In the Core English break at 1100 our roving reporter asked students:
“What have you been doing in class this morning?”
Serious Debate @ The Opinion Parliament
Opinion Parliament
Can you think on your feet? Can you give an opinion on a subject you’ve never thought about before ? Can you defend an opinion which is the opposite of yours?
You’ll need to work on all these skills to win the argument in the Opinion Parliament.
Rares, C2 student from Romania explains what happens in the Opinion Parliament
Debating the big issues
“What have you been doing in class this morning?”
Paulina B2 from Poland and Amy B2 from China give us a summary of their debate about capital punishment (the death penalty).
What is really impressive is how they are listening to, responding to and respecting each other’s views.
Negotiation skills
In Jai’s class B2 students discussed different negotiating strategies including:
Win Win
Win Lose
Welcome Edoardo
A big welcome to Edoardo from Italy who got delayed and arrived on Monday. Let’s all make him feel extra welcome.
Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare
Sweet sorrow
New students
Drayton Manor
Ludlow Castle
We are going to miss you!
Parting is such sweet sorrow
Parting is such sweet sorrow
Lots of students are leaving today. You brought open minds and open hearts to Ludlow and you made summer school magical.
Thank you wonderful students
We are going to miss you very much.
The important thing now is to keep in touch with each other. Write to each other. Call each other. Whatsapp message each other. Visit it each other. This is just the start of your new international friendships.
Heroes
Rachel (left) and Lauren (right) get ready to take students to the airport. Operations Director Claire (centre) organises all the transfers.
Isn’t that an amazing photo? Would you believe they have been have been awake helping students get ready to leave since 4 o’clock in the morning?
#TheyNeedACupOfTea (with milk)
Claudia from Barcelona, Spain has been such a positive student these last two weeks. There she is behind Rachel. Goodbye and thank you for bringing an extra dose of “positive vibes” to campus Claudia! Keep in touch!
New students
Many students have arrived and are arriving today including these guys.
English joke
We asked them to frown, but most refused and insisted on smiling...
Summer school is a big challenge.
Some students take to summer school “like a duck to water”.
Some will take a few days to “settle in” or feel at home.
Who ever said school was going to be easy?
New food
A new country.
18 new cultures to deal with
New teachers
New subjects
Away from home
No mum and dad
… all in a second language.
On the other hand, there are upsides:
No mum and dad… (!) [English joke]
25+ hours of activities a week
New friends
Trying new sports and developing skills
Trying new food from all around the world
20 hectares of gardens
150+ hours spent using English over two weeks
Cinema nights, bowling nights and excursions to new places
One thing is for sure, summer school might not be easy, but it makes young people more independent, more resilient and they gain a more international perspective. So let’s face this challenge together.
Other news:
Drayton Manor
Today some students went to Drayton Manor with Seth:
Ludlow Castle and town
Some students spent the morning discovering Ludlow Castle and Ludlow.
Chill time
After such an ‘actioned packed week’ most students were really tired. In the afternoon pro-Tennis coaches and pro-Golf coaches delivered light taster training sessions and then students chilled out.
#WeLoveOurCampus
Time to relax and get energy for next week
Good night everyone:
Welcome back home to the students who have left – we hope you had a safe journey. Sleep well remaining students and new arrivals!
If you are travelling to Ludlow today, and if you like beautiful gardens, we highly recommend this event in the centre of Ludlow.
Ludlow is a medieval town surrounded by a city wall. Inside the old town there are lots of beautiful secret gardens.
Usually you can’t see them, but today… you can!
Open Garden Day in Ludlow
Meet the locals
This is a great opportunity for you to meet local people in Ludlow. The town is famous with British tourists, but not with international tourists. That is why you can expect a very warm welcome: people will be very interested to meet you over a cup of tea (with milk)… and “pass the time of day” (have a chat).
Teachers are starting the week with some challenging learning objectives:
Calvin’s C1 class analyse and then write news articles also focusing on the more advanced language of deduction and probability.
Eugenie from France – getting ready to learn more
Mat’s B1 class focus on academic English. Specifically they use the language of cause and effect to write a report about recycling.
Active Learning
They also develop their Critical Thinking skills and take ownership of their own learning by asking “thoughtful questions” themselves.
Academic focusAcademic English – report on recycling
Meanwhile, the B2 students in Jai’s class discuss the future of robots in human society and follow their spoken work with an academic essay.
Get Ahead options this week:
This weeks Get Ahead options are:
Get Ahead pro-Football starts today
Performing Arts: Dance Choreography
Leadership: Speech Making
Creative English: Creative Writing
Pro-Sport: Tennis, Golf, Football
Intensive English: FCE
Dance Choreography
The Dance students have 9 hours to create a show ready for performance in the theatre:
Yes, we said 9 hours.
Is it possible?
Watch the video and tell us what you think! This is what they achieved working together after just 2 hours and 15 minutes.
…Let’s just say, that we’re looking forward to the show on Friday 20th July.
Monday night means we’re going out
We love Monday nights out. It’s the perfect time for new students to get to know each other in a relaxed setting. Lucia, Taissa and Priscilla from different parts of Brazil “show us how it’s done”.
We’re off-campus bowling
Happy birthday Michal
<<< Warning: the next photograph is from the boys' accommodation area >>>
Finally, the day ends with all the boys singing happy birthday to Michal. How many people experience this? New friends from 16 countries “singing happy birthday to you”.
Happy Birthday B2 student Michal from Radom, Poland!Goodnight everyone!
