Winner – Unexpected Category, Year Abroad Photo Competition 2016-17 by Sophia Flaxman. Title: ‘Higher Education’ (Cuesta del Obispo, Argentina).
This event was open to anyone doing a language at A-Level or in Year 11 and thinking of doing an A-Level language next year. The webinar was attended by 81 students and teachers from around the UK. Participants were able to meet staff and current and former students at Bristol and hear what it is like to study languages at university, about the Year Abroad and what careers you can do with a Languages degree.
Before the event, participants were given the chance to pre-submit questions to our panelists that we answered before opening the floor to live questions. Students were also sent videos made by current students and staff about student life and course options. You can view the video channel here: Languages at Bristol.
Our speakers included Dr. Ian Foster, Director of Foreign Language Teaching, three student ambassadors currently studying Languages in their fourth year, and two former students, Emily-Hall Strutt and Alex Marrow. Emily studied Spanish and Italian at Bristol and now works as a Delivery Manager for the Ministry of Justice. Alex graduated from Bristol in 2015 with a degree in Russian and Portuguese and now works as a journalist for Reuters in Moscow. It was fascinating to hear from Emily and Alex about their career paths and how their languages have helped them to get to where they are today.
Here is what some participants said they most enjoyed about the event:
- “I really like that there were graduates there that finished university a while ago. It was useful to see where I could potentially get to if I study languages.”
- “All questions were answered to a very high standard and it helped me to understand the language courses at Bristol University.”
- “How it focused on the questions we asked in advanced, rather than it being a webinar of just feeding us a whole lot of information, it was tailored to what the attendees wanted to hear! I think having a mixture of people who are at different points in their life is also very useful as we were able to see how a person is able to use their languages, indirectly, and the benefits for travel- instead of making a career out of languages.”
- “Hearing from the students themselves and their perspectives of their courses and it was really interesting and a great way to hear about where languages could take you from the past students that studied at Bristol.”
We hope to repeat this next year, and to return to delivering events on campus soon. You can keep up to date with events we are hosting by checking our outreach webpage. If you are a school student or teacher, you can sign up to events via our Schools and Colleges Newsletter.