ESL WORKSHEET - Workaholism

LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

WORKAHOLICS ANONYMOUS

LinguaHouse

Mar. 24, 2026

Level: Intermediate (B1-B2)
Type of language: Business English
Tags: Declaring and Diagnosing a Problem; Behavior, Feelings and Emotions; Problems at Work; Business People; Ethics and Conduct; Health and Well-being; Psychology; Challenges; Work; Article Based; Speaking; 16-18 Years Old; 18+ Years Old
Publication date: 03/24/2026

This lesson looks at the issue of workaholism. Students will listen to an interview with someone who suffered from the problem and read an article about steps to take to battle the issue. Exercises focus on related vocabulary, reading and listening skills and offers students the 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

Host (male): What’s the difference between working hard and being a workaholic? Today, we’re talking about just that. With us today, we have Frances who used to have problems with workaholism and now helps others. Frances - thank you for joining us!
Frances: You’re welcome. I’m grateful to be here.
Host: So first, let’s get a little of your story. When was the moment that you realized that you were a workaholic?
Frances: I find this a little hard to talk about because it’s so emotional for me. I used to take my son to soccer games on a Saturday morning. One day, after he’d finished, he said to me ‘What did you think of the game?’ And I just said, ‘Oh, it was great! You did really well.’ Then he said, ‘What was your favorite part?’ which caught me off guard. I wasn’t quite sure how to answer. I said something about how I liked all of it. It turned out that he’d actually scored for his team and I’d missed it entirely. He told me that there was no point in me coming to watch him because I was always on my phone. My first response was to get irritated and pull rank on him. I said he needed to understand that parents were sometimes busy and couldn’t watch everything that their children do all the time. But of course, I realized that he was absolutely right. I used his games to catch up on emails and I hardly ever watched what was happening. He wanted his Mom to watch him, but all he saw was my face in my phone. I was so ashamed and that was when I knew it was time to do something.
Host: What steps did you take to address it?
Frances: I decided that when I was with my family, I wouldn’t work. This was a step in the right direction, but wasn’t really the answer. I did make progress in that when I was with them, I didn’t work. But it created a conflict between my work - which was what I wanted to do, and my family - which I felt was my duty. Slowly, the hours I was spending in the office started to increase and I started to get up really early at weekends to work before they were all up. In my mind, this was OK, because I wasn’t stealing time from them. But although I was with them in body, I wasn’t there mentally.
Host: What did you do that really made a difference?
Frances: I had to get help, which was hard. I saw myself as someone who solved problems, not as someone who needed others. I went to a therapist which did a lot of good in helping me work out why I was like that, but it was through her that I started going to a support group for others like me. Hearing their stories made me realize that I wasn’t alone.
Host: Did you have to make changes at work?
Frances: I did. Part of the problem was that I was trying to do far too much myself. I was a manager and I was taking responsibility for far more than I needed to. When I talked honestly to my team, I found out that my behavior was not helping to motivate them. Any work they did, I’d always look at it and change things myself, which made them feel as though nothing they did was good enough and it massively increased my workload. I learned to delegate and trust them more to deliver the final result. I’d say it took about a year to get to the point where I was only doing my job and not several other people’s too.
Host: What do you think was the cause of your workaholism?
Frances: I came to realize that just as I was making my team feel like they weren’t good enough, I didn’t feel as though I was good enough. I was trying to prove myself all the time. I wanted everyone around me to think I was the best at what I did, but the truth was, I was a failure at everything. I wasn’t a good manager, and I wasn’t a good parent or partner to my husband. These days, I leave work by 5:30 at the latest and make sure I take a break at lunch to just chat with colleagues or read a book. I’m so much happier with myself.

Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/business-english/workaholics-anonymous. Accessed on March 25, 2026. LinguaHouse.com © 2008–2026. All rights reserved.