2012 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 13 Planning a gap year Project

“Gap year” is a British English term that refers to a period of time, usually a year, when a student takes time off from full-time education. This year generally taken before a student begins college or university. While the concept of taking a year off to prepare for college is a relatively new on in the US and other countries, in the UK, an estimated 50,000 young people take a gap year prior to attending university 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 13

2012 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 13 Questions for you: 1. If you have a chance to take a year off before going to university, would you do it? 2. Do you think this would help you get a better job once you finished your studies?

2012 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 13 List the advantages of taking a gap year. 1. Gives young people an opportunity to learn skills and gain life experience. 2. Helps young people develop and grow. 3. Teaches students how to work with a group of strangers and how to look after themselves without the help of family or friends.

2012 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 Makes students better able to work without needing direction, and they tend to work better with colleagues from different backgrounds.

Scan the text and answer the following questions: How many people have taken a gap year in the passage? Does the writer have a positive or negative attitude towards taking a gap year? Three people. The writer takes a positive attitude 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 13

2012 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 13

2012 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 Who are in favour of the gap year? 2. Why do more and more companies prefer to hire graduates who have taken a gap year? 3. How did Daniel Jones feel living among poor local people? 4. What did Martin do in his gap year? 5. What are exactly the sort of skills companies are looking for?

1. Who are in favour of the gap year? The government, universities and companies. 2. Why do more and more companies prefer to hire graduates who have taken a gap year? Because a gap year gives young people an opportunity to learn skills and gain life experience 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 13

3. How did Daniel Jones feel living among poor local people? Challenging but worthwhile. 4. What did Martin do in his gap year? He helped build a school in a poor part of India 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 13

5. What are exactly the sort of skills companies are looking for? The skills of how to work with a group of strangers and how to look after themselves without the help of family or friends 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 13

Read the text again and take notes of the three examples of taking a gap year. Complete the table using information from the article 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 13

B. Find out the benefits of taking a gap year with the help of the 8 questions on page 31. Then write an essay to express your views about taking a gap year 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 13

2012 年下学期 湖南长郡卫星远程学校 制作 13