Character and personality questions
- How would you describe your personality?
- What qualities of character can help you to achieve your goals?
- What personality traits are necessary for the marketplace?
- Where can you find high-quality resources for self-improvement?
- How can you expand your mind and activate creativity?
- What is a good source of positive energy for you?
- What character traits do people need to work in these environments in the pic
Key video vocabulary
Totally look the part
I’m planning this great mixer
I’m thinking like a luau
Personality video exercises
Watch the video. Why was the man surprised?
Complete the gaps with suitable character traits
Elle is quite talkative
She is pretty __
She is kind of __
I am kind of __
I am really __
I can be __ sometimes.
I am pretty __ when I am __.
I get so __ when __.
I am much more __ these days.
I get quite __ these days than I used to be.
I am more __ now than I used to be.
Video discussion questions Character
- How would you describe Elle? What character traits does she have?
- What does Warner think of Elle? What personality does he think she has?
- Can you relate to Elle? Why?
- What effects your mood and personality?
Personality adjectives mindmap
So, on the left negative character traits and on the right positive ones 🙂
Character adjectives negative suffixes and prefixes examples
| hopeful | hopeless |
| alive | lifeless |
| careful | careless |
| powerful | powerless |
| helpful | helpless |
| thoughtful | thoughtless |
| active | inactive |
| capable | incapable |
| competent | incompetent |
| effective | ineffective |
| experienced | inexperienced |
| secure | insecure |
| humane | inhumane |
| patient | impatient |
| practical | impractical |
| polite | impolite |
| perfect | imperfect |
| moral | immoral |
| able | unable |
| happy | unhappy |
| kind | unkind |
| pleasant | unpleasant |
| tidy | untidy |
| reliable | unreliable |
| friendly | unfriendly |
| helpful | unhelpful |
| successful | unsuccessful |
| organized | disorganized |
| respectful | disrespectful |
| honest | dishonest |
| responsible | irresponsible |
- What job skills are necessary for the future job market?
- What professional goals do you set for yourself?
- What traits of character do you need to achieve your goals?
- What are your personal goals?
- What personality traits can a minimalist have?
- What qualities of character should an entrepreneur have to start their own business?
- What character traits do you have to show at a job interview?
- How can city lifestyle influence your personality?
- What personality traits impress people?
- Can clothes you wear effect your personality?
- Can your favorite kind of music tell much about your personality?
- What personality traits can a person who believes in superstitions have?
- What character and personality proverbs do you know?
- What traits of character help to make better decisions?
- Can movies you like tell something about your personality?
- What personality traits do people get when they age?
Family resemblance elementary
Job interview at Runway video exercise
Watch the video. What job does Andy want?
Watch again. Which phrases does Andy say and which are Miranda’s?
What are you doing here?
And before today, you have never heard of me?
You have no style or sense of fashion
I was editor-in-chief of the Daily Northwestern
I don’t fit in here
I’m smart, I learn fast and I will work very hard
Complete the gaps with suitable words:
Miranda Priestly is an ___ of Runway, a fashion magazine. Andy wants an __ job at Runway and she meets Miranda. Miranda learns that Andy has never ___ about her or her magazine Runway before. Also, she thinks that Andy has no style or ___ of fashion. Andy says that she doesn’t __ in here, but she will __.
Video discussion questions Runway interview
- What is Miranda’s opinion of Andy?
- Does Andy look confident? When?
- What personality does Andy have?
- What traits of character does Miranda have?
- Would you like to have such a boss as Miranda? Why? Why not?
- What kind of a journalist would you hire if you were an editor?
Do an interactive video exercise on Runway interview!
Runway job interview vocabulary exercise PDF
Can a person be discriminated at work due to race or cultural background? What would you do in this situation?
Additional listening and reading about character and personality
People at work idioms
Hi. I’m Rebecca from engVid. In today’s lesson you’ll have a chance to learn 10 expressions that are used to describe people at work. Now, these are quite commonly used expressions by native English speakers, so if you work in an English-speaking business environment then it’s quite likely that you will hear some of these expressions. Okay? Let’s get started. So, I’ve kind of divided them up for you. So, some of them are positive, some are negative, and some are neutral. What do I mean by that? It means: These people we are happy to meet, these people we are really not very happy to meet, and these people we just…Where it’s okay, we’re just using these expressions to describe them. Okay? We have no feelings, positive or negative. Okay.
A whiz kid
So let’s look at the people we are happy to meet. So, the first one is a “whiz kid”. What’s a whiz kid? A “whiz kid” is a term that we use to describe usually a young person who’s quite brilliant, very intelligent, very successful, very talented, and you know that he’s on a path to a lot of success. So, often we talk about like a computer whiz kid, a young person who’s got lots and lots of talent. You probably know people like that. Okay? So that’s a whiz kid. Next.
