Wednesday 17th December 2014 9.30-12.30 Building 27, room 3057 (ILIaD)

To book a place, email intercultural@soton.ac.uk by 15th December 12pm

Target audience: For academic staff and education developers of all disciplines

Brief Outline:  This half day workshop is intended for university staff (academics, content tutors, teaching assistants) who work regularly with international students in the classroom. It will also be of relevance to educational developers who support academic and academic-related staff working with international students.

In recent years there have been several studies and projects which have explored the international student experience from a range of perspectives and which have reported a wide range of issues relating to and affecting that experience. These include: problems with engaging with native speakers of English, workload, adapting to new ways of learning, assessment and feedback, language difficulties and even the weather. Many of these relate to what goes on outside the classroom as much as to the demands of studying in an unfamiliar learning environment but will have an impact on the ways in which international students progress in their studies. For many academics and academic support staff, however, their main interaction with international students occurs mostly within the classroom environment and while many are increasingly mindful of the demands of the transition into UK higher education when it comes to supporting their students the challenge of trying to address all of these diverse issues within the teaching and learning of a particular discipline can be overwhelming.

This workshop will provide opportunities to explore some of the learning and teaching issues which arise in the international classroom and will consider some practical strategies to address them.

What you can expect to learn:  The workshop will focus on

• What affects the learning experience of international students
• Cultural issues
• Teaching, learning and assessment practice
• Language difficulties and distractors

Led by:  Ali Dickens, Assistant Director LLAS Centre, and Jill Doubleday, Centre for Language Studies, Modern Languages.

Tea and coffee will be provided.