Micro-Enterprise Credit for Street Youth PDF

READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Ouestions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage lbelow. Micro-Enterprise Creditfor Street Youth I am from a large, poor family and for many years we have done without breakhast. Eversince I joined the Street Kids International program I hav...

READING PASSAGE 1 You should spend about 20 minutes on Ouestions 1-13 which are based on Reading Passage lbelow. Micro-Enterprise Creditfor Street Youth I am from a large, poor family and for many years we have done without breakhast. Eversince I joined the Street Kids International program I have been able to buy my familysugar and buns for breakfast. I have also bought myself decent second-hand clothes andshoes.Doreen Soko We\'ve had business experience. Now I\'m confident to expand what we\'ve been doingI\'ve learnt cash management, and the way of keeping money so we save for re-investment, Now business is a part of our lives. As well, we didn\'t know each otherbefore - now we\'ve made new friends.\"Fan Kaoma Participants in the Youth Skills Enterprise Initiative Program, Zambia IntroductlonAlthough sma!-scale busine ss training and credit programs have become more common throughout theworld, relatively little attention has been paid to the need to direct such opportunities to young peopleEven less attention has been paid to children living on the streets or in difficult circumstances. Over the past nine years, Street Kids lnternational (S.K.l.) has been working with partner organisationsin Africa, Latin America and India to support the economic lives of street children. The purpose of thispaper is to share some of the lessons S.K.l. and our partners have learned. BackgroundTypically, chidren do not end up on the streets due to a single cause, but to a combination of factors: adearth of adequately funded schools, the demand for income at home, family breakdown and violenceThe street may be attractive to children as a place to find adventurous play and money. However, it is alsoa place where some children are exposed, with little or no protection, to exploitative employment, urbancrime, and abuse. Children who work on the streets are generally involved in unskilled, labour-intensive tasks which requireong hours, such as shining shoes, carrving goods, guarding or washing cars, and informal trading. Somemay also earn income through begging, or through theft and other ilegal activities. At the same time, thereare street chidren who take pride in supporting themselves and their families and who often enjoy theirwork. Many children may choose entrepreneurship because it allows them a degree of independence, isess exploitative than many forms of paid employment, and is flexible enough to alow them to participatein other activities such as education and domestic tasks. Street Business PartnershipsS.K.. has worked with partner organisations in Latin America, Africa and india to develop innovativeopportunities for street children to earn income.The S.K.l. Bicycle Courier Service first started in the Sudan. Participants in this enterprise were supplied with bicycles, which they used to deliver parcels and messages, and which they were requirecto pay for gradually from their wages. A similar program was taken up in Bangalore , india.Another successful project, the Shoe Shine Collective, was a partnership program with the Y.W.C.Ain the Dominican Republic. in this project, participants were lent money to purchase shoe shineboxes. They were also given a safe place to store their equipment, and facilities for individual savingsplans.The Youth Skils Enterprise in tiative in Zambia is a joint program with the Red Cross Society and theY.W.CA. Street youths are supported to start their own small business through business training, lifeskills training and access to credit. Lesgons LearnedThe following lessons have emerged from the programs that S.K.l. and partner organisations havecreated. Being an entrepreneur is not for everyone, nor for every street child. ldeally potential participants willhave been involved in the organisation\'s programs for at least six months, and trust and relationshipbuilding will have already been established.The involvement of the participants has been essential to the development of relevant programsWhen children have had a major role in determining procedures, they are more likely to abide by anc 0 entorce them.lt is critical for all loans to be linked to training programs that include the development of basic business and life skills.There are tremendous advantages to invoiving parents or guardians in the program, where such relationships exist. Home visits allow staff the opportunity to know where the participants live, and tounderstand more about each individual\'s situation.Small loans are provided initially for purchasing fixed assets such as bicycles, shoe shine kits andbasic building