Improve your English by working in a charity shop

Do you want to practice your English and get some work experience? In this video, I’ll explain how to volunteer at a charity shop, also called a thrift store. I’ll teach you sentences you can use to ask for a volunteer position at a charity shop. You’ll also learn important vocabulary about the things you will find in a British charity shop. Spending time in this environment is an excellent way for you to improve your English. In London and across the UK there are many charity volunteering opportunities. I’ll also tell you about the biggest charity shop chains and a teach you a little bit about them. After you watch the video, head to to take a practice test to see if you’re ready to work in a charity shop, or browse over 1000 other free English lesson videos and resources. TRANSCRIPT Hi. I’m Gill at , and today we’re going to look at: “Working in a Charity Shop“ or sometimes called a “Thrift Store“ in... More in America, Canada. So, to explain what I mean by a charity shop - a charity raises money for a particular purpose, so either for people in a disaster area; people needing food, clothing, shelter. Money has to be raised, transport to take the things to the place where the disaster has happened. So, places like Oxfam, a charity called Oxfam which operates all around the world. It began in Oxford, which partly explains its name. It started in Oxford, and in response to a famine. So, they put those two words together: “Oxfam“, and so, it has been running now for many, many years, and is a big, international charity. Okay? So, we have Oxfam. The Salvation Army is another charity who operate in various countries, and they are partly a religious organization, but they are also very practical, and they arrange shelter for homeless people, and they have hostels for people to stay in overnight or to live in on a more permanent basis, and they provide food and clothing. So, again, they need to raise money to do all of that. Then there are two medical charities, here, that I’ve written down. The Cancer Research and the particular UK-based charity, the British Heart Foundation who do research into heart disease. Okay? And perhaps I should just explain “famine“. So, I mentioned Oxford, and I said a famine, I didn’t explain famine. When there is no food, maybe the people have been growing their crops, but there has been very bad weather and they have lost their crops-wheat, maize, vegetables, perhaps the whole harvest has been lost because of very bad weather, like heavy rain; or if it’s been very, very dry in a hot country and the crops don’t grow, and they haven’t had the water to put on the crops for them to grow-there will be no food, so that is a famine. Okay. That’s the full word, there: “famine“. Okay, so that explains “Oxfam“, how they started. So, working in a charity shop... You find these shops in many cities and towns, in the UK, in North America, and often you can go in and buy maybe second-hand clothes or shoes, all sorts of things that you need; books, coffee, tea, things like that. It’s also called a thrift store, because “thrift“ means you don’t spend a lot of money. If you don’t have a lot of money to spend, a charity shop or a thrift store is a good place to go if you need some new clothes. Sometimes the clothes are completely new and they have not been worn. Maybe they were given as a present and the person didn’t want the present, they never even tried it on, so they give it to the charity shop. So... And then the charity shop sells it, and that is how they raise their money for their particular purpose. Right. So, if... One of the good things about working in a charity shop if you come to an English-speaking country and you’re trying to learn the language, it’s a very, very good opportunity to learn the language, because you’ll be working with other English-speaking people, so you have to speak to them to work with them. You might be having to speak to customers in the shop as well. So, it’s a very good opportunity to learn a lot more vocabulary, how to say things, grammar maybe as well. So, it’s a very good place to go if you’re trying to get a job, but you haven’t been able to get a job. It’s good experience. It’s good work experience to spend some time in a charity shop. Maybe just for a few hours a week or one day a week. I should explain that it’s usually voluntary, which means it’s not paid. It’s unpaid work, but it’s very good experience. Right. So, an opportunity to learn the language. So, these are some of the charities whose shops you might see, and they’re all in the centre of towns and cities, you see them everywhere. Sometimes if they need volunteers, they will put a piece of paper in the window, a notice that says: “We need more volunteers. Please come in and talk to us about it.“ But if you don’t see a notice, don’t let that put you off.