An English Experience II

Swinton Railway Station

With the students staying with host families all around Sheffield and the Swinton Community School being a good walk away from Swinton Railway Station, the logistics of travelling were complicated but Tere and Thais, the Spanish group leaders, made sure that everyone arrived on time for the lessons.

Map of Sheffield & Rotherham

In the afternoons, the students were taken on a variety of activities in and around Sheffield and Rotherham and to ensure that everything went smoothly, and with a tight itinerary, my preparation included the acquisition of maps and timetables for using public transport in South Yorkshire.

Although the itinerary had been planned out by others, in advance, it was also necessary to check the opening times of the various venues. 

Everyone worked well together and this good teamwork was probably the main factor behind the success of this project.

Sheffield railway station

With 25 teenaged students to lead around a busy city centre, it is firstly necessary to give them some basic lessons in crossing roads, looking and listening to the various traffic signals and warnings and forming a queue and maintaining an orderly group, whilst waiting for the buses and trams.

Also included in these lessons were guidelines on the etiquette to be used on public transport, such as the acceptable levels of noise, the use of mobile music devices and giving respect to the various other passengers, especially to the elderly. 

Generally, this worked well in practice although once, when we had to use a bus simply because one student had sprained her ankle whilst dancing, I did hear some mutterings that sounded something like “why don’t they chuffin walk up to Clifton Park!”.

Bridgegate in Leeds

On Saturdays, we had the luxury of travelling by coach, to both Leeds and York, but here it is also necessary to instill some further discipline into the students.

Firstly, there are the rules of the highway, which demands that passengers sit still in one place and wear their seat belts at all times, and then there are the rules of the drivers, who like to keep their coaches clean and tidy.

On these day trips, the students would have free time for a couple of hours and the first point of call would be the local tourist information office to obtain maps. Once at the arranged ‘meeting place’, final instructions were given on personal safety and the security of bags and purses and the students were then left to their own devices.

 

The 'Meeting Place' in York