materials for a market stall. As the entrepreneurs gain experience, the enterprisescanbe gradually expanded and consideration can be given to increa sing loan amounts. The loan amountsin S.K.l. programs have generally ranged from US\$30-\$100.All S.K.l.programs have charged interest on the loans, primarily to get the entrepreneurs used to theconcept of pavina intereston borrowed money. Generally the rates have been modest (lower thanbank rates) ConclusionThere is a need to recognise the importance of access to credit for impoverished young people seekingto fulfil economic needs. The provision of smal! loans to support the entrepreneurial dreams and ambitions of youth can be an effective means to help them change their lives. However, we believe that credimust be extended in association with other types of support that help participants develop crtical life skill.as well as productive businesses. Ouestions 1-4 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D Write your answers in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheel. The quotations in the box at the beginning of the article exemplify the effects of S.K.IBexplain why S.K.I. was set up. outline the problems of street children.highlight the benefits to society of S.K.I The main purpose of S.K.I. is to draw the attention of governments to the problem of street children.Bprovide schools and social support for street children.encourage the public to give money to street childrengive business training and loans to street children. Which of the following is mentioned by the writer as a reason why children end upliving on the streets? ELTSYUN.CON unemployment Bwar poverty crime In order to become more independent, street children may reject paid employment. leave their families. set up their own businesses employ other children. Questions 5-8 Complete the table below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from Reading Passage 1 for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 5 8 on your answer sheet. Questions 9-12 Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 9-12 on your answer sheet write YESif the statement agrees with the claims of the writerNOif the statement contradicts the claims of the writerNOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this Any street child can set up their own small business if given enough support. 10In some cases, the families of street children may need financial support from S.K.I11 Only one fixed loan should be given to each child. 12The children have to pay back slightly more money than they borrowed. Question 13 Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D YUN.CON Write your answer in box 13 on your answer sheet. The writers conclude that money should only be lent to street children as part of a wider program of aid.9BCDfor programs that are not too ambitious.when programs are supported by local businesses.if the projects planned are realistic and useful. READING PASSAGE 2 You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-26 which are based on Reading Passage 2on the following pages. Questions 14-17 Reading Passage 2 has four sections A-D Choose the correct heading for each section from the list of headings below. Write the correct number -vi in boxes 14-17 on your answer sheet List of Headings Causes of volcanic eruptionEfforts to predict volcanic eruptionVolcanoes and the features of our planetDifferent types of volcanic eruptionInternational relief effortsThe unpredictability of volcanic eruptions 14151617 Section A Section B Section C Section D Volcanoes -earth-shatteringnews When Mount Pinatubo suddenly erupted on 9 June 1991, the power of volcanoespast and present again hit the headlines A Volcanoes are the ultimate earth-moving machinery. A violent eruption can blowthe top few kilometres off a mountain, scatter fine ash practically all over the globeand hurl rock fragments into the stratosphere to darken the skies a continent awayBut the classic eruption - cone-shaped mountain, big bang , mushroom cloud andsurges of molten lava - is only a tiny part of a global story. Vulcanism, the namegiven to volcanic processes, really has shaped the world. Eruptions have rifted continents, raised mountain chains, constructed islands and shaped the topography otthe earth. The entire ocean floor has a basement of volcanic basalt.Volcanoes have not only made the continents, they are also thought to havemade the world\'s first stable atmosphere and provided all the water for the oceans,rivers and ice caps. There are now about 600 active volcanoes. Every year theyadd iwo or three cubic kilometres of rock to the continents. lmagine a similalnumber of volcanoes smoking away for the last 3 , 500 million years. That is enouglrock to explain the continental crust. What comes out of volcanic craters is mostly gas. More than 90% of this gas iswater vapour from the deep earth: enough to explain, over 3 ,500 million