The Value of Work
This activity aims to help students recognize and categorize different types of work, such as chores, volunteering, internships, apprenticeships, and paid employment.
Review
Vocabulary list is arranged from foundational to more detailed. Feel free to modify the vocabulary list to meet the student’s needs.
Personal Work: These daily living tasks are activities you do to care for yourself. Examples might be washing your clothes, cleaning dishes, cooking, making your bed, brushing your teeth, shower or bath, haircare, pet care, and more.
Volunteering: Helping others by giving your time or effort or skills without being paid to make a difference in your community.
Apprenticeships: A way to learn a job or trade by working with experienced professionals. You participate in hands-on-learning (learn by doing the actual work) while also taking some classes. These help you learn skills needed to work and build connections with others.
Internship: A temporary position where you gain experience in a specific field while still in school, or just starting a career. It typically involves working on real projects and may or may not be paid.
Paid Work: When you do a job and get money for it. Examples might be working at a store and earning money for your time there doing job tasks.
Discuss
While most people would prefer paid work, there are times when volunteering or personal work is valuable or important. Let’s discuss how!
Try using these different prompting questions to continue or start conversation.
- Work like chores at home and personal work help keep you healthy and build/ strengthen your independence. Building these routines in your life can also help with reducing stress and improve your mood.
- Work like helping a friend, or volunteering in your community is a way to help others and a way to contribute. There is also a personal satisfaction, meaning, helping others makes us feel good and proud of ourselves.
Extending the Conversation
Work like personal work, volunteering, internships, and apprenticeships, help us learn and build specific skills that will help us in our jobs and careers in the future.
Through all of the work examples, you are still gaining skills!
We know more about paid work and unpaid work.
- What is some volunteering or personal work you currently do?
- Is there a chore or volunteer opportunity you want to try to build skills and relationships?
- How can you see an internship or apprenticeship being helpful for a career?