Part 2 READING PASSAGE 2

Read the text below and answer Questions 14-21.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS INSTITUTE BUDDY PEER SUPPORT SCHEME

Think back to your first days and weeks in a new country. Were there times when you had questions that you wished you could ask a friend, or when you wanted to have a chat about how you were feeling?

To help new students, the International Business Institute (IBI) plans to set up a Buddy Peer Support Scheme. The scheme will help new students meet current students at IBI who can provide them with some friendly company during their first months in Newcastle and help them with any small problems that they may have. Often, buddies may not be able to solve the problem, but they may know who can help.

What’s in it for you?

We believe that being a buddy will be rewarding in several ways. As a volunteer, it will be personally satisfying to know that you are able to help new students. However, it will also help you to make contacts that may be valuable in your future academic and professional lives.

If you are an overseas student, it will give you another opportunity to practise speaking English. Lastly and most importantly, we hope that it will be enjoyable for you to be a buddy!

Responsibilities of buddies

1. Telephone and arrange to make contact with the new student.

2. Meet the student and show him/her around the campus and the local area. Meet for coffee, perhaps. Answer questions about living in Newcastle and administration procedures at IBI. (We will give you a checklist of things to mention when we send you the new student’s name and telephone number).

3. Arrange to meet the new student one morning or afternoon one weekend early in the semester, and take the student to places that you enjoy in Newcastle.

4. Be prepared to take telephone calls from the new student to answer further questions that he/she may have from time to time. Meet to explain information in person, if required.

5. You will be matched to an individual new student. However, if you have friends who are also buddies, you might prefer to form a support group together. This would mean that you meet the new students as a group rather than one-on-one.

6. Being a buddy is voluntary. There is no ‘requirement’ to provide assistance beyond the help outlined above. However, we hope that the buddy and new students will enjoy each other’s company and continue to meet.

Please note that if you agree to become a peer support buddy, you will be expected to fulfil your role conscientiously and cheerfully. It will be important to be considerate and reliable so that our student can feel confident of your support.

7. When you agree to act as a buddy for a particular term, your commitment covers that term only. For example, if you act as a buddy for Term 2, and would prefer to be free in the following term, there is no obligation to continue as a buddy in Term 3. Of course, we hope that you will want to assist every term.

Read the text below and answer Questions 22-27.

IMS LEAVE ENTITLEMENTS

The purpose of this document is to advise IMS employees of their leave entitlements, such as paid vacation time, holidays and time off to look after yourself or others during times of sickness or difficulty.

Annual Leave

Employees are entitled to 4 weeks of paid annual leave for each 12 months of service to IMS. Being determined on your standard hours of work, this base entitlement accrues progressively during the year and accumulates from year to year. The accrued leave, expressed in hours, is printed on your fortnightly payslip. Should you work additional hours over and above your contracted hours a pro rata amount is calculated toward your annual leave.

Employees are required to take 5 of their annual leave days during the closedown period between Christmas and New Year. The remaining leave may be taken at a time agreed to by IMS though, under the law, IMS cannot unduly reject any reasonable application for such leave.

Employees are entitled to payment for all public holidays which fall on a working day.

Personal/Carer’s Leave and Compassionate Leave

IMS employees are provided with personal/carer’s leave and compassionate leave as per Workplace Relations Standards.

For each 12 month period you are entitled to 10 days of paid personal/ carer’s leave, which covers both sick leave and carer’s leave, and 2 days of paid compassionate leave. This leave also accrues and accumulates under the same conditions as your annual leave.

Personal/carer’s leave can be taken as a result of personal illness or injury, or to provide care or support for a member of your immediate family who is sick, injured or has an unexpected emergency

Compassionate leave may be taken in the event of a death or life threatening illness of a member of your immediate family.

For the purposes of this document, ‘immediate family’ includes the following: spouse, de facto partner, children, parents, grandparents, grandchildren and siblings.

When personal, carer’s or compassionate leave is taken, you must notify IMS as soon as possible of your inability to attend work. IMS may request evidence in the form of a medical certificate or statutory declaration to support your reason for the leave.