Björn gains work experience
This week and next week, Björn is doing what is called "work experience". He is working as a lab assistant at a company called Beardow Adams, which manufactures hot melt adhesives. This week, he is working in the testing lab. Next week, he will spend one day in the office and the rest of the week in a different lab.
The idea is to give kids in their first year of GCSEs (14 to 15 year olds) a taste of what working life is like. Perhaps the idea is to scare them into staying on for 6th form rather than entering the world of employment at 16! I've seen kids at the bank before, wearing badges that proclaim them to be on work experience, and they have sat there watching other people work, looking bored out of their skulls. Fortunately, they get a list of options to choose from and Björn got his first choice. He chose things that would give him a chance to actually do something, and he is thoroughly enjoying himself!
On Tuesday, one of the guys in the lab gave him a written test. He did pretty well considering it was only his second day on the job! He got 32/40. But more impressive than his score to me was the humour he managed to inject. One question asked him to "describe the difference between "centipoise" and "poise"", to which he replied: "One has "centi" in front". Needless to say, he got no marks for that one - although strictly speaking, his answer can't be said to be wrong ;-). Another question asked: "Describe in detail one use for the finished product." Björn gave a correct answer (that it gets shipped off all around the globe to be melted down and used to seal cereal boxes), then added "In some cases it meets Glew (the female) and they have little Pritt sticks together." I defy you to top that!
Tomorrow, as he finishes in the test lab, he has to do another test, and he has been advised that any score below 49/50 will be considered poor. I am confident that he will not disappoint!
The idea is to give kids in their first year of GCSEs (14 to 15 year olds) a taste of what working life is like. Perhaps the idea is to scare them into staying on for 6th form rather than entering the world of employment at 16! I've seen kids at the bank before, wearing badges that proclaim them to be on work experience, and they have sat there watching other people work, looking bored out of their skulls. Fortunately, they get a list of options to choose from and Björn got his first choice. He chose things that would give him a chance to actually do something, and he is thoroughly enjoying himself!
On Tuesday, one of the guys in the lab gave him a written test. He did pretty well considering it was only his second day on the job! He got 32/40. But more impressive than his score to me was the humour he managed to inject. One question asked him to "describe the difference between "centipoise" and "poise"", to which he replied: "One has "centi" in front". Needless to say, he got no marks for that one - although strictly speaking, his answer can't be said to be wrong ;-). Another question asked: "Describe in detail one use for the finished product." Björn gave a correct answer (that it gets shipped off all around the globe to be melted down and used to seal cereal boxes), then added "In some cases it meets Glew (the female) and they have little Pritt sticks together." I defy you to top that!
Tomorrow, as he finishes in the test lab, he has to do another test, and he has been advised that any score below 49/50 will be considered poor. I am confident that he will not disappoint!
Labels: Beardow Adams, Björn, Work experience
posted by karynr at 2:51 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home