Living and working abroad would be really easy if everyone spoke the same way and behaved in the same way. But, as soon as you leave your own culture it quickly becomes clear that things are not the same. There are small and large differences between cultures. And how well you are able to deal with these differences will affect how good your experience will be working overseas.
Video: https://youtu.be/zEkKTY5h5O8
- What do you think the speaker meant when he talked about one’s career ‘shooting off’?
- The speaker talked about a ‘geographic comfort zone’. Do you believe you are in a geographic comfort zone?
- Do you agree with the speaker that the best way to compete and succeed in today’s economy is to move to other countries?
Vocabulary
- First impressions – the original feeling or thoughts you have about something
- Foreign culture – a culture that is different to your own
- Gap year – a year that some young people take after school and before university
- Comfort zone – a situation where one feels safe or at ease.
- Misunderstanding – a failure to understand something correctly
- Stereotype – a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing
- Custom – a traditional and widely accepted way of behaving or doing something that is specific to a particular society, place, or time
Conversation Questions
- Have you ever worked in another country?
- If yes, what was your experience like? What challenges did you face?
- If you could choose, where would you like to work abroad? Why?
- What factors do you think people need to consider when choosing a country to work in?
- What are the main reasons people work abroad?