years,the water in the oceans. The rest of the gas is nitrogen, carbon dioxide, sulphurdioxide, methane, ammonia and hydrogen. The quantity of these gases, again mul.tiplied over 3, 500 million years, is enough to explain the mass of the world\'s atmos.phere. We are alive because volcanoes provided the soil, air and water we need Geologists consider the earth as having a molten core, surrounded by a semi-moltenmantle and a brittle, outer skin. it helps to think of a softboiled egg with a runnyyolk, a firm but squishy white and a hard shell. f the shell is even slightly crackedduring boiling, the white material bubbles out and sets like a tiny mountain chainover the crack - like an archipelago of volcanic islands such as the Hawaiianis!ands. But the earth is so much bigger and the mantle below is so much hotter.Even though the mantle rocks are kept solid by overlying pressure, they can stillslowly \'flow\' like thick treacle. The flow, thoug ht to be in the form of convection cur.rents, is powerful enough to fracture the \'eggshell\' of the crust into plates, and keepthem bumping and grinding against each other, or even overlapping, at the rate oa few centimetres a year. These fracture zones, where the collisions occur, arewhere earlhquakes happen. And, very often, volcanoes. These zones are lines of weakness, or hot spots. Every eruption is different, but putat its simplest, where there are weaknesses, rocks deep in the mantle, heated to1,350°C, will start to expand and rise. As they do so, the pressure drops, and theyexpand and become liquid and rise more swifly.Somelimes it is slow: vast bubbles of magma - molten rock from the mantle -inch towards the surface, cooling slowly, to show through as granite extrusions (ason Skye, or the Great Whin Sill, the lava dyke squeezed out like toothpaste thatcarries part of Hadrian\'s Wall in northern England). Sometimes - as in Northernlreland, Wales and the Karoo in South Africa - the magma rose faster, and thenflowed out horizontally on to the surface in vast thick sheets. In the Deccan plateauin western India, there are more than two million cubic kilomeres of lava, some otit 2,400 metres thick, formed over 500,000 years of slurping eruption.Sometimes the magma moves very swiftly indeed. lt does not have time to coolas it surges upwards. The gases trapped inside the boiling rock expand suddenlythe lava glows with heat, it begins to froth, and it explodes with tremendous force.Then the slightly cooler lava following it begins to flow over the lip of the crater. lthappens on Mars, it happened on the moon, it even happens on some of the moonsof Jupiter and Uranus. By studying the evidence, vulcanologists can read the forceof the great blasts of the past. ls the pumice light and full of holes? The explosionwas tremendous. Are the rocks heavy, with huge crystalline basalt shapes, like theGiant\'s Causeway in Northern lreland? lt was a slow, gentle eruption.The biggest eruptions are deep on the midocean floor, where new lava is forcingthe continents apart and widening the Atlantic by perhaps five centimeres a yearLook at maps of volcanoes, earthquakes and island chains like the Philippines andJapan, and you can see the rough outlines of what are called tectonic plates - theplates which make up the earth\'s crust and mantle. The most dramatic of these isthe Pacific \'ring of fire\' where there have been the most violent explosions - MountPinatubo near Manila, Mount St Helen\'s in the Rockies and El Chichon in Mexicoabout a decade ago, not to mention world-shaking blasts like Krakatoa in the SundoStraits in 1 883 But volcanoes are not very predictable. That is because geological time is not likehuman fime. During quiet periods, volcanoes cap themselves with their own lavabra ferminer a eoverto aono womnhemalten harks slopp nguover ite blocks ahefurther eruption until the pressure below becomes irresistible. In the case of MountPinatubo, this took 600 years. Then, sometimes, with only a small warning, the mountain blows its top. lt did thisat Mont Pele in Martinique at 7.49 a.m. on 8 May, 1902. Of a town of 28,000only two people survived. In 1815, a sudden blast removed the top 1,280 metresof Mount Tambora in Indones ia. The eruption was so fierce that dust thrown into thestratosphere darkened the skies, cancelling the following summer in Europe andNorth America. Thousands starved as the harvests failed, after snow in June andfrosts in August. Volcanoes are potentially world news, especially the quiet ones. Questions 18-21 Answer the questions below using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR ANUMBER from the passage for each answer: Write your answers in boxes 18 21 on your answer sheel. 18What are the sections of the earth\'s crust, often associated with volcanic activity, called?19What is the name given to molten rock from the mantle?20What is the earthquake zone on the Pacific Ocean called? 