Read the text and complete tasks 1-7

Two years ago, I completed a degree in Education atone of London's finer universities. I had workedextremely hard and I was proud of what I hadaccomplished. One night while having dinner withfriends, we began a discussion about what we wantedto do with our futures. My former flatmate had alreadyfound a position at a well-respected bank in Londonand advised the gathering that we should all be outthere looking for jobs as well. Everybody around ourtable agreed except for me and another girl, Nellie,who I had only met on one previous occasion. Nellieand I were both at a loss as to what we wanted to do,but we were of one mind in that we did not want toimmediately plunge ourselves into a nine-to-five job.

After all the others had left, Nellie and I stayed behindat the restaurant to talk about the possibilities open tous. After hours of bantering ideas about, some ofthem as strange as going on a year-long surfingholiday to Australia or going on an extended trekkingtour of Tibet, we decided to get serious. When Nelliebrought up the topic of working holidays in Africa, Iwas instantly enthusiastic.

Nellie had a friend who had spent her gap year, the yearbetween finishing university and beginning work, inGhana. She had come back full of tales about heradventures and the wonderful people of the country.Nellie said that her friend had gone on in detail abouthow the experience had changed her life, her attitudesand her plans for the future. It all sounded incrediblyfascinating and a real eye-opener, and I wanted to be apart of it.

Six months later, I was. Going through a companycalled Filling the Gap, which I had found out aboutwhile surfing the Net, I was offered a teaching positionin an orphanage in Ghana. My parents thought it wasa terrible plan, but with the backing of my two siblings,Jane and Ron, they finally came round to the idea ofme going off to the vast continent of Africa. To beperfectly honest, on arriving in Ghana I had a fewfleeting moments when I thought perhaps my parentshad been right and that I was making the mistake of alifetime.

The orphanage where I was to spend the next eightmonths living and working was run-down and verypoorly managed. Only four of the classes which weresupposed to be taught at the school had teachers,and of these four teachers only one of them evershowed their face in the classroom. The other threespent most of their working day sitting under a hugetree in the orphanage yard eating nuts and tradinggossip. It seemed that there was nobody at theorphanage who could tell me what I was supposed toteach, who I was supposed to teach or with whatmaterials I was supposed to teach. I knew I had mywork cut out for me.

After several days, the manager of the orphanageshowed up and assigned me a classroom and handedme a list with twelve names on it; these namesbelonged to the children to whom I was expected tooffer all my wisdom. Initially, I was simply confused.However, after a few days of getting names wrong, tothe utter delight of the children, I settled in and thingsstarted to go the way they were meant to. The childrenwere tremendously eager to learn and to see the lookof pure joy on their faces as they began to understanda particular subject came to mean the world to me.

Seeing the class as a whole develop and individualstudents bloom over the next few months wasextraordinarily rewarding. My whole gap yearexperience was nothing but positive. Never did Ireceive anything except warmth, gratitude andacceptance from these wonderful people. Beinghoused with the same children I was teaching meantthat we had plenty of time for extracurricular activitiesthat the children could simply not get enough of. Theirthirst for knowledge was humbling. Going to Ghanachanged my entire perspective. It cleared up all thequestions I had had about my future. The onlyquestion now remaining is how soon I can get back toGhana, and back to the amazing children I left behindin the orphanage.

After gaining her qualifications the writer felt

• uncertain about her future.
• worried about her future.
• pessimistic about her future.
• unenthusiastic about her future.

The writer's conversation with Nellie excited her because of

• the wide range of possibilities open to them.
• the originality of Nellie's suggestions.
• one particular suggestion Nellie made.
• the idea of going away for a year.

Nellie's story about her friendgave the writer the impression that

• one had to work hard in Ghana.
• Ghana would provide aninteresting learning experience.
• Nellie had already decided to go to Ghana, too.
• the story had changed Nellie'slife.

The writer found a job inGhana

• with the help of her brother andsister.
• through a friend.
• through a company.
• purely by chance.

The phrase 'I had my work cut out for me' at the end of the fifth paragraph means

• her expectations had all been wrong.
• she was facing a very difficult task.
• the school really needed her.
• she expected to be very busy.

When the writer started teaching at the orphanage, she was happy because

• the children responded well to her teaching.
• the children didn't seem to notice her initial uncertainty.
• she managed to learn the children's names quickly.
• she was a better teacher than she thought she wouldbe.

The phrase 'could simply not get enough of' in the middle of the last paragraph refers to

• the availability of plenty of timefor something.
• the way a difficulty was overcome.
• a lack of opportunity to do something.
• an enthusiasm for something.