Notion d'anglais - Spaces and exchanges

Sujet du devoir

Bonjour,
Je suis en classe de terminale S et je passe mon oral d'anglais la semaine prochaine et j'aurais besoin d'une petite correction et de vos avis sur mon travail. Je précise que tout n'est pas entièrement rédigé mais il s'agit d'un plan très détaillé où presque tout est rédigé.
Merci d'avance pour votre aide.

Où j'en suis dans mon devoir

The notion I am going to deal with is “Spaces and exchanges”. To begin with, I’d like to give a definition of the notion. An exchange is an act of giving and receiving something else in return. It can also be seen as a continuous movement or circulation. There are different kinds of exchanges: media, people, trade… To illustrate my notion, I will talk about the gap year. A gap year is a year which students take a break from studying after they have finished school and before they start college or university. During the gap year, students can travelling, volunteering… We may wonder to what extent is a gap year a benefit to the students?

Firstly, I will see the benefits of gap year and finally I will see the inconveniences of the gap year.

I.                   The benefits

Video called “Gap Year Ideas, Tips and Advice”: a woman interviews 3 persons which give a definition of a gap year according to them and talk about their experiences.

-          Tom Griffiths, an expert about Gap years: opportunity to go to see the world, to plan where do you want to go and what do you want to see... It’s an opportunity to realize the top 10 things that you want to do before you die. It’s about having fun.

-          Rachel Collinson, a Marketing Director Raleigh: to her, it’s a year where people have to reflect on what is important to them, to learn new skills, to discover new places… People can used a gap year to volunteering, to studying… It’s about learning. It’s a serious and a conventional definition of a Gap Year.

-          Nick Brown, a Finance student in the University of Cambridge: he talks about his experience: he worked in a bar in London to get some experience in hospital industry, then he went to New Castle for 3 months, then he backed to London and finally he went to Australia for 5 months. During his gap year, he learns to live in his own and to be independent of his parents.

According to the article “The big issue: mind the gap year” written by Kim Bielenberg and published on March, 5th, 2008.

-           Gap year make students more mature, it’s give them a sense of independence, to see something of the real world

-          Gap years are often looked upon positively by employers, it shows that students are adaptable for an employment if they have to go other countries

-          It helps students make a decision about what they want to do for a living.

-          Students can take a job during their gap year in order to get work experience and to make themselves financially secure before going into college.

II.                The disadvantages and dangers

According to the article “The big issue: mind the gap year”

-          Some students paid their gap year with their parents’ money and which is contradictory with the idea of independence

-          Gap year has to be planned properly because there is a risk that the wanderlust gets the upper hand, and students can give up their studies.

-          Also, when it’s badly planned, students can become lazy and they don’t want to do anything à students spend all their time on beach in Thailand for example

-           Badly planned Gap years, so-called "voluntourism", could have a negative impact on young people and the local communities they worked with.

For example, once a group of villagers in South America returned home from work to find that their houses had been painted by volunteers without their permission.

-          Some G.Y program can be fraudulent

Gap Years can be really benefits for students who want to discover the world, to be independent, to have experience… But they have to be careful about the organization of their year, to me, it’s not just a year to do tourism but it’s an occasion to learn things and to learn more about yourself.