Find out how you can improve your English, learn to teach English or learn a new language at the Centre for English and World Languages (CEWL) in 2019.

English Language and Academic Skills workshops (ELAS)
You can improve your academic English for FREE this term. ELAS provides training in English for Academic Purposes to all international students at Kent. There are eight modules available, as well as individual speaking and writing tutorials. Classes start in Week 14.  Find out more and book your place on the CEWL webpages.

Learn a new language with Language Express
Learn French, Mandarin or Spanish with Language Express ten-week beginners’ courses starting 21 or 24 January. Reduced fees for Kent students. Find out more and book your place here.

Prepare for Cambridge English tests with our Cambridge Preparation courses
The courses start on 15 January – the first class is a FREE taster session, where you can meet the teacher and ask any questions. Cambridge English exams are lifelong qualifications with a worldwide reputation. They help you to improve your English Language skills for work, study and life. Find out more and book your place here.

Demonstrate your English skills with IELTS
The IELTS test is widely recognised as proof of English Language skills. You can prepare for an IELTS test with an experienced teacher at the Centre for English and World Languages. The course begins on 16 January and the first class is a FREE taster session, where you can meet the teacher and ask any questions. Find out more and book your place here.

Learn to teach English as a foreign language
The Centre for English and World Languages runs an intensive CELTA training course starting on 17 June.  CELTA (Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) is an internationally recognised qualification. Find out more and apply here.

Dr Margherita Laera, Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre in the School of Arts, is one of the researchers for the Brexit Stage Left festival, to be held at The Yard theatre, London, from 7 to 11 January 2019.

The festival will be a series staged readings of provocative and cutting-edge plays from across the EU. In a Europe that appears to be falling apart, these playwrights reflect in radical ways on the challenges we all face together.

From a mockumentary play about the rise of the far right to a medieval comedy considering the consequences of living an internet age, the festival will showcase the best of new European drama alongside events considering our relationship to Europe in a post-Brexit world.

The festival includes one British play, but the audience will be asked to guess which one. Is European theatre and British theatre as different as we think it is?

The festival will also include post-show discussions, and Margherita will be hosting a discussion on theatre translation for the shows on 8 January 2019.

The Yard is based in Hackney Wick, East London. Tickets for the event cost £5 or £7.50 for a double bill.

For more details, please see the event webpage.

During this vacation, the University Nursing Services are moving to new premises in the old NatWest building, next to Campus Security.

Having listened to your suggestions from the recent Campus Shuttle survey, which over 450 staff and students completed, there will be some exciting changes to the service from January.

In response to your feedback:

• passengers will now be able to board the Campus Shuttle at Liberty Quays for travel to Pembroke campus and the Dockyard (Western Avenue)
• to allow for passenger boarding time without losing the hourly service, the shuttle will now only stop once on the Canterbury campus, at Keynes bus stop
• the service will no longer stop at Darwin bus stop
• the on-the-hour timetable will continue
• we are introducing two new, larger Campus Shuttle vehicles (49 and 34 seaters).

Medway student feedback was clear in wanting the new service from Liberty Quays to the Pembroke campus and the Historic Dockyard. To ensure we can keep an hourly service, the decision had to be made to remove one of the stops at Canterbury. The majority of you in the survey said you’d prefer to keep the Keynes bus stop, or had no clear preference.

Features of the new vehicles include Wi-Fi, USB charging points, more comfortable seats, a toilet and fold out tables on the larger vehicle. Both of the vehicles will be wrapped in a University of Kent design.

We’ll be publishing more information for the new improved service in the New Year on our Campus Shuttle webpages.

Final-year undergraduate students on the module Introduction to Stand-Up will be delivering Monkeyshine, two nights of stand-up comedy, next week on Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 December 2018 in the Gulbenkian cafe.

Each night will feature a different line-up, stuffed to the brim with young comics each presenting five-minute sets. Come along and enjoy a dazzling array of raw, young comedy, introduced by your host and compère Olly Double.

Monkeyshine is suitable for those aged 18+. It is free to attend, and each night will begin at 7.30pm.

For more details, please see the Gulbenkian’s webpage.

Canterbury city centre has plenty of shops and restaurants to explore by catching the Uni1 or Uni2 to the highstreet.  See the Stagecoach unibus usual timetable (until 15 December 2018) and the Unibus winter break timetable (16 December 2018- 12 January 2019).

Or you can catch the number 8 ‘Breeze’ service from Canterbury to Westwood Cross shopping centre in Broadstairs. Westwood Cross has a large range of shops and restaurants to choose from, see the 8 Breeze timetable.

If you have a Unirider bus ticket or staff South East Megarider ticket, these journeys can be taken for free within your bus ticket.

Follow @StagecoachSE on twitter for service updates or download the Stagecoach app to plan your journey and view live bus times.

Kent Law School PhD scholars Ahmed Memon and Eric Loefflad have launched a critical international law podcast on Soundcloud called Fool’s Utopia.

Fool’s Utopia, now the official podcast for the Law School’s Centre for Critical International Law (CeCIL), aims to offer more nuanced, layered and multi-dimensional perspectives on international law.

Ahmed said the idea arose from a shared love of a political podcast show called Chapo Trap House: ‘Eric shared an episode of the show about Syria intervention and international law on his Facebook feed. That started a conversation about how we thought the show, while being witty, funny and informative, had misrepresented international law as we understand it.’

After sharing their idea with CeCIL Director Dr Luis Eslava, Ahmed and Eric were encouraged to approach CSR FM (Canterbury’s student radio). As well as giving them studio space to record their weekly podcasts in the Student Media Centre on Kent’s Canterbury campus, CSR FM air the episodes every Monday at 10pm.

Ahmed said: ‘Our first two episodes Is International Law for Babies and Subjects of the Machine have been on colonial origins of international law, who defines what it is and why that matters, on subjects of international law. We will be covering in the future in greater detail Marxism and international law, decolonial approaches in international law, historical moments, history writing in international law.’

The third episode of the podcast, CeCIL and the Rhodes Professor, features an interview with Professor Richard Drayton, who delivered the CeCIL Annual Lecture at Kent in November. Ahmed and Eric plan to interview more invited guests throughout the coming year.

The Student Learning Advisory Service offers its Creative Language Development (CLD) workshop three times a year. The first event of 2018-2019 takes place on 9 January, with others to follow in May and June. The aim of the workshops is to give non-native speakers of English the opportunity to develop their language skills in interesting, unusual and enjoyable ways. Each event takes place in a non-threatening and engaging atmosphere; the aim of the session is enjoyable practice.

January’s CLD workshop uses Oscar Wilde’s late nineteenth century, short story The Happy Prince, which explores themes of loyalty, friendship and morality. Through engagement with the text, students are encouraged to develop their vocabulary and pronunciation in order to build confidence in speaking, listening and self-expression. They then revisit a favourite story from their own childhoods.

Each CLD event is unique. Therefore, students can choose to attend an individual workshop or enrol on two or more. The workshops involve no additional coursework or preparation. The emphasis is on language enjoyment and engagement.

The sessions during the spring and summer vacations include activities that take place outside the classroom, weather permitting, and these are always popular with participants.

As well an opportunity to develop English language skills, a shared lunch, provided free, gives students a chance to discuss their experiences of living and studying in Canterbury. It can be empowering to find that the issues faced by individuals whilst studying abroad are often the same as those encountered by other people. Effective coping strategies are often shared and implemented.

Each workshop begins at 11:00 and ends at 15:00. Booking is essential using SLAS Connect. 

More information about the workshops is available on Moodle DP1350 or by emailing Steve Cope: sc540@kent.ac.uk.