Horses for Courses

Fitting square pegs in square holes

September 2005 – the context

The arrangements between universities are not always clear

Students cannot always access courses they wish to – unrealistic expectations

English and American Studies allow very few Erasmus students on their programmes

Level of English can be inadequate Many E.S. at the ULC registration exercise

Our response

To create more bespoke courses for E.S. We already had: credit-rated - Tandem (more of which later) Ethnography for International Students EAP course And generally – Cambridge Preparation classes (fee-paying) In-sessional Classes (but for non EU students)

New courses developed

Creative Writing Business English British Society seen through Film – a course

for international students, with language support

Questionnaire

When in doubt, devise a questionnaire Results were not very surprising – but some

useful information came through New courses suggested – Media Studies (television, press) British Cultural Studies And one important point made – no ‘Erasmus

ghetto’.

Tandem Learning – how we differ…

Credit – rated Very large programme (1st semester 180

students) French, German, Spanish, Italian Target Population – E.S., LEAP students but

increasingly specialist language students Enquiry based element in second semester Consistently excellent student feedback

Benefits of Tandem Learning

One to one peer tuition Promotes independent learning Electronic component (part of U of M 2015

agenda) Most importantly for E.S., integration into

British student society

Other Forms of Tandem Learning

L. Pal – for Arabic, Chinese and Japanese students of English and their English partners

An asymmetrical scheme V-pal – an MSN/Skype Tandem for Italian,

German and Japanese Electronic Tandem project with Barcelona

(September 2006)

Integration of Foreign Students

Tension between students attending bespoke courses and their being part of the wider educational community

It was ever thus – even in the 60s, with few foreign students on European campuses, they tended to congregate

Our own students abroad often experience the same isolation and indifference

Tandem programmes make a huge contribution Integration of non UK native English speakers in

British culture classes is another way forward Ethnography classes also helpful

Multilingual FL classrooms

Increasingly diverse MFL courses – we can no longer presume homogeneity

Invitation to target language teaching Encouragement to adopt international standards,

criteria, examinations – such as the CEF; DALF; GI examinations; DELE

Awareness of cultural issues that we perhaps were less open to in the past

A need to understand how speakers of other languages address the TL – their needs & problems

In conclusion

We have discussed some of the challenges There are enormous benefits also - Diversity is fun! – for teachers & students Our foreign students bring qualities some of

our own students lack (work ethic, desire to communicate, maturity)

Most important of all: tolerance, understanding, perhaps even friendship, between people of very different backgrounds