An eager beaver
Next one is called an “eager beaver”. An “eager beaver” is kind of a very hardworking, enthusiastic person. Maybe this person comes to work early and stays late, and they’re always smiling and they’re happy to do their work. That person is called an eager beaver. Now, I put that as a positive. Maybe some people don’t like them, but generally speaking, people like them. Okay.
An angel investor
The next one is an “angel investor”. What’s an angel investor? Well, if you have a startup company or a new company that you want to start, you would love to meet an angel investor because this “business angel”, as they’re also known as, is someone who’s usually rich and they’re like a sponsor and they put money into your business. They are ready to invest money into your ideas, into starting your company, and so on. So these are called “angel investors”. So if you want to start a business, you’re probably going to be very happy if you meet one of these people. Okay?
A smart aleck
Next, let’s move over here to the people that we’re usually not very happy to meet at work. The first one is called a “smart alec(k)”. Who’s a smart aleck? A “smart aleck” is somebody who thinks he or she knows everything. Have you ever met such a person? They are just so extra confident, and they tell you everything as if they know everything. And usually people aren’t very happy to meet those kind of people too much. Okay? And they called them “smart alecks”. Sometimes it’s written: “alec” and sometimes “aleck”, doesn’t matter. Usually we don’t write this word. We usually say it. Okay? “Oh, he’s a smart aleck. He thinks he knows everything.” Okay? That kind of thing.
A rotten apple
Next one: “rotten apple”. So, what’s a rotten apple? If you can imagine a bag of apples and in the middle there’s one that’s not good. “Rotten” means bad, spoiled. So what will happen to all the other apples around that bad apple? Well, after some time all of them will start to go bad a little faster. Right? So when we call someone a rotten apple we’re trying to suggest that this person has some rather unpopular, not very honest, is kind of dishonest, he’s bad, he’s corrupt, and he’s also influencing people around him, his colleagues or workers to think or act in the same way. So this person is usually quite a troublemaker as far as the organization is concerned. Okay? So that’s a rotten apple, a person who is kind of corrupt and has bad ideas, and is also influencing people around him or her in a negative way. Okay? You might know some people like that.
A faster talker
Okay, what’s a “faster talker”? Well, it’s not somebody who talks…Speaks very fast, no. When we say: “fast talker”, we mean somebody who is very good at convincing people and persuading people, but he’s not always…He or she is not always very honest or moral about it. He doesn’t really care…This person doesn’t really care if they’re selling you something which is not good, or which is actually bad. They don’t care. They may lie, they may present it as very good. They’re very good at that, but they’re not necessarily selling you something in your interest. It doesn’t have to be a salesperson, but often we refer to salespeople like that because sometimes they’re trying to sell us something which is not good, although many salespeople are selling us good things. Okay. So that’s a fast talker.
A head honcho
Now let’s come to some which are kind of neutral, they just describe different people. All right? The first one is: “head honcho”. So the word “head” gives you an idea. The head honcho is like the main guy at the top of the company, a top executive, the person in charge, and this person has a lot of authority, responsibility, and influence. Okay? “Head honcho”, that’s the name for that person. Okay.
A number cruncher
Next one, the “number cruncher”. Who’s a number cruncher? You probably have some people
like that in your company. You have to have, because “number crunchers” are people who work with numbers a lot, finance people. Right? They are number crunchers, and they’re…They don’t just work with numbers, they’re really good with numbers. They know how to analyze numbers and understand numbers, and not everybody does, but they do. So these guys are called
number crunchers. Okay.
A pen pusher
Another one here: “pen pusher”. Sometimes also known as a “pencil pusher”. So, this is just a regular employee, maybe a clerk who has a rather boring job just filling out forms, doing ordinary clerical administrative work. Not very interesting, but of course it’s necessary in organizations to have a lot of people who are pen pushers. So sometimes a pen pusher is also used to refer to someone who just has a boring job. Okay? All right.
A whistle blower
And the last one we have
here is: “whistle blower”. So, what’s a whistle blower? Well, I put it in the neutral column. Some people think whistle blowers are very good, and some people think whistle blowers are really bad. It depends who you are and who’s looking at the whistle blower, because a whistle blower is a person on the inside of a company who becomes aware, he starts to know that there is something illegal or improper or immoral or something wrong that the company is doing or that is going on within the company, and then that person informs the police or the authorities that such activity is going on inside the company. So, he blows the whistle on these activities. Okay? Just like a referee will stop a game if something is wrong. Okay? So that person is a whistle blower.
