Working with schools and colleges

The School of CLAS runs specific outreach and widening participation events on campus and in local primary and secondary schools. These events give you the opportunity to use your subject-specific skills for different age groups in a teaching and learning context.

CLAS students can also take up opportunities for paid and voluntary work through the School and University. You can work as a student ambassador and mentor for recruitment events, visit days, summer schools and outreach sessions in local school and colleges.

ACS Family Discovery Day 2016

Opportunities for undergraduate students

Work with primary schools

The departments of Modern Languages and Cultures and American and Canadian Studies work with local primary schools on two projects every year.

Modern languages learning journey

Second year students have the opportunity to teach their language in a local primary school, delivering a programme of five lessons to pupils aged 7-11. All students are given training in safeguarding and lesson planning and classroom management and are supported by a member of staff when preparing for these sessions.

Students as well as the local pupils gain a huge amount from this opportunity with 100% of students from 2016/17 saying that it enhanced their personal student experience and 50% that it allowed them to engage the public with their subject. 100% said that the experience had improved their organisation, communication and planning skills.

100% of the teachers in 2016/17 rated the students on the project as “excellent” and additional comments included “All the children were very focused and motivated by the teaching of the student which was well thought out and levelled appropriately”.

Example worksheets

Take a look at examples of resources used by one of our students who recently delivered classes in Spanish:

American Studies Discovery Days

Students in the department of American and Canadian studies deliver Discovery days to primary schools in the spring term every year. These days focus on the issues of the Civil Rights movement and the scale and geography of the US.

Students design and deliver sessions with support from specialist education staff and share their knowledge of the Civil rights movement in a way that makes it accessible and relevant to local pupils and training is provided.

Students who have taken part in these days have found them to be inspiring and exciting as well as great fun.

Find out more about these opportunities.

Opportunities for postgraduate students

Talks and seminars

Postgraduate students in CLAS are encouraged to engage in our work with schools and colleges in a range of ways. They can deliver talks to local sixth formers, which helps them to synthesize their research area and learn how to shape their knowledge and deliver this to new audiences.

There are also other opportunities to deliver one-off seminars at taster days which run throughout the year or at the Nottingham Summer Schools which occur in early July. Support for the preparation and delivery of these seminars is always available.

These opportunities give PG students the chance to hone their teaching skills, refresh their wider topic knowledge and inspire future university students through their engagement with their research area.

For more information contact

tara.webster-deakin@nottingham.ac.uk

Charlotte James

Postgraduate student of CLAS

Providing a lecture to the Sutton Coldfield Grammar School was an excellent opportunity. It allowed me to develop my presentation and public speaking skills, as well as providing me with an introductory experience to teaching. It was also encouraging to see the students engaged with the subject and I was pleased to see their enthusiasm for learning about American slavery and abolitionism. Alongside this topic, I shared my PhD research on the importance of black female abolitionists and talked about my role as a research associate for The Rights Lab in the fight against modern slavery. It was great to see their interest in these topics and the impact that my research will have.

Sophie Campbell

Postgraduate student of CLAS

I gave two talks to local Year 10 students on American History at their school. I was particularly asked to focus on the Aftermath of the American Civil War, which will be part of their Year 11 GCSE syllabus, and after each talk we also did a brief tailored activity based around a past paper exam question. Between the two sessions the school provided a space for me to work and were very welcoming.

It was a good opportunity for me to speak to a different audience and to try and promote my subject(s) and to discuss the University experience more broadly with them. The teachers seemed pleased with the day and hopefully the students have taken something positive from it.

More opportunities to work with School and Colleges

The University's Widening Participation Team works to raise aspirations and attainment towards higher education. There are many more ways that you can get involved in their programmes, from supporting on-campus visits to working with individual children.

Find out more about working with schools and colleges

School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies

University Park
Nottingham, NG7 2RD

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