1- Script of Recording

Overseas volunteers reach record levels
Monday, 4 September, 2000
BBC News online

Professional workers are volunteering for development work overseas in record numbers, including a higher proportion of older people. The annual report from the international charity Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) reveals that the average age of a volunteer is now over 35 - the highest ever - with a growing number of over 50-year-olds. The need to give something back to society as well as to face a "real challenge" were the most common reasons given for applying.

The new generation is light years away from the common image of gap-year students digging wells. More than 58,000 people contacted the organisation last year, with over 900 being posted to one of the 74 countries where VSO runs projects.

"People feel fed up with the stress and a materialistic lifestyle. They want a job which is rewarding professionally and offers them the chance to give something back," said VSO's director of communications Matthew Bell. He said that people in their 50s often had 20 to 30 years' professional experience to offer, as well as a more "phlegmatic" approach to the task in hand. "They are able to do a job in tough conditions incredibly well," he said.The report, published on Monday, also revealed that entire families were applying to work abroad.

Yet despite a growing number of applicants to VSO from all ages groups and backgrounds, the organisations says demand continues to exceed supply, with around 500 vacancies not filled last year. Primary school teachers, carpenters, builders, mechanics and metal workers were all "desperately needed", said chief executive Mark Goldring.

"The new generation is light years away from the common image of gap-year students digging wells," he said. In a bid to attract more specialist medical workers, the VSO has joined together with the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health to allow trainee consultant paediatricians to receive professional recognition for their work while spending a year as a VSO volunteer. The scheme will allow 10 trainees to become a volunteer for a year in one of five developing countries.Clare Hamer, a specialist registrar in paediatrics, will be the first to take part and leaves for the Gambia this month to take up a post at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Banjul. She said: "It'll be a big challenge for me, as I'll have to adapt to a totally different work environment and take on staff management responsibilities. "I think it's a brilliant step the Royal College has taken and many of my colleagues have expressed a real interest."

End of Recording

2- Summary

Important Note:
In Semester One (October 2003 to January 2004), Continuous Assessment students (contrôle continu) were no longer asked to " Sum up the recording in no more than 150 words." They listened to the recording three times then only wrote an Opinion Question.
They were expected to show how much they had understood from the tape by transferring this information into the opinion question.
The aim of this new strategy is to guide students towards making a more efficient use of transferable information and to include examples from the tape (and from classes) in their Opinion Question.
This is likely to become the new format of LX 330. Com as of October 2004.
However, the format remains UNCHANGED for June 2004 and September 2004: all students will be asked to do a short 100-word summary and an Opinion Question.

3- Opinion Question

For more help, click here: writing tips

Opinion question (no more than 300 words) : Using what you understood from the recording and what you learned in classes, explain who wishes to work overseas and why. Explain why training sessions are needed before leaving and mention some of the key features of such programs. Be specific in your choice of examples.

Some Common Difficulties:
-Students found it difficult to grasp what VSO was. Whenever such an acronym occurs, its full meaning is always mentioned right at the beginning of the tape. Pay close attention to the moment when it is fully spelt out : "the international charity Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO)".

This implied that the issue was that of a chosen international assignement. It was not a strictly-speaking business assignment but a humanitarian one. The overall topic was therefore the increasing number of people who volunteer to work overseas on an ethics-oriented assignment.
-A Charity is a non-profit organization whose aim is to provide developing nations with emergency aid but also with long-term help programs. They often run projects locally on a longer –term basis (VSO has "9000 expatriates posted in 74 countries").

- The age group and number of the volunteers? To give that information (from 35 to 50), one needs to regroup elements from various places in the recording.

-Again, the reasons why they leave home (GB) have to be regrouped. Volunteers express a feeling of gratitude for the comfy life they have had until then.
A sense of adventure urges them to break away from home, to measure themselves up to new tasks.
They resent living a hectic life, they can't bear the ever-increasing job pressures. They are dissatified with their lives, they feel stressed out or spent.
Others are depressed by guilt feelings and they run down (look down upon/reject/disparage) our consumption society and the drive to consume.
They wish to break away from the rat race on moral grounds.
Some are intent of proving their professional worth or experience abroad while some others have a sense of purpose, are ethics-oriented and wish to give their lives a higher moral focus.

-The areas of need corresponded to the jobs mentioned (school teachers, carpenters-builders, metal workers (not mental workers!).

-The last point refers to trainees who have internship abroad and who wish to see it recognised as professional experience back home.

- All in all, this article goes against the stereotype of the well-digging Peace Corps volunteer who put a gap year to good use back in the 1970s.
Today volunteers are dedicated professionals who wish to offer their experience and expertise to charity-based projects.

Here is a hotch-potch opinion question, three students' papers were cut and pasted into one sample essay. It is approximately 300-word long. Hopefully, you will recognise structures and examples given in classes.
The point of this sample is to get across the idea that if they did it, then it is quite doable!

Student's Opinion Question :

The volume of international trade has expanded over the past decades due to increasing globalization. International business and trade as well as foreign investments from multinational corporations play a vital role and fuel local growth in developed and developing nations. However, the BBC website article we heard focusses on expatriates who work overseas without being business expatriates. According to the annual report of the Britain-based international charity (VSO), applicants look for professionally rewarding tasks as well as ethics-oriented work.
The interest of this article lies in the fact that more mature people and even whole families offer to leave their humdrum lives. They are sick and tired of their lives and fear they might lose their souls if they stick to their present jobs. Some resent living without changing the world a little, without trying to make the world a better place. Others wish to gain professional experience while helping out.
There is no doubt that few people are qualified for a humanitarian overseas assignment because it requires adaptability to tough working conditions. Team spirit and a strong will are indispensable to survive in a new environment. Those who actually make this momentous decision and leave will have to be on their toes all the time.
Naturally, no matter how motivated and experienced one is, one needs to be well prepared before leaving on such a mission. Taking language courses and cultural diversity courses is a valuable starting point. Communicating with locals in their native language would be highly appreciated as a sign of good will. Should one have little time to learn a foreign language, one may nonetheless try to collect as much information about the host culture as possible.
If I were to be an expat myself, I would be a real go-getter and I wouldn't hide out in the local scene! I know I would be panic-stricken but I also believe it must be wonderful to be able to live in utterly different working environments.It must give those applicants a sense of renewal.

created by:Genevieve Cohen-Cheminet

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Overseas volunteers reach record levels

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Overseas volunteers reach record levels