CEPT Practice C1 Level LISTENING Sentence Completion about International Volunteer

 

International volunteering

Some countries have specific rules about the (1) _______ of people who volunteer for work there.

Sam learnt most about (2) ______ during his time at a safari park.

Sam appreciated being taught to use (3) ________ and basic tools to build a hut.

Sam says that (4) ________ is the minimum commitment recommended for a placement.

A volunteer should not expect an organisation to fit in with his or her (5) ______ , according to Sam.

Sam says that it is best to have a clear idea of who the (6) ______ are of any agency that finds a position for volunteers.

According to Sam, those volunteering projects that are most effective provide (7) _____ for volunteers to read before going.

Sam was surprised that he never suffered from (8) ________ during his time volunteering.

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Audioscript

I’d like to tell you about some of the opportunities there are for international volunteering and a little about my own experiences. I should say, first of all, that most organisations prefer participants to have qualifications or a particular skill.

If you don’t have these, it’s crucial to consider what sort of impact you can have as a volunteer. It’s also important to bear in mind that there are age requirements in certain countries.

My first volunteer experience was at a safari park in Thailand. It was rescue work taking care of birds that had been injured. Besides learning a lot about the bird’s names and habits as well as all the various diseases they get, I also got to know more about wild cats, as there was a section of the park dedicated to them.

Teamwork’s vital for all projects, and working on the project taught me an invaluable amount about this. I really developed my abilities in that respect. I guess it was the biggest takeaway thing for me.

Basically, when you volunteer you’re there to get involved, and you’ll have a lot of fun doing that. You might also pick up odd things like how to make a fire without matches, or how to build a hut with the most basic equipment. I’d built one before back home with my dad using screws and nails, so it was a real eye-opener for me when I was instructed in how to make one stay up using just string to keep it together. Volunteer work’s as tiring as any job, but it can turn out to be a thoroughly enlightening experience.

With so many organisations offering volunteering placements abroad, it’s not easy to determine which project might be the most ethical, sustainable, or beneficial.

Generally speaking, the longer you stay the better. Short-term volunteering can be damaging to communities and it’s generally advised that it’s not appropriate to stay less than a month. It’s often said that a commitment of around 12 weeks allows enough time for you to integrate with the local community and deliver useful work, so bear that in mind.

Your commitment also depends on what the organisation needs – it might need help delivering a specific project, such as reviewing the organisation’s accounts or budgets, for example. Make sure you’re working to their time frame, and not forcing them to adapt to your travel schedule.

Volunteer work abroad is sometimes offered by for-profit agencies based outside the country where the volunteer work takes place. They can allocate you to specific projects, or place you with a local organisation. If you use an agency, choose one that’s transparent about its in-country partners and specifies which particular project you’ll be working on. Always ask questions about the impact of the volunteering programmes – the best ones will have strong case studies showing how well their projects are doing, which you can ask to look at prior to making any commitment. Look for projects that promote the positive integration of volunteers with the local community.

You’ll usually have to pay a fee to volunteer, but food and accommodation are provided. I’ve volunteered all over the place, and in all my time, despite a few stomach aches and suffering from really bad flu once, the one thing that I’d fully expected to bother me didn’t. That was loneliness. I always had people around who made it a truly amazing experience.

1 age

2 teamwork

3 string

4 a/one month

5 (travel) schedule

6 (in-country) partners

7 case studies

8 loneliness