Revision
Now, I know we did a lot of them, but let’s see if you remember some of them. So, what’s a rotten apple? What’s a rotten apple? Is it something good? No, we know that. So this is someone who influences people around them in a bad way. Okay? If you have a business, if you have a new business, who would you be very happy to meet, especially if you need money to start your business, to launch your business? That would be an angel investor. Okay? Good. Now, if you need to understand some statements and analyze numbers, who are you going to go to in your company? Probably a number cruncher. Right, really good. Who’s that very smart, young person who just joined the company, he’s so brilliant, everybody’s talking about him, he’s so talented? That’s the whiz kid. Okay? Good. What about somebody who’s trying to sell you something and he doesn’t care if it’s actually true or not, and he’s really good at convincing people? Who’s that? That’s the fast talker. Okay? Who’s the person who informs the police that something improper is happening within the company? Who’s that? That’s a whistle blower. Which poor person has a really kind of boring job, filling out forms, doing very routine, clerical work? That is a pen pusher or a pencil pusher. What’s the name of the top guy in the company who has…? Or woman who has…? Sometimes in English when we say “guy” it actually refers to a man or woman. Okay? So men or women. Who’s the top person in a company that has a lot of authority and influence? This is the head honcho. Okay. So, now, the important thing is we’ve gone through it once. I…Maybe you’re taking notes. But what you can do is if you go to our website, http://www.engvid.com, you can do two things there. First you can do a quiz on this. Okay? So that will help you-right?-to practice and get a little bit better. And the second thing is that I have written for you a resource where all the meanings of these are given, and there are many, many more, there’s probably around 50 such terms that are used in business which you can download for free from our resource section. Okay? That way you can learn these and also practice a lot more expressions like that. Okay? Thanks for watching. Good luck with your English.
People at work and their character idioms
| a whiz kid |
| an eager beaver |
| an angel investor |
| a smart aleck |
| a rotten apple |
| a faster talker |
| a head honcho |
| a number cruncher |
| a pen pusher |
| a whistle blower |
Learn more work idioms about people at work and do exercises!
Find more English lessons on our website.
Language, culture and character listening
Listening and reading about personality adjectives Elementary
Describing personality Part 1. Listening
This week I started working in a new office. It’s very busy and lots of people work here. Eric works in my department. I like him because he is helpful and kind. Yesterday we went for lunch and he told me some funny stories. He’s so humorous. Sharon is my boss. I like her because she is outgoing and honest. It’s very easy to talk to her. Greg works in the finance department I don’t like him because he is selfish and argumentative. He got angry when I asked him for some help. Amy works in the marketing department she’s talkative so I like talking to her. Sometimes I’m a bit shy though so I just try to be polite. We go to lunch together sometimes.
Part 2. Listening comprehension
Answer the following questions based on the video that you just watched.
1. What did she start this week?
A. a diet
B. saving money
C. a new job
D. an argument
2. How does she describe the office?
A. busy with lots of employees
B. quiet with lots of employees
C. busy with a few employees
D. quiet with a few employees
3. Where does Eric work?
A. he’s her boss
B. in the same department
C. marketing
D. sales
4. Why does she like Eric?
A. he’s funny and shy
B. he’s angry and helpful
C. he’s humorous and caring
D. he’s helpful and kind
5. Does she like her boss?
A. no she’s mean, rude and often gets angry
B. sometimes she’s very moody every day
C. yes she’s friendly, honest and it’s easy to talk to her
D. most of the time she’s honest but sometimes angry
6. Where does Greg work?
A. in the sales department
B. in the finance department
C. in the front office
D. in the marketing department
7. Does she like Greg? Why?
A. no, he’s selfish, argumentative and he got angry at her
B. yes, he’s funny, entertaining and always helpful
C. yes, she thinks he’s very kind and helpful
D. yes, they sometimes go out for lunch together
8. What does she sometimes do with Amy?
A. they hang out at the mall together
B. they go to the movies together
C. they go shopping together
D.they go out for lunch together
Part 3. Vocabulary review
- argumentative – someone who often argues and disagrees with other people. Tony’s so argumentative he always disagrees with everything that everyone says
- selfish – to take care only of oneself. Sammy’s so selfish he only thinks about himself.
- funny – someone or something that makes people laugh. She’s so funny I can’t stop laughing.
- helpful – someone who wants to and is willing to help. They’ve been so helpful since we moved here we are really lucky to have them as friends.
- honest – someone who always tells the truth and does not lie cheat or steal. I think Francis is the most honest person I know I trust him with my life.
- outgoing – someone who is social and tries to make new friends. Frank’s very outgoing he loves to meet new people.
- shy – nervous and uncomfortable around people. Sheila is very shy, she doesn’t like to meet new people.
- talkative – someone who talks a lot. Johnny’s so talkative he always has a lot to say.
Part 4. Review.
Watch the video one more time. Thanks for watching, see you next time.
Practice and learn more adjectives with negative prefixes exercises!
Learn more about negative prefixes!
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Slo&Kor&Eng 
Great work Especially with exercises in Google forms👍
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I hope it will be useful!
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