The Four-Day Experiment
B2 reading: When the small design company Lineworks announced a four-day working week, its manager emphasised that this was a trial, not a permanent benefit. Includes vocabulary, six comprehension questions, discussion prompts and full-sentence answers.
What’s in the worksheet?
- 4 vocabulary explanations
- Six comprehension questions and two discussion prompts
- Separate full-sentence answer key and teaching notes
Evaluate a fictional four-day working-week trial whose project totals initially conceal uneven effects on staff. Learners weigh reduced meetings against hidden support work and fewer opportunities for new recruits to ask questions.
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Page 1 of 3 · A4 printable PDF
Page 2 of 3 · A4 printable PDF
Page 3 of 3 · Answer key · A4 printable PDF
A simple way to teach it
Before the lesson
Use the three reading pages and clarify trial, concealed, recruits and workable. The Lineworks story is not evidence from a real workplace study.
- Read for the conditions of the trial and the initial changes to meetings. Ask why an unchanged project count seems persuasive.
- Answer the six questions, adding what the staff survey reveals. Track the revised support arrangements, training opportunities and restored meetings.
- Review supported alternatives with the key. Discuss ways to detect work outside paid hours and decide which meetings are useful.
Support and extension
Offer an initial measure / missing evidence / revision table. Extend by proposing one additional evaluation question, avoiding a blanket conclusion that shorter weeks always succeed or fail.
Suggested approach. Adjust the pace and number of questions to suit your class.
