Reading Text a. Learning to Combine the World of Work and Study.

1.Read and translate the text using the dictionary.

Most university students have traditionally taken jobs in their holidays, particularly summer. But working your way through college was seen very much as a US tradition. However, it is now becoming widespread in Britain.

According to a survey by the National Union of Students (NUS ), 42 per cent of UK undergraduates are having to combine full-time studies with paid work during term-time. Clearly this figure must hide big variations because London Guildhall University announced that 80 per cent of its students work for between five and 25 hours a week during term.

But there is one silver lining to this particular cloud. Working during your course not only provides you with much needed cash but can equip you with some additional skills not normally to be had from holiday work. Combining earning with learning may be onerous, but these extra skills do make you even more attractive to recruiters when you graduate and start a career. There are basically three types of students work. There are formal placements, which may be a mandatory or optional part of your degree; there are part-time or vacation jobs, which are relevant either to your degree or to the career you eventually hope to follow; and there is casual work with little or no relevance to your course or your intended career.

Increasing numbers of universities and colleges recognise the need for students to have access to part-time and vacation work, and offer a variety of job-search schemes.

Does working during term-time harm your studies? It depends. In the NUS survey, 48 per cent said they would have got higher grades if they were not employed. But only 15 per cent of the same sample said employment had affected their study “slightly“. Much seems to depend on the number of hours worked.

2.Make up the questions on the text.

3.Report if it is good to combine the work and study.

4.Write a review on the text.

Text b. Au-Pair in Britain.

1.Read and translate using the dictionary.

One of the ways open to a girl student of the English language to improve her linguistic knowledge is to come to Britain for a year as au-pair girl. It certainly seems to be a very popular method, for every year sees more and more girls entering English homes as au-pair girls.

Forty years ago it was only used to describe a girl who came here to perfect her linguistic or professional knowledge; lived as a member of an English family; and the family provided her with “pocket money“. She was not paid a salary. As a member of the family she helped with the house-work and, if there were any, helped look after the children; but she was not asked to do more than would normally be expected of a teenage daughter of an average middle-class (particularly professional-class) English family.

Au-pair girls come mainly from Europe, although increasing numbers are arriving from Asia and South America. In the 1960s it was reckoned there were 9.000 au-pair girls in Britain; today an estimated number is 30,000 in London alone. The concept of the relationship between an au-pair and the English family with whom she is staying still exists in the advisory booklet which the Home Office first published in the 1960s. But conditions for the girls vary greatly. They are treated as cheap labour, many of them placed by agencies with no interest in their future welfare.

An article entitled “Law sought to protect au-pair girls’ interests“ was published in one of the British newspapers recently. The author wrote: “Au pair girls in Britain need a legally binding agreement to protect them against exploitations: not more than five hours a day domestic work, at least one free day a week, sufficient pocket money (7.50 pounds are considered about right), time to study and meet people. The girls cannot go on strike; that sort of action goes against the spirit of the system, which is intended to be one of fellowship, hospitality and a good relationship between the girl and the family.“

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au-pair girl – іноземка, що опановує мову, працюючи за житло та харчування

2.Do you have your own experience of the au-pair? Air your view.

3.Retell the text.

4.Write a review on the text.