Nottingham Castle...

A mosaic at Nottingham Castle

Shopping is an essential part of a field trip for many Spanish students and, when asked about new places to go, I suggested Nottingham. In addition, although I studied geology there, I had never visited the caves before and I thought that everyone would enjoy going to see them. 

The Usual Suspects

Having seen countless castles in the British Islands, I know that most people who see Nottingham Castle will be disappointed in very many ways because, except for its position as a viewing point across the River Trent – with quite spectacular cliffs – there is not much evidence of its antiquity to see. Except for Robin Hood, not too many people have heard about Nottingham and it’s really not well known for its art and culture, outside of the region, but it is a city that is well worth seeing...

A Cave in Nottingham

A Day in Warwickshire

Prince Hal - Stratford-upon-Avon

Warwickshire is a place in England that I really don’t know very well at all and, when I knew that I was going to go to both Stratford–upon-Avon and Warwick Castle, for a day out with my students, I was really excited because I had never visited these places before.

The 'usual suspects' in Stratford-upon-Avon

We only had an hour in Stratford, to give everyone a good stretch of their legs and, in keeping with his tradition of showing the ‘Best of British’ in his summer schools, John True took the students to see Shakespeare’s grave.

I think that Stratford-upon-Avon is one of the most attractive places that I have seen and I could have spent a day looking at the architecture, archaeology and art, as well as the places that are associated with Shakespeare.

Warwick Castle

On what turned out to be the hottest day of the year, I trekked around Warwick Castle and its grounds, up and down spiral stairs and along various ramparts to take in all of the views. However, after the energy sapping incessant rain and floods that we had had to endure, the first thing that I needed to do before undertaking such an adventure was to take a siesta.

Scott Engering

So I was told by one of my neighbours on the grass after I had woken up, one of the students had taken full advantage of the situation with my camera that I had lent to him - whilst I was soundly snoring on the grass.

The Heart of England III

Kelham Island Museum

When invited again to lead and teach another group of students with the Heart of England summer school in 2012, I didn’t hesitate in saying yes, especially since I knew that we would once again be using the facilities of Sheffield Hallam University and that there would be other field trips.

Repeat business is always good business and it shows that the client has confidence in you and so, this year, I made a decision to give the same confidence to my students, by letting them take the lead in the activities that I had prepared for them.

Based on previous experience, I knew that for some strange reason my Spanish students would always appear in my ‘field of view’ when trying to take a photograph of an object of interest so, this time, I gave them the opportunity to take photographs that would be used in our lessons.

Oxford

The Heart of England II

Fanano

Back in the classroom, with the facilities of Sheffield Hallam University at my fingertips, I made full use of the classroom projector screen to discuss various points of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation – with resources that I had adapted from my best lessons during my period of teacher training, as well as others that I produced for this project.

As a photographer, I record all of the field trips that I go on and these always form an integral part of my classroom lessons for the day after, and everyone has the opportunity to laugh and joke at the various people that are seen in these photos. It also provides an opportunity for the students to reflect on the language that had been taught on the previous day, especially the vocabulary and other relevant resources that I had prepared for them. 

Many of the schools in Spain concentrate on grammar and many students that I have known say that they have great problems when trying to have a conversation in English, so I always try to develop their speaking and listening skills in my classroom.

At the start of my lessons, I often make good use of tongue twisters to get everyone laughing and, at the end of a long morning session, I like to let the students choose from a selection of comedies on DVD that I have brought with me. So far, The Simpsons, Friends, the Big Bang Theory, Laurel and Hardy and even an extract from Kes – with subtitles of course – have been very popular.

An Afternoon in Lincoln

A view of Lincoln Cathedral from Lincoln Castle

My first experience of Lincoln was when I was taken there, one summer afternoon, by a prospective father-in-law in and old MG Midget – DRB 772L - with the top down. I immediately fell in love with the place and I also later bought this car, but I am digressing. 

