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MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO Au Pairs in the United Kingdom

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MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO Au Pairs in the United Kingdom MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature Au pairs in the United Kingdom – development of language skills and cultural awareness Bachelor thesis Brno 2016 Supervisor: Author: Ailsa Marion Randall, M.A. Jitka Weatherly 1 Declaration: I hereby declare that I worked on my bachelor thesis independently, using only the sources listed in the bibliography section. I agree with storing this work in the library of the Faculty of Education at Masaryk University Brno and making it accessible for study purposes. Brno, 30 November 2016 ….......................... Jitka Weatherly 2 Acknowledgements: I would like to thank my supervisor Ailsa Randall for her kind guidance, immense patience and valuable comments which she provided throughout the whole process of my writing. I would also like to thank my classmates and friends, namely David, Kateřina, Martin, Radka and Vladimír, for all their help and moral support throughout writing this thesis and my studies in general. 3 Annotation This bachelor thesis deals with the au pair scheme and its title is “Au pairs in the United Kingdom – development of language skills and cultural awareness”. The aim of this thesis is to prove that the au pair experience is a valuable way of learning English language and the culture of the country. In the theoretical part, culture, what is it and why it is beneficial to learn culture of another country is described. Alongside the culture also the au pair scheme is examined, its history and present form, participants and the reasons behind the decision of becoming or employing an au pair. The practical part is based on research which was done by questionnaires and interviews with both current and former au pairs from different European countries. Anotace Tato bakalářská práce se zabývá programem au pair a její název je „Au pair ve Spojeném království Velké Británie a Severního Irska - rozvoj jazykových dovedností a kulturního povědomí“. Cílem této bakalářské práce je dokázat, že au pair zkušenost je hodnotný způsob učení se anglickému jazyku a kultuře dané země. V teoretické části je popsána kultura, co to je a proč je užitečné se učit kultuře jiné země. Zároveň s kulturou je zkoumán au pair program, jeho historie a současná forma, účastníci a důvody pro rozhodnutí stát se či zaměstnat au pair. Praktická část je založena na výzkumu, který byl vykonán na základě kvantitativního dotazníku a rozhovorů s nynějšími i bývalými au pair. 4 Key words au pair, au pair scheme, children, childcare, childminder, culture, culture exchange, culture shock, English language, experience, host family, nanny, to learn Klíčová slova au pair, au pair program, děti, péče o děti, pečovatelka, kultura, kulturní výměna, kulturní šok, anglický jazyk, zkušenost, zážitek, chůva, hostitelská rodina, naučit se 5 CONTENT INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................8 1. CULTURE.............................................................................................................................10 1.1 What is culture................................................................................................................10 1.2 Why is it beneficial to learn the culture of other nations................................................11 1.2.1. Stumbling blocks in intercultural communication.................................................12 1.3 Culture shock..................................................................................................................16 2. AU PAIR...............................................................................................................................19 2.1 Participants of the au pair scheme..................................................................................19 2.1.1 Au pairs in UK........................................................................................................20 2.2 History and current view................................................................................................21 2.3 Au pairs – young women or young men?.......................................................................25 2.4 The reason why young people become au pairs.............................................................26 2.5 Why do families in UK seek au pairs?...........................................................................29 2.6 Pseudo-family relationship.............................................................................................33 3. RESEARCH..........................................................................................................................37 3.1 Introduction to research..................................................................................................37 3.2 Evaluation of the Research.............................................................................................39 3.2.1 List of the questions................................................................................................39 3.2.2 The respondents......................................................................................................40 3.2.3 The motives............................................................................................................42 3.2.4 Language skills.......................................................................................................45 3.2.5 First differences......................................................................................................47 6 3.2.6 Cultural awareness..................................................................................................51 3.2.6.1 Relationships and behaviour...........................................................................51 3.2.6.2 Cuisine............................................................................................................53 3.2.6.3 Education system............................................................................................54 3.2.6.4 Transport.........................................................................................................55 3.2.6.5 Health care......................................................................................................56 3.2.6.6 The stumbling block........................................................................................57 3.2.7 Recommendation....................................................................................................57 3.2.8 Summary.................................................................................................................58 3.3 Interviews.......................................................................................................................60 3.3.1 Participants.............................................................................................................60 3.3.2 Motives...................................................................................................................61 3.3.3 Pseudo-family relationships....................................................................................62 3.3.4 Cultural exchange...................................................................................................63 3.3.5 Experiences from au pair scheme...........................................................................66 3.3.6 Recommendation....................................................................................................67 3.3.7 Male au pairs...........................................................................................................67 3.3.8 Summary.................................................................................................................68 CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................70 LIST OF REFERENCES..........................................................................................................72 APPENDICES..........................................................................................................................75 1. THE QUESTIONNAIRE.................................................................................................75 2. THE CEFR GLOBAL SCALE.........................................................................................79 3. THE INTERVIEW...........................................................................................................81 7 INTRODUCTION This bachelor thesis deals with the well known au pair scheme and its benefits in regards of learning the language and culture of the country. Specifically it deals with au pairs in United Kingdom and its title is Au pairs in United Kingdom - development of language skills and cultural awareness. The aim of the work is to prove that au pair experience is a valuable way of learning English language and the culture of the country. I personally had the opportunity to be an au pair in UK for two years and I benefited from this experience immensely. I learnt the English language by communicating with native speakers and attending the college classes, I spent a considerable amount of time with children and I was introduced to a completely new culture. This two years experience is still influencing me nowadays therefore I decided to write my thesis on this interesting topic. The thesis has two main parts: theoretical and practical. The theoretical part has two
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