Festive fun at FoC; Fancy dress, scary films, bonfires and bobbing for apples

We've had a very eventful couple of weeks around the centre with Halloween and Bonfire Night only a few days apart.  Office staff set the tone for a very spooky and fun filled Halloween by dressing up in scary fancy dress.  The centre was decorated with spiders webs rotten legs and ghostly signs, the lights went out and eerie background music filled up the corridors.  A few screams were heard as a ghost ran round the corridors and popped it's head into classroom windows.


After a day of lessons students enjoyed a Halloween party where they carved traditional Halloween pumpkins, got dressed up in face paint and Halloween costumes and ate their fair share of sweet things. 

Some students took part in an apple bobbing competition and Kamil Abubakar took the prize for the most apples rescued from the water.  Afterwards students settled down to watch horror film House on the Hill, a very exciting Thursday!






Only a few days later the UK celebrated Bonfire Night in rememberance of Guy Fawkes who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605 in the failed Gunpowder Plot.  Nowadays people light bonfires and fireworks and some make a Guy Fawkes doll to burn on the fire.  A group of our students went to Leyland, a nearby town, to see one of the biggest bonfires in the North West and to watch a firework dispay.  There were also fairground rides and food stalls to keep people warm and busy on a cold November night.



Now that these holidays are done we are officially on the countdown to Christmas and have only 4 weeks till the end of term and break for Christmas holidays. 


Our next stop on the festive theme; tomorrow students will head back to Manchester for the world famous German Christmas Markets which open today.

Liverpool

There have been a few very busy weeks since our foundation students visited the nearby city of Liverpool.  It was an extremely popular trip and the group had a great day out visiting some of the cultural highlights of the European Capital of Culture 2008.  Liverpool is only an hour's drive from Preston and is home to a number of world-class museums, great music (of course The Beatles are always worth a mention), two Premiership football teams and some of the UK's best shopping.

The group were dropped off at the famous Liverpool Docklands, which have a rich history dating back as far as 1839, where they explored the free museums such as the International Slavery Museum, the Titanic Exhibition in the Maritime Museum and the most popular art gallery outside of London; the Tate Liverpool.

The group also spent a few hours shopping in the Liverpool One a large, newly built shopping complex. 

Many of them ate lunch together at the Red Hot World Buffet, one of many restaurants around the Liverpool One which come highly recommended.

It was a long and tiring but enjoyable day with so much to see and do in just a few hours and some students are already talking about visiting Liverpool again to see more of what this cultural city has to offer. 

Manchester United Museum and Tour

Manchester is the third biggest city in England and is arguably home to some of the UK's best shopping, music, business and of course two world class football clubs.  Luckily for our students it is only 35 miles from Preston and easily accessible by train, bus or car.

On Saturday 12th October a group of FoundationCampus students went on a day out to Manchester United's football stadium; Old Trafford. 

With so much history to explore the group first visited the Manchester United Museum and learnt all about the history of the club.  They saw trophies, previous kit designs, football boots from old to new and saw videos of some of the club's most historical and famous moments.

After seeing the museum they were given a chance to explore the stadium and they were taken on a tour to see the pitch, the dugout, the players changing rooms and the conference areas.

Students were excited to experience what some of their footballing heroes do on a regular basis and seeing where some world class football, tense half time talks and post match discussions have taken place.

After the tour the students were met by a club expert who gave them a talk followed by a quiz; we can find an English Language learning opportunity anywhere! 

The prize for questions correctly answered was very sought after, some of our students were able to try on the shirts worn and donated by some of footballs most famous names.

A great day was had by all at Manchester United's stadium. 

 

This weekend we will take a trip to one of Manchester's fiercest rivals Liverpool as students get a chance to explore a previous European Capital of Culture less than an hour away.

A warm welcome to our September 2013 cohort!

Our new term is now well under way; students enjoyed a very busy induction week and have now spent their first week in lessons. 


130 students from around the world joined us on 30th September to begin their enrolment, that's an awful lot of passports, English and academic documents seen by us and the University, and an awful lot of fish and chips bought and enjoyed on our annual trip to Blackpool Illuminations.


Induction week covers all the of the 'must-dos' for new students arriving to the UK and joining a new course including police talks, police registration, enrolment, health centre registration, attendance talks, visa sessions and more. 


