
things that are similar or the same
stressful
describes an activity that makes people feel worried or nervous
till
a container with a drawer in a shop where the money goes after a customer pays
publican
manager of a pub
bottoms on seats
people watching a performance (the bottom is the part of the body you sit on)
Related story
This story is based on an original BBC News story.
End of Session 4
We hope you enjoyed this session about major events and what you were doing when they happened. In Session 5, we will catch up with Phil's 80-day trip around the world in The Race. You'll also be able to test yourself on everything you've learned in this unit about past simple and continuous.
Session Vocabulary
pulpit
high place in a church where the priest speaksresearch
a detailed study of a subjectsatisfaction
feeling of being happy when you do or receive something you wantedclergy
priests or other religious leaders, especially in the Christian Churchvicar
priest in Church of England who is in charge of a churchroles
jobsactually
used in sentences to show surprisesimilarities
things that are similar or the samestressful
describes an activity that makes people feel worried or nervoustill
a container with a drawer in a shop where the money goes after a customer payspublican
manager of a pubbottoms on seats
people watching a performance (the bottom is the part of the body you sit on)