Writing class for Arabic students

We are very lucky at FoundationCampus UCLan that one of our English teachers is also studying towards a Masters degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and Linguistics at UCLan, and is currently undertaking her dissertation research for the benefit of our Arabic students.

Samantha Meehan is carrying out some research related to the writing errors made by Arabic learners and has volunteered to run an extra writing class for students who want and need extra help with their writing. 

The class focuses primarily on sentence structure errors as a research area to better understand why Arabic learners make particular mistakes.  This, in turn, aims to improve Sam's teaching practice and that of the other English teachers here at UCLan FoC when dealing with Arabic students.

Sam will be trialling and evaluating a series of learning material tailored for the needs of Arabic learners in her writing class and will test the students writing after a number of classes in comparison to a sample of writing they each completed at the beginning of the sessions.

A great big thank you to Sam for dedicating her own time to providing extra help for students and we are looking forward to seeing the outcome of your research project which we are sure will benefit both our current and future Arabic students at FoC UCLan.



End of another term

It's time to say goodbye to our students once again.  The centre is closing for Easter break and our students will enjoy a two week break from lessons and exams. 

Many are going to their home country for the break, some are away travelling in Europe together, and some will stay here in Preston and enjoy the peace and quiet.  For those students staying in Preston we have arranged a trip to London with an overnight stay so students can enjoy a two day cultural break in the capital.

Unfortunately for those students staying in the UK the weather is a little colder than we would usually expect for the 22nd March and we have had an unexpected downfall of snow overnight.  Take a look at this weather report by Christine Bennett, our UFP Business teacher, who was stuck by the bad weather this morning. 

For staff it is still a busy time preparing for the April intake and marking exam papers from this terms exam week.  Nevertheless, we hope all our students have a well deserved rest and enjoy their two weeks holiday.

See you in two weeks!

Coursework Deadline Day!

Today is a hectic day to say the least.  It is Coursework Deadline Day and the clock is ticking on the 6pm deadline.

Across all FoundationCampus centres students submit work to the website Turnitin, a plagiarism checker, which is widely used in Universities across England.  Once the deadline has passed students will no longer be able to submit their work.  This gives the student a real taste of University life and teaches the importance of punctuality, meeting deadlines and rewards students who have worked hard on their coursework.

Good luck all and remember, the clock is ticking......

Futures lecture for Business students

This week we were joined by Dr. Jenny Shi, a senior lecturer from UCLan, who spent time with our UFP Business students preparing them for their future lives at University and in the real business world.

She delivered a taste of university life by giving a lecture on their future course content.

As part of the lecture students also worked together in groups to complete an interactive business strategy game. 

They had to work out how to create a business plan for start up businesses from different countries around the world.  It was a challenging exercise but our future Business students got a glimpse of the practical aspects of working in a global business enterprise.

They greatly enjoyed having a taste of university lectures and engaging with a lecturer from UCLan and look forward to a smooth transition to the Lancashire Business School in September.

Many thanks to Dr Jenny Shi for such a worthwhile and interesting lecture.

Teamwork Skills in Tutorials

Abdulaziz and Fawaz show off their tower

One of the benefits to studying a programme with FoundationCampus is the weekly tutorial.  Each student is assigned a personal tutor on arrival who they can speak to if they have any questions, problems or worries whether personal or study-related.

Students have a taught tutorial once in every three weeks which incorporates study skills such as note-taking, time management, revision and team work skills.  In the other two weeks students attend personal appointments with their tutor to discuss their studies and anything that might affect their progress or general well being.

Our September starters are now studying Module 2 of their subjects which contain a number of group work exercises and team projects.  To support them in this tutorial sessions this week centred around team work.  Students had to work together to build a tower using spaghetti and marshmallows.  Well done Abdulaziz and Fawaz on your winning tower!

Manchester United vs Reading

Last night, a lucky bunch of our students managed to get tickets to see Manchester United play Reading F.C at home in the FA Cup. 


One of the big perks of studying at FoundationCampus UCLan is that there are 5 Premiership football teams just on our doorstep and it is quite easy to get tickets for most of the matches.  Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton, Wigan Athletic and of course the Red Devils Man Utd are all within a couple of hours drive of Preston.

Students visited the Theatre of Dreams and saw Man Utd beat Reading by 2 goals to 1 to secure a place in the FA Cup quarter finals.  It was an action packed match and following the excellent feedback we had we are looking to secure further tickets for Man Utd in the near future.  On top of that we have already booked a Manchester United Old Trafford Stadium Tour for keen students to see in a few weeks. 

Biology Experiments

While the rest of us are still waking up and coming to terms with another cold Monday morning our UFP Biology students are feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and are already carrying out experiments to find out about the mebrane structure of beetroot.

All cells are surrounded by a protective layer called a membrane and our students are busy finding out at which temperature the membrane of beetroot gets damaged.  When that happens the red beetroot colour leaks into the water.  Students need to work ina  predicted and planned way to find the maximum temperature a beetroot can withstand before dissolving into the surrounding water.

Biology students will be carrying out 5 different practical experiments in their upcoming lessons, 3 of which will be assessed and will count towards their module 2 assessment mark.

Other assessed practicals include 'investigating the water potential of potato tissue' where water is taken into the potato making it firmer and larger or water is removed from the potato making it softer and become smaller. All this is done by the power of sugar (or salt) dissolved in the water around the potato.

There will also be in investigation into the effect of exercise on our pulse rate, so students can pick the level of activity that increases or decreases the heart rate.

Keep up the good work class!