Taking a gap year, oral comprehension

T Euro                                             Taking a gap year: oral comprehension

Go gap graduates before starting work!

Note:  Yuni = short for University / a tap = un robinet

script

More and more graduates are taking a year out to stop, reflect and to work out what they want to do with their lives. According to Ann Marie Martin director of the career's group, University of London, there can be many benefits to a year out but it depends on what you do and why.

If all you do after university is sit around watching TV there is probably little benefit.

But if you go traveling, decide to increase your skills in some way or try your hand at temporary jobs to see what suits you, then it can be hugely valuable.

When 23 year old Alice Klarfeld took a year off after Uni she didn't just want to travel, she wanted to immerse herself in another culture.

Alice, who has an MA in English from Leeds spent 9 months teaching about sexual health and HIV aids to young people in the Eastern Cape, South Africa with the charity SPW - Student Partnership Worldwide.

“ I was living in a little mud hut in a rural community. I'd get up go and fetch water from about half an hour away come back boil the water in order to wash prepare for the day and do a workshop in the school. Alice says she has benefited from the global perspective she gained from the trip.

 “In my community they didn't have any running water “she says. So Alice took it upon herself to go to the municipal offices and to make a case for a water tap. Something she says she'd never have done at home. “

They actually came, investigated it all, wrote up a report and they’re now building a tap and a well in the community. And I was like, yeah I've really achieved something!

 And Marie Martin says Alice's experiences will impress future employers. Independently traveling around, learning how to stand on your own two feet and understanding how to fit into different cultures gives you a maturity which employers are going to recognize and be interested in.

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