Researchers work out Santa Claus' salary
Researchers work out Santa Claus' salary
People have wondered for years what
Santa does and how he does it for free. Researchers have now come up with an
answer to these age-old questions. The insurance company insure.com has
calculated a hypothetical figure of $139,924 for Santa's efforts this year.
This is a 1.5 per cent increase on last year, which is in keeping with
austerity measures suffered by most people around the world. The figure is
roughly twice the amount that caregivers in the USA would receive. Researchers
at insure.com created a list of the various jobs Santa performs throughout the
year to create a job description. They then estimated the total time spent on
each task to get the final figure for Santa's annual salary.
The researchers discovered that Santa
is indeed a multi-skilled worker, who pretty much has to be a jack of all
trades. Among his skills are reindeer handling, gift wrapping, chimney expert
and map reader. The vast majority of his salary, however, comes from managing
his toy factory. It is estimated the bearded one spends 2,912 hours a year
organizing his elves and making sure toys for the world's children are of the
right quality. He gets the standard $40.09 an hour for this. His highest hourly
rate is for the ten hours he spends being a sleigh pilot and delivering presents.
Comparisons were made with airline pilots and researchers reckoned a sleigh
pilot would earn $62.31 an hour.
3. MULTI-SKILLED: What
skills and talents do these people have? How good are they at their job?
Complete this table .
|
|
Skills |
How good
are they? |
|
Santa
Claus |
|
|
|
US
President |
|
|
|
Boss of
Apple |
|
|
|
A
mother |
|
|
|
A
soldier |
|
|
|
An
astronaut |
|
|
4. KIDS: Students
A strongly believe it's wrong to tell kids that Santa exists;
Students B strongly believe it's OK to tell kids that Santa
exists.
BEFORE READING / LISTENING
1. TRUE / FALSE: Read
the headline. Guess if a-h below are true (T) or false (F).
|
a. |
People
never question why or how Santa works for free. |
T / F |
|
b. |
An
employment agency calculated a possible salary Santa might get. |
T / F |
|
c. |
Santa's
imaginary salary was 1.5% higher this year than last. |
T / F |
|
d. |
A
website asked Santa for his job description. |
T / F |
|
e. |
The
article says Santa is limited in the number of skills he has. |
T / F |
|
f. |
Most of
Santa's time is spent looking after the toy factory. |
T / F |
|
g. |
Santa
gets just over $40 an hour for looking after the toy factory. |
T / F |
|
h. |
Santa
gets slightly over $60 an hour for piloting his sleigh. |
T / F |
2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match
the following synonyms from the article.
|
1. |
wondered |
a. |
talents |
|
2. |
come up
with |
b. |
correct |
|
3. |
hypothetical |
c. |
thought
of |
|
4. |
roughly |
d. |
get |
|
5. |
task |
e. |
thought
about |
|
6. |
skills |
f. |
gifts |
|
7. |
expert |
g. |
job |
|
8. |
right |
h. |
theoretical |
|
9. |
presents |
i. |
specialist |
|
10. |
earn |
j. |
about |
3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes
more than one choice is possible.)
|
1. |
People
have wondered for years |
a. |
measures |
|
2. |
come up
with an answer to these |
b. |
figure |
|
3. |
calculated
a hypothetical |
c. |
majority
of his salary |
|
4. |
austerity |
d. |
age-old
questions |
|
5. |
the
total time spent |
e. |
of all
trades |
|
6. |
Santa
is indeed a multi- |
f. |
rate |
|
7. |
be a
jack |
g. |
what
Santa does |
|
8. |
The
vast |
h. |
pilot |
|
9. |
hourly |
i. |
on each
task |
|
10. |
sleigh |
j. |
skilled
worker |
GAP FILL
|
People
have (1) ____________ for years what Santa does and how he does it for free.
Researchers have now come up with an (2) ____________ to these age-old
questions. The insurance company insure.com has calculated a hypothetical (3)
____________ of $139,924 for Santa's efforts this year. This is a 1.5 per
cent increase on last year, which is in keeping with austerity (4)
____________ suffered by most people around the world. The figure is roughly
(5) ____________ the amount that caregivers in the USA would receive.
