i am an online ESL teacher . please mark the following worksheet:

"How bosses demoralize 
their employees
 ESL Brains
ESL Brains 2
 Lesson Overview.
 The main objectives of this lesson are to:
 ● learn and practice 8 motivation idioms used in business;
 ● talk about how companies motivate and demotivate employees;
 ● watch a video and discuss what it has to say about motivation.
Let’s get started
 with a warm-up 
ESL Brains
 ESL Brains
Rank the things that 
demotivate you at work from the 
significant. Compare and discuss them.
 ● boredom (10)
 ● lack of recognition (8)
 ● lack of fairness (7)
 ● cancelling projects (1 or TBD)
 ● lack of empowerment (9)
 ● too much work (3)
 ● lack of progress (6)
 ● no confidence in company leadership (3)
 ● poor communication (8)
 ● unfriendly coworkers (5)
 most (10) to the 
least (1) 
ESL Brains 4
Let’s learn some vocabulary!
 ESL Brains
 ESL Brains
ESL Brains
 A. He wanted the restaurant to be a success 
and really put his heart and soul into it. 4
 B. Prime Minister Albanese pledged at a 
news conference today to go above and 
beyond to compromise with the Liberals.2
 C. After two of the team leaders left, the 
project ran out of steam and slowly died 
off.3
 D. The last failure really crushed the team 
spirits and now nobody is eager to think 
about any future products. 6
 1. someone who is influential or an inspiration to 
others
 2. do more than what is expected
 3. lose impetus, energy or enthusiasm to do 
something
 4. do something with all of your energy and 
interest 
5. take the credit for something someone else did
 6. make somebody feel defeated and devastated 
7. encourage somebody to continue doing things 
as they are
 8. motivate by both a possible reward and a threat 
of punishment
 Look at the sentences and match the idioms in bold with their meanings. 
part 1/2
 6
ESL Brains
 E. They all worked together on the project, but 
while submitting it, one of them stole their 
thunder.5
 F. You did well today so please keep up the 
good work and together we can deliver it on 
time.7
 G. The EU deliberately promotes an approach 
where the steps between sanctions and 
incentives are closely tied in the effort to 
combine carrot and stick methods.8
 H. Four months after the death of its founder 
and guiding spirit, Jerry Garcia, The 
Grateful Dead announces it is breaking up 
after 30 years of performing together.1
 Look at the sentences and match the idioms in bold with their meanings. 
part 2/2
 7
 1. someone who is influential or an inspiration to 
others
 2. do more than what is expected
 3. lose impetus, energy or enthusiasm to do 
something
 4. do something with all of your energy and 
interest 
5. take the credit for something someone else did
 6. make somebody feel defeated and devastated 
7. encourage somebody to continue doing things 
as they are
 8. motivate by both a possible reward and a threat 
of punishment
ESL Brains 8
 A. How often does your manager tell you to  _keep up the good work_ ? 
Do you suppose that it encourages you or is it a meaningless phrase?
 B. Why does a manager sometimes  _crush_  their employees  _spirits_  when they present 
team ideas to superiors? Has it ever happened to you? What can be done to prevent this 
behaviour?
 C. What kind of person can be a  _guiding spirit_  in a modern tech company? What 
character traits are needed to be such a person? Do you know anybody like that?
 D. What kind of  _carrot and stick_  approaches does your company use to motivate staff? 
Do you think they are useful? Which ones might be more effective?
 Complete the gaps in the questions below with the idioms in the boxes.
 part 1/2
 put one’s heart and soul into run out of steam keep up the good work
 crush someone’s spirit go above and beyond carrot and stick
 steal someone’s thunder 
guiding spirit
ESL Brains 9
 E. What happens to a company when it  _runs out of steam_  and does not innovate 
anymore?
 F. How do you make people  _put heart and soul into_  their work or an idea?
 G. What was the one experience that really  _stole your thunder_  ? How did you overcome 
it?
 H. Would you  _go above and beyond__  to help your teammates? For example, would you 
do overtime to help them finish their work or cover for them on your free day?
 Complete the gaps in the questions below with the idioms in the boxes.
 part 2/2
 put one’s heart and soul into run out of steam keep up the good work
 crush someone’s spirit go above and beyond carrot and stick
 steal someone’s thunder 
guiding spirit
ESL Brains 10
 Watch the video and answer the questions.
 A. What kind of solutions did the software 
engineers from Seattle propose to make them 
feel better after their project was cancelled? 
B. What kind of things are done that crush 
people’s spirits?
 C. How does an open-source community give 
credit to people involved in the project? 
D. Why do you think that the kid who came up 
with an idea and didn’t do any drawing was 
more upset? 
E. What are the things that Dan Ariely says that 
managers can do to motivate their staff?
ESL Brains 11
 Let’s check the answers.
 …………………………..
 A. What kind of solutions did the software 
engineers from Seattle propose to make them 
feel better after their project was cancelled? 
B. What kind of things are done that crush 
people’s spirits?
 C. How does an open-source community give 
credit to people involved in the project? 
D. Why do you think that the kid who came up 
with an idea and didn’t do any drawing was 
more upset? 
E. What are the things that Dan Ariely says that 
managers can do to motivate their staff?
THANKS!
 ESL Brains
 ESL Brains""