21For how many years did Mount Pinatubo remain inactive? Questions 22-26 Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 22-26 on your answer sheel. Volcanic eruptions have shaped the earth\'s land surface. They may also have produced theworld\'s atmosphere and 22\...\.... Eruptions occur when molten rocks from the earth\'s mantlerise and expand. When they become liquid, they move more quickly through cracks in thesurface. There are different types of eruption. Sometimes the 23\...\... moves slowly and formsDutcrops of granite on the earth\'s surface. When it moves more quickly it may flow out inthick horizontal sheets. Examples of this type of eruption can be found in Northern Ireland.Wales, South Africa and 24\...\.... A third type of eruption occurs when the lava emergesvery quickly and 25\...\... violently. This happens because the magma moves so suddenly that26\...\... are emitted. READING PASSAGE 3 You should spend about 20 minutes on Ouestions 27-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3below ObtainingLinguisficDafa Many procedures are available for obtainingdata about a language. They range from acarefully planned, intensive field investigation in a foreign country to a casual introspection about one\'s mother tongue carriedout in an armchair at home. In all cases, someone has to act as a sourceof language data - an informant informantsare (ideally) native speakers of a language.who provide utterances for analysis andother kinds of information about the language (eg. translations, comments aboutcorrectness, or judgements on usage). Oftenwhen studying their mother tongue, linguistsact as their own informants, judging theambiguity, acceptability, or other propertiesof utterances against their own intuitions. Theconvenience of this approach makes itwidely used, and it is considered the norm inthe generative approach to linguistics. But alinguist\'s personai judgements are oftenuncertain, or disagree with the judgements ofother linguists, at which point recourse isneeded to more objective methods ofenquiry, using non-linguists as informants The latter procedure is unavoidable whenworking on foreign languages, or childspeech Many factors must be considered whenselecting informants - whether one isworking with single speakers (a common sit-uation when languages have not beendescribed before), two people interacting.small groups or large-scale samples. Age.sex, social background and other aspects ofidentity are important, as these factors areknown to infiuence the kind of languageused. The topic of conversation and the characteristics of the social setting (e.g. the levelof formality) are also highly relevant, as arethe personal qualities of the informants (e.gtheir fluency and consistency). for largerstudies, scrupulous attention has been paidto the sampling theory employed, and in allcases, decisions have to be made about thebest investigative techniques to use. Today, researchers often tape-record informants. This enables the linguist\'s claims aboutthe language to be checked, and provides a way of making those claims more accurate(difficult\' pieces of speech can be listenecto repeatedly). But obtaining naturalisticgood-quality data is never easy. People talkabnormally when they know they are beincrecorded, and sound quality can be poor. Avariety of tape-recording procedures havethus been devised to minimisethe \'observer\'sparadox\' (how to observe the way peoplebehave when they are not being observed)Some recordings are made without thespeakers being aware of the fact - a procedure that obtains very natural data, thougrethical objections must be anticipatedAltematively attempts can be made to makethe speaker forget about the recording, suchas keeping the tape recorder out of sight, orusing radio microphones. A useful techniqueis to introduce a topic that quickly involivesthe speaker, and stimulates a natural languagestyle (eg. asking older informants about howtimes have changed in their locality). An audio tape recording does not solve allthe linguist\'s problems, however. Speech isoften unclear and ambiquous. Where possible therefore. the recording has to be supplemented by the observer\'s writtencomments on the non-verbal behaviour ofthe participants, and about the context ingeneral. Afacial expression, for example, candramaticallyalter the meaning of what is saidVideo recordings avoid these problems to alarge extent, but even they have limitations(the camera cannot be everywhere), andtranscriptions always benefit from any addi.tional commentary provided by an observer linquists also make great use of structuredsessions,in which they systematically asktheir informants for utterances that describecertain actions, objects or behaviour. With abilingualinformant, or through use ofan inter preter, it is possible to use translation techniques (How do you say table in your language?7. A iarge number of points can becoveredina shorttime, using interview worksheets and questionnaires. Often, theresearcher wishes to obtain informatiorabout just a single variable, in which case arestricted set of questions may be used: aparticular feature of pronunciation, foexample, can be elicited by asking the informant to say a restricted set of words. Thereare also several direct methods of elicitationsuch as asking informants to fill in the blanksin a substitution frame (e.g. see a canor feeding them the wrong stimulus for correction (ls it possible to say i no can see?