Researchers at insure.com created a list of the (6) ____________ jobs Santa
performs throughout the year to create a job (7) ____________. They then
estimated the total time spent on each task to get the (8) ____________
figure for Santa's annual salary. |
|
figure |
|
The
researchers discovered that Santa is (9) ____________ a multi-skilled worker,
who pretty much has to be a jack of all trades. Among his skills are reindeer
handling, gift (10) ____________, chimney expert and map reader. The vast
(11) ____________ of his salary, however, comes from managing his toy
factory. It is estimated the (12) ____________ one spends 2,912 hours a year
organizing his elves and making sure toys for the world's children are of the
right (13) ____________. He gets the standard $40.09 an hour for this. His
highest (14) ____________ rate is for the ten hours he spends being a sleigh
(15) ____________ and delivering presents. Comparisons were made with airline
pilots and researchers (16) ____________ a sleigh pilot would earn $62.31 an hour. |
|
wrapping |
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
|
1. |
What
have people wondered for years? |
|
2. |
What kind
of company calculated Santa's salary? |
|
3. |
How
much higher is Santa's salary for 2014 than it was in 2013? |
|
4. |
How
much more might Santa earn than a caregiver in the USA? |
|
5. |
What
did researchers create a list of? |
|
6. |
What
kind of worker did researchers say Santa was? |
|
7. |
What
task brings Santa the most income? |
|
8. |
How
many hours a year does he spend organizing elves? |
|
9. |
What
does Santa get paid $40.09 an hour for doing? |
|
10. |
Who
gets $62.31 an hour besides Santa? |
ROLE PLAY
|
Role
A – Reindeer handling You
think reindeer handling is the best of Santa's jobs. Tell the others three
reasons why. Tell them why their jobs aren't so good. Also, tell the others
which is the least interesting of these (and why):. |
|
Role
B – Gift wrapping You
think gift wrapping is the best of Santa's jobs. Tell the others three
reasons why. Tell them why their jobs aren't so good. Also, tell the others
which is the least interesting of these (and why). |
|
Role
C – Piloting a Sleigh You
think piloting a sleigh is the best of Santa's jobs. Tell the others three
reasons why. Tell them why their jobs aren't so good. Also, tell the others
which is the least interesting of these (and why) |
|
Role
D – Talking to Kids You
think talking to kids is the best of Santa's jobs. Tell the others three
reasons why. Tell them why their jobs aren't so good. Also, tell the others
which is the least interesting of these (and why) Role E
- Cookie Tasting You
think Cookie tasting is the best of Santa's jobs. Tell the others three
reasons why. Tell them why their jobs aren't so good. Also, tell the others
which is the least interesting of these (and why) Role F –
List Making You
think List Making is the best of Santa's jobs. Tell the others three reasons
why. Tell them why their jobs aren't so good. Also, tell the others which is
the least interesting of these (and why) |
SANTA CLAUS DISCUSSION
|
4) |
Does
$140,000 sound a good salary for what Santa does? |
|
5) |
What do
you think Santa does every day? |
|
6) |
When
should parents tell kids the truth about Santa? |
|
7) |
Is a
1.5% pay rise good? |
|
8) |
What do
you think of austerity measures? |
|
9) |
What do
you think Santa's job description is like? |
|
10) |
Should
Santa get paid or should he do what he does for free? |
|
12) |
How
multi-skilled are you? |
|
13) |
What
would it be like to be a jack of all trades? |
|
14) |
How do
you think you would do at Santa's jobs? |
|
15) |
What do
you think is the best part of Santa's job? |
|
16) |
What
problem might Santa have with his elves in the factory? |
|
17) |
What do
you know about the origins of Santa? |
|
18) |
What do
you think is the hardest part of Santa's job? |
|
19) |
What do
you think Santa thinks of Christmas? |
|
20) |
What
questions would you like to ask Santa Claus? |
LANGUAGE - CLOZE
People have (1) ____ for years what
Santa does and how he does it for free. Researchers have now come up with an
answer to these (2) ____-old questions. The insurance company insure.com has
calculated a (3) ____ figure of $139,924 for Santa's efforts this year. This is
a 1.5 per cent increase on last year, which is in keeping with austerity
measures (4) ____ by most people around the world. The figure is roughly twice
the amount that caregivers in the USA would receive. Researchers at insure.com
created a (5) ____ of the various jobs Santa performs throughout the year to
create a job description. They then estimated the total time spent on each task
to get the (6) ____ figure for Santa's annual salary.
The researchers discovered that Santa
is (7) ____ a multi-skilled worker, who pretty much has to be a jack of all
trades. Among his skills are reindeer handling, gift wrapping, chimney expert
and map (8) ____. The vast majority of his salary, however, comes from managing
his toy factory. It is estimated the (9) ____ one spends 2,912 hours a year
organizing his elves and making sure toys for the world's children are (10)
____ the right quality. He gets the standard $40.09 an hour for this. His
highest hourly rate is for the ten hours he spends (11) ____ a sleigh pilot and
delivering presents. Comparisons were made with airline pilots and researchers
(12) ____ a sleigh pilot would earn $62.31 an hour.
Put the correct words from the table
below in the above article.
|
1. |
(a) |
winded |
(b) |
wondered |
(c) |
wounded |
(d) |
wandered |
|
2. |
(a) |
how |
(b) |
age |
(c) |
era |
(d) |
ten |
|
3. |
(a) |
hypnotic |
(b) |
hypnosis |
(c) |
hypothesis |
(d) |
hypothetical |
|
4. |
(a) |
hurt |
(b) |
suffered |
(c) |
pained |
(d) |
stressed |
|
5. |
(a) |
last |
(b) |
list |
(c) |
lost |
(d) |
lest |
|
6. |
(a) |
finality |
(b) |
finally |
(c) |
final |
(d) |
finalise |
|
7. |
(a) |
so |
(b) |
that |
(c) |
indeed |
(d) |
very |
|
8. |
(a) |
listener |
(b) |
speaker |
(c) |
reader |
(d) |
writer |
|
9. |
(a) |
boarded |
(b) |
barbed |
(c) |
beaded |
(d) |
bearded |
|
10. |
(a) |
of |
(b) |
be |
(c) |
so |
(d) |
as |
|
11. |
(a) |
being |
(b) |
been |
(c) |
bringing |
(d) |
banging |
|
12. |
(a) |
adjusted |
(b) |
contrived |
(c) |
reckoned |
(d) |
promised |
SPELLING
|
Paragraph
1 |
|
|
1. |
People
have downdeer for years |
|
2. |
rcisaenun company |
|
3. |
calculated
a oclphhtieaty figure |
|
4. |
teirtuasy measures |
|
5. |
yroluhg twice the amount |
|
6. |
gouhturhot the year |
|
Paragraph
2 |
|
|
7. |
gift wppagirn |
|
8. |
chimney erxpet |
|
9. |
The
vast jmytiaro of his salary |
|
10. |
He gets
the dnadsatr $40.09 an hour |
|
11. |
a elhigs pilot |
|
12. |
dielvinegr presents |
Comments
Post a Comment