1    Many people have received a training contract with a ………… newspaper.

2    Pre-entry training courses are held at approved ………… .

3    Send a letter or email to the editors of newspapers to ask about becoming a temporary ………… .

A career in journalism

How do I get into journalism?

Trainees come into the industry by a variety of routes. Some are recruited directly by a newspaper in their local area and carry out their basic training under the terms of a training contract. This is known as direct entry.

However, the majority of trainees are recruited after attending vocational education and training courses. These are normally for graduates. Such courses are generally run by colleges accredited by the National Council for the Training of Journalists. This route is known as pre-entry.

Some colleges will grant places to people on pre-entry courses only if they have already had a work experience placement at a newspaper. Therefore it would be sensible for you to write to a number of local newspaper editors to ask if they will allow you to join their team of reporters as an observer for a few days. Explain why you think you would make a good reporter and try to pick a time other than July, when pressure on work experience places is at its greatest. You should try to be the applicant who stands out as the most committed to newspaper journalism, and the most able. But do not be put off if you receive rejection letters, as there is strong competition for places. Editors appreciate and respect determination and persistence.

Many people ask about becoming freelance journalists. To begin with, you must know the paper you’re hoping to write for; the article should be approximately the same number of words normally employed by the editorial column in that paper, and on one of the topics that are most likely to be used. Approach the editor in writing. Send a written synopsis of your article, enclosing some information about yourself and, if possible, some other articles you have had printed, whether in your local paper or in your student magazine.

Instead of completing sentences, the candidates could be asked to complete notes. For example, candidates might find they have to use the information in a text to complete notes about the text.

When completing gaps – for example, in a table, a flowchart, a summary, sentences, notes or diagram labels – it is important that learners are encouraged to read the question very carefully in order to work out which type of word is missing and understand the exact meaning. Knowing this information will help learners to find the correct word in the text. The word they write must be in exactly the same form as it appears in the text.

Direct entry training

• Training contract with a 1 ………… newspaper.

Here, we can predict that the missing word is probably an adjective describing the newspaper.

Editors look for someone who can 1 ………….

Ask to become a temporary 2 ………….

Writers should have 3 ………… spelling.

Before you look at the short text below, guess what the missing word(s) in Question 1 might be. Think about the type of word(s) that is needed.

Now read the text and find the answer to Question 1:

In the cooler regions the smaller Asian is slower to recover from the winter cold and does not produce any offspring until summer. The African, which warms faster, reproduces in early spring.

Staff Training and Development: Scheme of Assistance

The Company encourages the professional development of its staff and will provide assistance under this scheme to enable them to obtain approved qualifications, to undertake approved courses of study or to attend approved conferences.

Assistance will normally be given where:

a)    the qualification, course or conference is relevant to the role currently being carried out by the individual; and

b)    the company’s operational requirements permit such assistance to be given.

Some or all of the following forms of assistance may be given at the discretion of the Head of Department:

Time off 

• where it is not possible for an employee to undertake training outside working hours, release from work for up to two days per week.

• paid time off during normal working hours to sit examinations or attend short courses or conferences.

• paid individual study leave to be taken at agreed times, and not normally to exceed 5 days per annum.

Financial assistance

• toward the cost of tuition and examination fees.

• a contribution toward the cost of learning materials of up to £150 or 50% of the actual cost (whichever is the lesser amount).

• any relevant travel or accommodation costs up to a maximum of £150 p.a.

Requests for assistance should be made on the relevant application form, which can be obtained from the Personnel Administrator, and once completed and signed by your Head of Department, should be forwarded for consideration by the Finance Committee.

Assistance will be given on the condition that:

a)    individuals shall reimburse the Company 50% of any financial assistance given under the scheme if they leave the Company within one year of obtaining a qualification or completing a course of study, and 25% if they leave the Company within two years.

b)    individuals shall reimburse the full cost of any financial assistance given under this scheme if they fail to complete the course of study, or fail to attend a conference for reasons that are not acceptable.

c)    individuals shall notify the Personnel Administrator promptly if they drop out of a course of study, or fail to attend a conference. They should also provide information concerning the results of any examination taken. 