The Norman House

Lincoln is one of my very favourite places - I have lived there twice - and when good friends come to see me, we always go there. With a cathedral that I think is much better than those that you can see in York, Chester or Durham, and a great castle to go with it, an afternoon is no way near enough time to see Lincoln properly - but my students had a great time there.

40/42 Michaelgate

In preparation for this field trip, I provided my class with a map and various worksheets to give them the opportunity to explore this place, including a brief description of its geology and geography. So far, I don't know anywhere else where you can experience a place like Steep Hill.

A view up Steep Hill

The Heart of England I

Planet Pot

In some ways, my last experience with the English Experience was a step backwards, as far as the development of my teaching skills were concerned, because I was unable to develop the project that I had started the year before. With the field trips too, I was bored with York and the Royal Armouries in Leeds, as well as with some other activities, and I felt that good ideas fell on deaf ears. 

Following an interview here in Sheffield, I was appointed as one of three teachers for a group of summer school students from Tenerifé and Gran Canaria, in the Canary Isles, as well as a joint leader of the field trips. As my colleague, Michael, had taken it upon himself to organise the students, I was happy enough to take a back seat, except on our many coach trips, where I always struck up a good conversation with the driver.  

Peak Cavern in Derbyshire

On this occasion, we were not accompanied by any native Spanish speakers but, with Gabriella, Martin and Lewis on hand to help out with general ushering and with the sports, we all moved along nicely. However, taking the lead on our first excursion, I made a great mistake when I expressed loudly... andiamo! and not ¡vámonos! 

Planet Pot

Unlike previous itineraries that were pretty much set in stone, with the Heart of England summer school, there was much more flexibility and, working with Maggie and Flis, the English co-ordinators, a few more new activities were added to a typical afternoon schedule for sports and leisure, and we offered a choice in some of these.

Having been coming to Sheffield, Rotherham and Nottingham for over 30 years, day trips to places like York, Cambridge, Alton Towers and Liverpool football club were firm fixtures in the itinerary but we also spent an afternoon at the Rother Valley Country Park and at Planet Pot. One thing that pleased me was that I was given the opportunity to plan and organise a new afternoon trip to Lincoln.

Rother Valley Country Park

Scott Engering

Canarians at the Liverpool Waterfront

The Autumn of 2010

The Royal Armouries in Leeds

In life, it is often said that it is not good to go over old ground and, in a sense, this happened with my second experience of teaching Spanish students, through the English Experience.

Having had such a good time the year before, I didn’t hesitate when invited to teach another group of students from Vigo, this time in partnership with Handsworth Grange Community Sports College, in Sheffield. However, when I discovered that, instead of being taught in the school itself, the students were to have their lessons at the Centre in the Park, I knew that there would be problems, not least for the lack of space and computer and the travel arrangements involved. 

The Royal Armouries in Leeds

The key to the success of my first project with the Vigo students was that everyone worked as a cohesive unit, in one place, and when we had to travel we did it as a team. Furthermore, when I met my Spanish group off the train in Swinton, there was no doubt as to who was in charge.

Tere and Thais organised the students admirably, getting them from Spain to England and back safely, but they knew that, in the UK, they must listen to me.

With the Spanish leaders of this group, however, I had to take them to task on a couple of occasions, when out on the field trips. One particularly memorable incident occurred on a day out to Leeds, where our reserved seats were actually occupied. Having taken ten minutes, on a fast train, to reclaim our seats, one of the leaders had the audacity to tell me that I was wrong, when I had to remonstrate with the students, after they left their seats and sat down on the aisle of the train carriage, to play cards. From then on, the word "Oi!" was always on my mind.

Ten pin bowling

In the classroom, it also wasn’t helped by the fact that, this time, the two groups of students were alternated between myself and my co-teacher, who had a long career as a primary school teacher and whose chosen project did not seem very compatible with mine, as far as challenging the students was concerned.

Without the computer facilities to produce a finished document with MS Publisher, each student was asked to write a short daily Blog, describing their experiences. With each student in turn, I would correct their MS Word document using the editing function that is available in this programme and, in the time available, I would carefully explain why they had made their grammatical mistakes.

York Minster