After such a busy day, everyone is going to “sleep like a log”.
Great weather meant a lovely walk to Ludlow this morning across the fields and woods.
In 1066 the French led by William the Conqueror invaded England. To control the new territory the French built a network of castles including Ludlow Castle in 1086.
Here we all are taking in the view at the top of the tower.
Taissa from Brazil scales the castle walls
Did you know that King Henry VIII's wife Catherine Aragon was locked up in Ludlow Castle?
Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio
They’d read the books.
They’d seen the films.
Finally, fans of Harry Potter got the chance to go to the incredible Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio. Did they enjoy it?
Here they are mixing potions:
Mixing potions at Harry Potter Warner Bros. Studio.
Here they are casting spells:
Here are the boys who got turned green by the girls:
Here they are on platform 9 3/4.
Did they enjoy it?
We think so, yes!!
Finally…
This weekend we were all excited to welcome new guests including: Clementina, Constanza and Ginevra.
Here they are being ‘checked in’ in the main reception:
Some students chose Oxford which is home to Oxford University, established around 1000 years ago.
After punting on the river they enjoyed a tour of the centre of the city where the university colleges are.
The Radcliffe Camera, which is actually a library!Centre of Oxford outside the university
Locked in the stocks
However… some chose Warwick Castle with Stratford.
In the castle dungeons the students met people dying of cholera together with a jailer and a judge.
Cholera corpses.
It got worse…
Unfortunately several students were found guilty by the judge of terrible crimes and they were locked in the stocks.
If you go before the judge, your fate is sealed.Warwick Castle
Some brave students led by House Parent Rachel besieged the castle using a trebuchet hurling balls of burning tar at the castle walls.
Students attacking the castle using a trebuchet
A close up of the trebuchet.
Next these brave students charged the castle guards on horseback.
Attempted rescue of the students from the stocks.
However, unfortunately all the rescue attempts failed and we are hoping these poor students will be released before their flights home.
The More Than English eagle messenger
All petitions to the judge begging for mercy should be emailed to info@morethanenglish.co.uk. We will use the More Than English eagle to fly from Ludlow to Warwick to pass your pleading messages on (as you would expect, they have no email in Warwick).
Until then, may God have mercy on the souls of all the prisoners.
This evening, teams worked together to create Lip Sync Dance routines.
Have you ever seen a TV programme with judges? One is always kind? One is always… not quite so generous. Take a look at the judges – who do you think was “the severe one”?!!
Did you guess correctly?
The show was amazing. Stunning. It’s incredible how the students chose routines so quickly (and in some cases created routines “from scratch”) and worked together to deliver them to the audience.
The audience went wild on many occasions including when Finn took to the stage with his group and “stole the limelight”.
But you know, behind every show there’s a lot that happens behind the scenes. Here’s a taster of all that preparation in action.
Would you like to see more behind the scenes footage? Look out for an exclusive special edition Lip Synch blog full of behind the scenes footage.
One more thing… if Lip Sync was such a high standard, what is next week’s Get Ahead Dance Performance in the Theatre going to be like? We’ll have to wait to find out.
It’s Day 5 and everyone is getting to know each other really well now. Today is Guest Speaker day.
Core English
Lesson 2 is for tasks. A task is when students do something with their English.
Interview
Design an event
Create a video
Presentation
Conduct research
Here is mini-presentation on food trends in different countries:
Food
Speaking of food, travelling to a different country is all about trying new food.
Do you know what the most popular food in the UK is? More Than English manager David asks some students in the dinner queue:
Did you get the answer?
Answer:
<<< Curry >>>
Super creative Chef Paul cooked a mild chicken version and a spicier beef curry.
Lucia from Mexico: we’ll get you some extra chillies during our next trip to the supermarket. PROMISE!
For the evening meal, we’re having a traditional British meal: “Bangers and Mash”
Club Time – The GameZ
Two strange men carry water in a bin across the field.
What are they doing?
Why are they doing that?
5 minutes later
What is happening… over there?
Answer: what is going on is The GameZ. Water, Sponges. Slides. Organised Mayhem!
What are the rules?
Sorry – that’s a secret.
Inspirational guest speaker
Antarctica
Arrival in Antarctica
Summer school means space. Space for children to move. Space to think. Space to try new things and explore new directions.
Jonathan is an explorer and scientist who has worked in Antarctica for many decades.
In Part 1 of his talk, Jonathan explains the science behind climate change in Antarctica.
Antarctic explorer and scientist – Jonathan
Could you share this 1 room shack for 2.5 years with 4 other people?
In Part 2 he captures the students’ attention with his stories of living in a small one bedroom shack, hundreds of miles from other humans for 2.5 years with just three other scientists. They had to rely entirely on themselves. There was no one from the outside to help them. They fixed the shack. They cooked the bread. And when someone had toothache, they removed each others’ teeth using a basic book of dentistry to guide them.
Sometimes they fell out. Sometimes they argued. But in Antarctica, if you don’t help each other, you won’t survive. They had to learn to forget arguments.
Why do you think this is Jonathan’s favourite picture of Antarctica?
Jonathan told many stories including what they ate in order to consume 4500 calories a day; an 18 day whiteout; and meeting the Queen. And of course, don’t forget the penguins.
Most importantly, Jonathan emphasises to the students that he was just a ordinary person who chose to lead an extraordinary life.
Camping in Antarctica – average winter temperature -49°C. The average temperature of your fridge is -15°C
International Summer School
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