\') A representative sample of language, compiled for the purpose of linquistic analysis, iknown as a corous. A corpus enables the linquist to make unoiased statements about fre!quency of usage, and it provides accessibledata for the use of different researchers. Itsrange and size are variable. Some corporaattempt to cover the language as a wholetaking extracts from many kinds of text; othersare extremely selective, providing a coliection of materia! that deals only with a particular linquistic feature. The size of the corpusdependsonpractical factors, such as the timeavailable to collect, process and store thedata: it can takeup to several hours to providean accurate transcription of a few minutes ospeech. Sometimes a small sample of datawill be enough to decide alinguistic hypoth.esis: by contrast, corpora in maior researchprojects can total millions of words.Animportant principle is that all conpora, whatever their size are inevitably limited in theilcoverage, and always need to be supplemented by data derivedfrom the intuitions ofnative speakers of the ianguage, througheither introspection or experimentation. Questions 27-31 Reading Passage 3 has seven paragraphs labelled A-GWhich paragraph contains the following information?Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 27-31 on your answer sheet.NB You may use any letter more than once.27the effect of recording on the way people talk 28 the importance of taking notes on body language29 the fact that language is influenced by social situation30 how informants can be helped to be less self-conscious31 various methods that can be used to generate specific data Ouestions 32-36Complete the table below. IELTSYUN.CO Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 32\--36 on your answer sheet. Table uestions 37-40 Complete the summary ofparagraph G below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 37-40 on your answer sheet. A linguist can use a corpus to comment objectively on 37\...\.... Some corpora include a widerange of language while others are used to focus on a 38\...\.... The length of time theprocess takes will affect the 39\...\... of the corpus. No corpus can ever cover the wholelanguage and so linguists often find themselves relying on the additional information thatcan be gained from the 40\...\... of those who speak the language concerned WRITING TASK 2 You should spend about 40 minutes on this taskWrite about the following topic: Creative artists should alwaps be given the freedom to express their ownideas (in words, pictures, music or film ) in whichever way they wish, Thereshould be no government restrictions on what they da To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledgeor experience. Write at least 250 words **READING PASSAGE 1** You should spend about 20 minutes on **Questions 1-13**, which are based on **Reading Passage 1** below. **Micro-Enterprise Credit for Street Youth** *\"I am from a large, poor family, and for many years we have done without breakfast. Ever since I joined the Street Kids International program, I have been able to buy my family sugar and buns for breakfast. I have also bought myself decent second-hand clothes and shoes.\"*\ **---Doreen Soko** *\"We\'ve had business experience. Now I\'m confident to expand what we\'ve been doing. I\'ve learned cash management and the way of keeping money so we save for reinvestment. Now business is a part of our lives. As well, we didn\'t know each other before---now we\'ve made new friends.\"*\ **---Fan Kaoma**\ *Participants in the Youth Skills Enterprise Initiative Program, Zambia* **Introduction** Although small-scale business training and credit programs have become more common throughout the world, relatively little attention has been paid to the need to direct such opportunities to young people. Even less attention has been paid to children living on the streets or in difficult circumstances. Over the past nine years, **Street Kids International (S.K.I.)