Besides the obligatory sessions we are keen to make sure students are settling in, getting to know each other and having fun.  Students went bowling, played football and games in one of Preston's local parks, visited Blackpool to see the lights and sample a traditional English delicacy (fish and chips of course) and took a shopping trip to the Trafford Centre, one of the UK's biggest shopping centres.


Now lessons have begun and the hard work has started. 


It has been a great start to another great year at Foundation on Campus UCLan.  A huge welcome and well done to all of our new students, we look forward to taking you through your foundation year and making it one of our most successful yet.

Media City Trip

This week some of UCLan FoundationCampus' aspiring journalists went on a day trip to Manchester's Media City. 

Media City is a 200 acre site on the Manchester Ship Canal which is home to the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), ITV (a network of television channels in the UK) and a vast number of other media related businesses e.g. casting companies and TV equipment hire but is also home to various other tenants such as museums, sports companies and private housing.

Five lucky MFP students who are due to progress onto media related Masters programmes in September, including MA International Journalism, MA Animation and MSc Applied International Communication, received a free ticket from their MFP Research Methods tutor Kelly, to watch 'Countdown,' one of the longest running game shows in the world, be filmed.

The students told us they were surprised at how small the studio was with only 3 rows of seats in the audience.  They saw three shows filmed on the day with hosts and contestants changing their clothes in between filming each episode.

An added bonus for our international students who are studying English with us alongside their academic subjects is that the game show is related to the English Language as contestants have to create words using given letters receiving points for the longest word.  Each audience member was given a pad and paper to play along and we hear Leo was a dab hand at solving the Maths problems.

Students had a great day seeing a very busy, thriving media hub and the inside of a television studio, an environment which they would like to work in in the future.

Deng, Leo, Meng, Hana and Lynne with
hostess Rachel Riley (far left)

FoundationCampus Students become UCLan Graduates

Here are a few photos from UCLan's graduation ceremony last week.  These students studied with us a few years ago and it was our pleasure to see them on their graduation day as a reminder to both staff and students what we are all here for.  What a fantastic achievement, well done all! 

Graduation 2013

On 21st June 2013 we held a graduation ceremony for our September students who have now completed their Programmes.


Students from the Undergraduate Foundation Programme, Master's Foundation Programme and English Language Module who have now successfully completed their courses will go on to study their chosen degrees at UCLan. 


A representative from the International Office joined us at graduation with offer letters for students.  Those that had passed and already paid their deposits for UCLan also received a CAS number which is necessary for students wishing to apply for a Student Visa, ensuring a very early and therefore, hopefully, a quick and stress-free visa application.

Following a speech by James Martin, Centre Head, that focussed on achievements and highlighted the successes that students have enjoyed over the last 9 months we presented certificates to our graduating students who were visibly proud to receive them.

We were also joined by students' friends and family, a number of members of the UCLan International Office Team, catering staff and our colleagues at UCLan who are all actively involved in working with FoundationCampus UCLan throughout the year and a special thanks was extended to them.

After the ceremony students, staff and guests were invited to join us for a complimentary buffet and an opportunity to have photographs taken by a professional photographer. 

A huge congratulations to all of students.  Well done on working hard to receive the much needed results and best of luck in your upcoming degrees.  Come back and visit us.

Although a number of students have now left we are back in business this week now that our January students have returned to complete their courses which will end in August.  We are very much looking forward to celebrating their success with them and, of course, enjoying another complimentary buffet.

While the students are away!

Today staff at FoundationCampus UCLan were able to take advantage of the 'quiet' period while students are away having two weeks break from lessons. 

Katie, Ruth, Aimee and Sam spent their lunch hour today outside enjoying the nice weather and green parks of Preston by trying out cycling.  They spent an hour at Moor Park, only minutes walk from the FoundationCampus centre, giving it a go at UCLan's Bike Week.

Preston is a great place to cycle with numerous parks, bicycle lanes and the newly opened Guild Wheel, a 21 mile 'Greenway' which links the city of Preston to local countryside, which is perfect for cycling and walking enthusiasts.



There are lots of activities throughout the year in partnership with the local council so if you are interested in cycling in Preston feel free to get in touch or contact www.cycling.org.uk for more details.