Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.

Dear Sir,
I was surprised to read your recent editorial on the question of student's part-time jobs. You appear to be making a lot of generalisations on the basis of just one unfortunate incident (I assure you that not all young people who deliver newspapers are as foolish and dishonest as the two youths mentioned in your article).
The first point I would like to make is that there are many jobs teenagers can do which gave them useful experience of the working world. They are brought into contact with a variety of people, often older, and are given experience of expressing themselves clearly and coherently. I am thinking here of jobs such as travel guides and shop assistants.
Another argument for schoolchildren and college students having holiday or weekend jobs is that many parents need the financial assistance. If we take, for example, a family in which the father is unemployed or perhaps a single-parent family on a low income, it seems logical and fair that a son or daughter should try to bring money into the household.
One further thing I want to say is that a lot of jobs for the young can be fun for the people who do them and also useful to the community. Youngsters who help in schools, hospitals and with the elderly often derive a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction as well as contributing something valuable to local society.
In conclusion, I would add that when I was a girl, my father said my teens were a time for books, hobbies and academic studies. Thinking back, I feel I would have learnt much more -about myself, other people and life in general- if he had allowed me to do a limited amount of real work. Certainly, when she is old enough, I shall encourage my own daughter to do so, rather than waste her time with soap operas, computer games and discotheques, like so many people today.

Yours faithfully,
Margaret Williams (Mrs)


READING COMPREHENSION: (08pts)
A. Vocabulary in context: Find in the text word close in meaning with the following definitions. (0,5x2=1pt)
The amount of money you receive over a period of time as a payment:………………………
A serial on television that deals with everyday lives:………………………….

B. Information transfer: Complete the following sentences referring to the text. (1x2=2pts)
.....................................and......................................... are the two different jobs Margaret wants to do during the holidays.

Many schoolchildren should do holiday jobs because…………………………………………. …………………………………………………………

C. True or false: Answer these statements with true or false, and justify your answers by quoting from the text. (1x3=3pts)
1. This letter was written to a newspaper.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
2. Children in one-parent families should not work.
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
3. The authoress worked when she was at school.
………………………………………………………………………………………….

D. Looking for information: (0,5x4=2pts)
1. Give two the advantages of working while still at school.
a) …………………………………………………………………………………
b) ………………………………………………………………………………….

2. Give two cases in which financial assistance would be helpful.
a).............................................................................................................................
b).............................................................................................................................

LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE: (08pts)
E. Complete the following dialogue. (0,5x4=2pts)
A :……………………………( you/spend) your holidays?
B: I always spend my holidays in Dakar.
A: ……………………………………………….?
B: I help my farther sell groundnuts and other cereals.
A: Well, you could not enjoy your holidays, …………………………..?
B: No, ………………… but I am happy I bring more money in my family.

F. Finding errors: Correct the following sentences if necessary. (1x3=3pts)
1. Her father and her works during the holidays.
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
2. If there weren’t children who work, some parents’ lives will be very tough.
……………………………………………………………………………………………….
3. Manager, guide and trader are all good jobs but air hostess is the best.
……………………………………………………………………………………………….

H. Put the verbs in brackets in the right tense or form. (1x3=3pts)
I have (study)………………… for ten years in public schools but now, I (be)………. in private school because I (fail)………………… twice in my exams.

WRITING: Choose only one topic and don’t exceed 200 words. (04pts)
Topic1: What is your opinion about part-time jobs? Would you like to have one? Why?

Topic2: Two students are talking about the coming holidays; the first wants to work during the holidays and the second wants to enjoy himself. Write down their conversation.