** has been working with partner organizations in Africa, Latin America, and India to support the economic lives of street children. The purpose of this paper is to share some of the lessons S.K.I. and our partners have learned. **Background** Typically, children do not end up on the streets due to a single cause but rather a combination of factors: a dearth of adequately funded schools, the demand for income at home, family breakdown, and violence. The street may be attractive to children as a place to find adventurous play and money. However, it is also a place where some children are exposed, with little or no protection, to exploitative employment, urban crime, and abuse. Children who work on the streets are generally involved in unskilled, labor-intensive tasks that require long hours, such as shining shoes, carrying goods, guarding or washing cars, and informal trading. Some may also earn income through begging, theft, or other illegal activities. At the same time, there are street children who take pride in supporting themselves and their families and who often enjoy their work. Many children may choose entrepreneurship because it allows them a degree of independence, is less exploitative than many forms of paid employment, and is flexible enough to allow them to participate in other activities such as education and domestic tasks. **Street Business Partnerships** S.K.I. has worked with partner organizations in Latin America, Africa, and India to develop innovative opportunities for street children to earn income. - **The S.K.I. Bicycle Courier Service** first started in Sudan. Participants in this enterprise were supplied with bicycles, which they used to deliver parcels and messages, and which they were required to pay for gradually from their wages. A similar program was taken up in Bangalore, India. - **The Shoe Shine Collective** was a partnership program with the Y.W.C.A. in the Dominican Republic. In this project, participants were lent money to purchase shoe shine boxes. They were also given a safe place to store their equipment and facilities for individual savings plans. - **The Youth Skills Enterprise Initiative in Zambia** is a joint program with the Red Cross Society and the Y.W.C.A. Street youths are supported in starting their own small businesses through business training, life skills training, and access to credit. **Lessons Learned** The following lessons have emerged from the programs that S.K.I. and partner organizations have created: - Being an entrepreneur is not for everyone, nor for every street child. Ideally, potential participants will have been involved in the organization's programs for at least six months, and trust and relationship-building will have already been established. - The involvement of the participants has been essential to the development of relevant programs. When children have had a major role in determining procedures, they are more likely to abide by and enforce them. - It is critical for all loans to be linked to training programs that include the development of basic business and life skills. - There are tremendous advantages to involving parents or guardians in the program, where such relationships exist. Home visits allow staff the opportunity to know where the participants live and to understand more about each individual\'s situation. - Small loans are provided initially for purchasing fixed assets such as bicycles, shoe shine kits, and basic building materials for a market stall. As the entrepreneurs gain experience, the enterprises can be gradually expanded, and consideration can be given to increasing loan amounts. The loan amounts in S.K.I. programs have generally ranged from **US\$30-\$100**. - All S.K.I. programs have charged interest on the loans, primarily to get the entrepreneurs used to the concept of paying interest on borrowed money. Generally, the rates have been modest (lower than bank rates). **Conclusion** There is a need to recognize the importance of access to credit for impoverished young people seeking to fulfill economic needs. The provision of small loans to support the entrepreneurial dreams and ambitions of youth can be an effective means to help them change their lives. However, we believe that credit must be extended in association with other types of support that help participants develop critical life skills as well as productive businesses. **Questions 1-4** **Choose the correct letter, A, B, C, or D.**\ Write your answers in boxes **1-4** on your answer sheet. 1. The quotations in the box at the beginning of the article: - A\) Exemplify the effects of S.K.I. - B\) Explain why S.K.I. was set up. - C\) Outline the problems of street children. - D\) Highlight the benefits to society of S.K.I. 2. The main purpose of S.K.I. is to: - A\) Draw the attention of governments to the problem of street children. - B\) Provide schools and social support for street children. - C\) Encourage the public to give money to street children. - D\) Give business training and loans to street children. 3. Which of the following is mentioned by the writer as a reason why children end up living on the streets? - A\) Unemployment - B\) War - C\) Poverty - D\) Crime 4. In order to become more independent, street children may: - A\) Reject paid employment. - B\) Leave their families. - C\) Set up their own businesses. - D\) Employ other children.