Questions

Complete the notes below. Write no more than three words and/or a number for each answer. 

Help with staff training/development

Help with training can only be given if the (1) ………… of the company allow it.

Employees are usually allowed time off with pay for no more than (2) ………… private study days each year.

The (3) ………… assesses formal applications for financial assistance.

Employees who leave the company less than a year after finishing their course have to repay (4)………… of any money they received.

Employees have to report withdrawals, absences or exam results to the (5) …………. 

• Let's try using the strategy to answer the following questions. Read the instructions and choose the correct answer to each question.

•  

• ... write

• TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

• FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

• NOT GIVEN  if there is no information on this

•   The last of the wild horses lived around 10,000 years ago.

• Horses have been racing across the landscape for around 55 million years – much longer than our own species has existed. However, prehistoric remains show that at the end of the Ice Age, some 10,000 years ago, wild horses died out in the Americas and dwindled in western Europe, for reasons that are not clear. But they continued to thrive on the steppes of eastern Europe and Central Asia, where short grasses and shrubs grow on vast, dry stretches of land. Most scholars believe it was here that people domesticated the horse. However, the DNA of domestic horses is very diverse. This suggests they may be descended from a number of different wild horse populations, in several locations.

•   Initially people probably used domesticated horses to supplement their diet.

• Once horses and humans encountered each other, our two species became powerfully linked. Humans domesticated horses some 6,000 years ago, and over time, we have created more than 200 breeds. The first domestic horses were likely to have been kept mainly as a source of food, rather than for work or for riding. There is evidence of horses being raised for meat in Kazakhstan, in Central Asia, around 5,500 years ago later they began to pull chariots, and horseback riding became common in Afghanistan and Iran about 4,000 years ago. As we have shaped horses to suit our needs on battlefields, farms and elsewhere, these animals have shaped human history. The ways we travel, trade, play, work and fight wars have all been profoundly shaped by our use of horses.

•   Methods of artificial selection have changed over the centuries.

• When people domesticate animals, they control their behavior in many ways. For example, animals that are being domesticated no longer choose their own mates. Instead, people control their breeding. Individuals with traits that humans prefer are more likely to produce offspring and pass on their genes. In the course of several generations, both the body and behavior of the animal are transformed. In the wild, animals that are well adapted to their environment live long and reproduce, while others die young. In this way, nature "chooses" the traits that are passed on to the next generation. This is the process of evolution by natural selection. Domestic animals also evolve, but people do the selecting. Humans seek out qualities like tameness, and help animals with those traits to survive and bear young. This is evolution by artificial selection. Most domestic animals are naturally social. Their wild ancestors lived in groups, with individuals responding to each other – some led, others followed. In domestic animals, the tendency to submit to others is especially strong. Generations of breeding have encouraged them to let people take the lead.

Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D.

33   Prehistoric evidence has been found that shows that

A     people have existed in the Americas much longer than horses.

B     horses in the Americas prefer to eat short grasses and shrubs.

C     as the ice caps melted, the wild horse became extinct in the Americas. 

D     domestic horses have similar DNA to horses 10,000 years ago.

Horses have been racing across the landscape for around 55 million years – much longer than our own species has existed. However, prehistoric remains show that at the end of the Ice Age, some 10,000 years ago, wild horses died out in the Americas and dwindled in western Europe, for reasons that are not clear. But they continued to thrive on the steppes of eastern Europe and Central Asia, where short grasses and shrubs grow on vast, dry stretches of land. Most scholars believe it was here that people domesticated the horse. However, the DNA of domestic horses is very diverse. This suggests they may be descended from a number of different wild horse populations, in several locations.