Volunteering: matching words and listening for detail
Volunteering means helping without being paid. When you listen to a story about a volunteer, listen for who, where, when, what the person did and how they felt. The order of events is often given with words such as first, then, after that and finally. Write only key words, for example library, Saturday, 2 hours, books, smile. When you match words with meanings, start with the words you know best and cross out the pairs that you use. Check each match by putting the meaning into the sentence in place of the word. A tip for True or False: a sentence may be true in real life but not in the talk, and one wrong detail makes it False. Listen for words such as always, never and only, because they often change the meaning.
| Listen for | Example from a talk |
|---|---|
| Who | a student called Youssef |
| Where / when | the town library, every Saturday |
| What he did | organised books and helped small children |
| How he felt | proud, more confident |
My name is Youssef and I am fifteen. Every Saturday morning I volunteer for two hours at the town library. First, I put the returned books back on the shelves. Then I help small children to find picture books, and after that I read a story to a group of six or seven of them. At the beginning I was shy and I spoke very quietly, but the children listened, and their smiles gave me confidence. The librarian says that volunteers support the whole community because many families cannot buy books. I am not paid, but I get something better: I have learned how to organise my time, and I feel useful. Next month I want to start a book swap for my classmates.
Volunteer interview. Ask a grown-up or an older student if they have ever volunteered. Ask: What did you do? How long? How did you feel? Write the answers as five short notes. Then explain in one sentence why the work was useful to the community.