TRANSCRIPT EPISODE 14: GENERAL TRAINING READING Hello, and welcome to Study English, IELTS Preparation I'm Margot Politis There are two IELTS Tests - the Academic Test and the General Training Test Today we're going to look at the Reading Module of the General Training Test The main difference between the General Test and the Academic Test is that the texts you have to read are more practical and related to everyday life The General Reading Test is divided into sections: • Section has up to short texts that you are likely to come across, such as entertainment brochures, bus timetables, accommodation lists and instructions • Section has passages that are work-related, for example job descriptions, and instructions for using facilities at work • Section has one longer passage on a general topic, often a magazine article Let's have a closer look at a typical short text that you would be asked about in Section The questions you may be asked about a page like this only need short answers For example: 'On what page is the article about childhood obesity?' You scan the page to find a title that mentions childhood obesity or means the same and find the answer: 'Are children getting fatter?' - page 12 It helps to be familiar with the way these texts are laid out You need to practise scanning these types of texts to find the information that relates to the question Scanning means looking for key words In the next section, Section 2, you will be asked about a work-related text that is a bit more complex, such as this job advertisement It is important to know that information in job ads is presented in a particular way Being aware of the lay out will help you locate answers more quickly Because the texts in section are longer, it is useful to preview them Let's reduce the ad to its headings We have: City of Greenfield; Position Description; Responsibilities; Key Selection Criteria and Qualifications Page of Under 'City of Greenfield' which is the name of the employer, we have some information about the employer: "Vibrant, modern and energetic, Greenfield is a city of choice and opportunity The city is experiencing significant growth and expansion and the Council is leading the way in managing and delivering high quality services to its local community." And we have the sales pitch, which is there to persuade suitable people to apply: "An exciting career opportunity exists for an enthusiastic individual with good communication skills and a proven track record in office administration." 'Position description' tells you exactly what the job is - the title, salary and if it is full time or part time Under 'Responsibilities' are listed the things you would need to or the duties you would have to perform 'Key Selection Criteria' covers the skills that the employer considers necessary for the job and 'Qualifications' are, of course, your experience and education The final section of the ad has all the information needed by anyone who wants to apply So, if you were asked in what part of the ad you would find a duty such as running and managing an office, where would it be? It would be in the Responsibilities section It is very useful to be able to know exactly where to look because it saves vital time Because the test deals with texts that are work-related, it is expected that you will be familiar with the terms used in the working world Listen to this woman describing how she went about finding a job: I just handed my résumé around at any other shop that I could find and then I just got a phone call from them asking to come in for an interview and they just asked questions such as, what was my prior experience, what sort of qualities I could bring to the job She uses a number of 'job' words To find work, she said she 'handed her résumé around' A Résumé is a summary of your work experience and education It's a document that tells an employer all they need to know about you A résumé is usually written out as a list with headings A more formal term for this list is the Latin term curriculum vitae, which often gets shortened to CV in speech and writing Now, what sort of experience was she asked about? Page of And then I just got a phone call from them asking to come in for an interview and they just asked questions such as, what was my prior experience, what sort of qualities I could bring to the job An interview is a formal discussion with the employer where they try to find out who is the best person for the job She was asked about her prior experience, which means the work she's done before In the next clip what word is used to mean 'job'? I've been working for Telstra virtually since I left school, so it's 37 years ago now But in various forms I went through and did a lot of technical training and then with the change in the workforce and changing technology, they didn't require the physical work to be done any more so I eventually went to a couple of different positions and then finally finished up transferring to the area I'm in now He talks about having a couple of different 'positions' Position is another word for job He could also have said 'role' Position, job and role are words that refer to the specific thing that you More general terms are occupation, profession and trade What's the profession of the man in the next clip? A normal day at my job's during the night, actually I work night shift and I'm a nurse, an enrolled nurse at a War Veterans' Home I now work in the hostel section of it and look after 70 residents He's a nurse, so his profession is nursing A profession is a job that requires formal learning, such as teaching Trades are the sorts of jobs that involve a combination of skill and work with your hands, such as carpentry or plumbing The general term for all types of job is occupation There is one other general term worth knowing Listen out for it in this clip: Turning professional I guess at my age of 19 is quite, is different, it's really cool I guess you know lots of my school friends are still at uni and you know just still working on building their career I guess Career Career refers to the work you over a lifetime or to the work you in a particular area You will hear people talk about someone's sporting career or artistic career To finish, let's listen to someone talking about the process of finding a job: I found an advertisement in the paper, went for it Out of 30 applications they had 30 interviews Then they narrowed it down to five second interviews I've had my second interview and now I'm actually waiting for a response Today, one of my friends rang up saying they've actually rang him for a character reference Page of She talked about a second interview That's when you go back to the employer for another interview It's a good sign and means that you're one of the people they are considering She also talked about a friend being rung up for a character reference Often job ads will ask you to list what are called referees These are people who can say that you can the job They are often people you have worked with before Knowing how job ads are structured and being familiar with the language of the workplace will help you with the General Training IELTS test Getting to know the sort of texts that are likely to be in the reading test will increase your confidence and make finding the answers in good time much easier Good luck with your studies See you next time Page of