It’s all in the contract

Richard | Aug 03, 2026Aug 03, 2026

LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this ESL lesson on employment contracts are to:

• talk about job contracts and conditions;
• practise key vocabulary for discussing job terms;
• watch a short video and role-play an employment negotiation.

In this lesson, students discuss what we can find in an employment contract, read about professional dilemmas and review language for work arrangements (e.g. a fixed-term contract, internship, zero-hours contract). They talk about what they would do in various situations, debate the pros and cons of different workplace contracts and work with useful vocabulary (e.g. severance package, probationary period, termination clause). Students discuss contrasting employment scenarios, watch a video about a role negotiation and work in pairs, role-playing a job offer negotiation.

WARM-UP AND VOCABULARY

This ESL lesson on employment contracts starts with a warm-up. Students name pieces of information that are typically included in a contract. They then read short texts with work and employment dilemmas and match expressions (e.g. a fixed-term contract, apprenticeship, a zero-hours contract) with their definitions. Moving on, students review the situations from the previous exercise and say what they would do in each situation and why. Afterwards, they replace parts of sentences with the vocabulary from the previous task. Then, students complete them (e.g. three examples of a breach of contract are…) with their own ideas. Following that, they discuss questions about the pros, cons and ethics of different employment arrangements.

MORE VOCABULARY AND ROLE-PLAY

In this part of this ESL lesson on employment contracts, students complete the gaps in pairs of sentences to create phrases related to terms and conditions in job contracts (e.g. severance package, overtime provision, probationary period). Afterwards, they choose the correct words in statements involving contract terms and clauses. Next, students examine pairs of situations connected with job conditions (e.g. a six-month internship at a famous company OR a permanent contract with a smaller company). They choose the option they would prefer and say why. Moving on, students watch a short video with a job interview and discuss questions about negotiating the terms of an employment contract. After that, they work in pairs. Each student gets a card with a role (e.g. a job applicant, an HR specialist). They read their roles and then role-play an employment contract negotiation. Then, students swap roles.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This ESL lesson on employment contracts also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students add the missing letters to create the words from the lesson in questions about employment terms. They then answer the questions. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.

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