Digital Nomads

Word bank:
A person who earns their income while working online. DNs often travel to
Digital nomad (DNs)
different locations to work, and don’t have a single ‘home’.

Remote work A type of job that allows the employee to work online.

Foreigners People who are in a country different to their origin.

Drive up Increase.

Attract [people] Cause someone to come to a place or like an item.

Digital Nomad
In the last few years, remote work has become more
popular. It is also known as working from home
(WFH) and working online. However, there is a group
of workers who call themselves digital nomads
(DNs) – people who work online while travelling.

Being a digital nomad is different from being on

vacation. Firstly, it’s a slower lifestyle – while
vacations usually include a lot of free time and
outings, digital nomads still work full time. This
means that they can only enjoy their evenings or
weekends in their new locations. Digital nomads
often stay in one city for a few months, and try to
live like the locals do.

However, many people are criticising the lifestyle.

Digital nomads tend to come from countries with
a high cost of living, like Canada or the United
States. Compared to the locals, digital nomads often make a lot more money. They can drive up rental prices
in popular areas in places like Bangkok or Bali, two famous DN destinations. Some restaurants or hotels try to
attract digital nomads and foreigners, assuming that they have more money to spend. This makes it difficult
for locals to afford living in their own cities.

Others say that the digital nomads really benefit the economy – workers spend money in their host country,
and help boost tourism. DNs also are ushering a new era of work-life balance, and are showing that the
traditional office job may be changing. Some countries have started to offer digital nomad visas in order to
attract foreign spenders, like Portugal. As more and more people move to online workspaces, digital nomads
may become even more common.

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Vocabulary questions:

1. What’s the difference between a digital nomad and a remote worker?

2. What’s the opposite of a foreigner?

3. What are factors that can drive up the cost of living?

Reading comprehension questions:

1. How does a digital nomad’s travel style differ from a normal vacation?

2. What are the two high cost-of-living countries mentioned?

3. What are the two digital nomad hotspots mentioned?

4. What are the criticisms against digital nomads living in other countries?

5. Are there any positives to being a DN?

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Discussion questions:

1. Imagine that you become a digital nomad for 1 year. What would you miss about your current home?
What would you miss about your area?

2. Do you have plans to ever try being a digital nomad? Why or why not? Have you ever tried it before?

3. Do you prefer to work in an office or remotely? What are the downsides to each?

4. Do you think most people will be working remotely in 20 years time? What jobs cannot be done remotely?

5. Do you think poorer countries should stop DNs from living and working in their countries?
Why or why not?

This resource has been made for the purpose of teaching English language learners. We know that students can be learning English in many different places, in many different ways and at age, so we try to
keep these resources as general as possible. There are many acronyms associated with English language teaching. These include (but are not limited to) ELT, TEFL, EFL, ELL, EAL and ESOL. While the term ESL
may not fully represent the linguistic backgrounds of all students, it is the most widely recognised term for English language teaching globally. Therefore, we use the term ‘ESL’ in the names of our resources
to make them easy to find but they are suitable for any student learning to speak English.

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Answers
Vocabulary questions:

1. Both remote workers and digital nomads are employees who work online. However, digital nomads also
travel to different locations and work from there.

2. A local (Accept any reasonable synonyms)

3. Things like expensive food, rent and education can drive up the cost of living (Accept any reasonable
answer)

Reading questions:

1. A digital nomad usually stays in one city for a longer time, and travels more slowly than a tourist does.

2. Canada and USA.

3. Bali and Bangkok.

4. It makes cities more expensive for locals, and businesses try to attract foreigners instead of locals.

5. DNs brings money into a country, and it also helps the tourism sector.

Discussion questions:

Student answers.

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