ESL WORKSHEET - The subject of stress 1

LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

THE STRESS TIMEBOMB - PART 1

LinguaHouse

May 29, 2025

Level: Intermediate (B1-B2)
Type of language: Business English
Tags: Business People; Business Ethics; Health and Well-Being; Companies and Jobs; People and Places; Human Resources (HR); Small Business; Article Based; 16-18 Years Old; 18+ Years Old
Publication date: 05/29/2025

This lesson looks at the subject of stress and what can be done about it. Students will read an article about stress at work and listen to three people talk about what they do to combat stress. Exercises focus on related vocabulary, reading and listening skills and offer the students an opportunity to discuss questions on the topic. (by Joe Wilson)

• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio in British English.

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

Speaker 1: I’ve gotten good at predicting how long my tasks will take. So I plan my work for each day and try to be sensible about how long it will really take. I get stressed when I have more to do than I can accomplish, so this really helps. If I find myself with more to do than is possible, I talk to my manager. She’s really good about either giving a job to someone else or giving me more time. Because she trusts me to do what I say I will do, she believes me when I say I can’t. I also take some time at lunch to either go for a run or read somewhere quietly. My brain needs time to relax. I also have a routine before bed where I just listen to quiet music and take a shower or a bath. No phones, no computers. A good night’s sleep is essential.
Speaker 2: It might sound strange, but I play computer games. It feels like you’re in a different world and gives my brain a break. If I’m stressed and angry from work, I can kill people and break things in the game, and it makes me feel better. Driving a car really fast works too and I don’t have to worry about accidents. I find that when I’ve had a couple of hours of playing, I feel different about my work, much calmer. I used to drink a lot of coffee, but I don’t do that now because it makes my stress worse. I have one in the morning and that’s it. On weekends, I like to go for a long walk with my girlfriend and we leave our phones at home. I think looking at screens a lot is a problem for me and it’s good to have a break for a few hours.
Speaker 3: I do yoga which helps me a lot. It’s the first thing I do each day before I look at my phone or turn on my computer and I find it really calms me. I also listen to quiet music while I work. I only drink coffee on the weekend. I miss it in the week, but I find my energy doesn’t go up and down so much. I usually sleep well at night, but if I need to, I will find time for a short nap after lunch. This is so helpful and I find things that I was worried about aren’t such a problem. Or I wake up with an idea about what to do. These are all useful tips, but really stress is a sign that there’s something wrong with how the company is managed. I used to work for an Internet company that pushed people to work all hours. No one was happy and everyone was tired and stressed. Yoga and naps can’t fix that. So I had to leave.

Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/business-english/the-stress-timebomb-part-1. Accessed on June 2, 2025. LinguaHouse.com © 2008–2025. All rights reserved.