News from the School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Royal Holloway, University of London
Lucy Mathieson – Lyon Holly Lindon - Jena
The brand new School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures Admissions brochure is now available from /Modern-Languages/index.html and gives detailed information about the School's degree programmes, course units, teaching and assessment methods, Period of Residence Abroad arrangements and staff interests. It features some dazzling photos taken by our students during their third year abroad. If you would like to receive a copy of the brochure or be added to our mailing list and kept informed of future events, please send your address to: sarah.midson@rhul.ac.uk
Innovative Teaching Awarded by College Teaching Prize
Four colleagues in French (Tim Chesters, Ruth Cruickshank, Joe Harris and Adam Watt), along with Warren Riches from the Educational Support Office, have won the College Team Teaching Prize for 2008. The College Teaching Prizes are intended to raise the profile of teaching and to underline the College’s commitment to it by recognising initiatives which have had a beneficial impact on student learning. The team’s initiative, ‘Academic Skills for Students of Modern Languages’, intersects with a number of key university policies (amongst them the E-Learning Strategy and the Widening Participation Scheme) and was commended on the cross-disciplinary nature of the collaboration involved.
The initiative involves a set of measures developed and instigated in order to give first-year students in the SMLLC the greatest possible opportunities for success in their transition from school to university. Recognising that often students arrive at university without all of the skills needed to meet the multiple demands of their degree programmes, the team devised a course in Academic Skills, delivered in the first term of the first year to all SMLLC students, covering topics from written expression and grammar in English, to essay technique and structuring, and quotation from foreign-language sources. The team comprehensively redesigned assessment criteria and coursework feedback forms, and modified the Aims and Learning Outcomes of courses, all with the goal of putting independent study and academic writing skills at the heart of students’ undertakings. The initiative’s most exciting aspect was the introduction of compulsory online reading tests for certain courses. Via Moodle, the College’s Virtual Learning Environment, multiple choice questions test students’ knowledge of their set texts prior to the start of each block of study. Preparing for these tests provides a greater familiarity with set texts, which contributes in turn to greater student confidence, better performance in seminars and, ultimately, in assessment.
Overall the Academic Skills initiative has enhanced the student experience in the SMLLC, and made the transition from school to university a time of improvement, rather than an obstacle that can slow people down. Congratulations go to the team on their very well deserved success!
German Finalist wins DAAD Essay Competition
Elaine O’Neill (4th year, Joint Honours German/History) is the 2008 winner of this prestigious essay competition. In the competition, entitled “What happens next?”, the German Academic Exchange service (DAAD) asked students from around the UK to imagine an encounter between two famous German and British personalities. Elaine innovatively decided to put Lewis Caroll’s Alice and Erich Honecker (the last head of the GDR government) next to the Berlin Wall. In the story (as in real life) the wall came down and everybody lived happily ever after. Elaine met the German Ambassador to the UK, Georg Boomgaarden, who presented the award: a paid internship with the online portal of the distinguished youth journal JETZT.
Italian Film and Drama Take Centre Stage
Last term Italian lecturer Stefano Jossa took 1st year students of Modern Italian Theatre (IT1820) to watch the Gielgud Theatre production of Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author. The visit gave students first-hand experience of a performance of the play and introduced them to the rewriting of classical theatre in contemporary productions.
Closer to home, as part of IT1960 (The Age of the Risorgimento) and IT2860 (Modernity and Identity: Nineteenth-century Italy in Literature, Alessandro Carlucci, Daniela Cerimonia and Stefano Jossa organized a series of film screenings in order to enable students to understand visual and narrative representations of recent Italian history in contemporary cinematographic fiction. The films shown were Luisa Sanfelice, directed by P. e V. Taviani; Viva l'Italia, by R. Rossellini; Bronte, by F. Vancini; Senso, by L. Visconti; Il Gattopardo, by L. Visconti
Translation Excellence Awarded
Many of our students take our demanding and innovative translation courses (offered by all four languages) as part of their studies and much excellent work is produced every year. In 2008 a member of staff, Leverhulme Research Fellow Emily Jeremiah reminded us that literary translation is not only an academic exercise. Emily, who is already a published translator of both German and Finnish poetry, was awarded joint third prize in the 2008 The Times Stephen Spender poetry translation competition (www.stephen-spender.org) for her translation into English of a poem by the Finnish writer Eeva-Liisa Manner Our warmest congratulations go to Emily.
Period of Residence Abroad Photography Competition Winners Announced
The PRA tutors have now released the results of the competition to choose the best photographs taken by students on their Period of Residence Abroad in 2007-8: France: Winner - Lucy Mathieson (Lyon), Runner-up - Matthew Gibson (Quebec), German: Winner - Holly Lindon (jena), Runner-up - Rebecca Wingrove (Cologne), Hispanic Studies: Winner - Jonathan Sharman (Cuba), Runner-up - Sophie Atkinson (Paraguay), Italy: Winner - Rita Stillwell (Padova), Runner-up - Cedric Yuen (Venice). Many of our students' stunning photos are featured in our new Admissions brochure.
German Play: Rehearsals Underway
The German Society will once again be staging a play in German, Max Frisch’s Don Juan oder die Liebe zur Geometrie, under the direction of final year student Simon Sladen. Performances will take place 10-12 March 2009. Booking details will be publicized soon. Email sarah.midson@rhul.ac.uk if you would like to be added to our mailing list.
Competitive Scholarship Winners in the SMLLC
Each year the College awards a number of competitive scholarships as well as the bursaries awarded to all low-income students and to those who achieve ABB and above. This year the following first-year students in the SMLLC have won competitive scholarships and our congratulations go to all of them: Founder's Scholarship - Alyson Coombes (French and Spanish). Bedford Scholarship - Emma Fernandez (Multilingual Studies), Lauren McManus (French and Classical Studies), Joshua Minopoli (French and Drama). These scholarships were awarded to outstanding students who achieve 360 UCAS tariff points, a minimum of 3 A grades at GCE A Level, or equivalent.
The SMLLC is becoming part of the government’s Routes into Language programme which sets up partnerships between universities and schools to enthuse and encourage people to study languages. The South consortium already involved the universities of Oxford Brookes, Portsmouth, Southampton, Brighton, Reading and Oxford and Royal Holloway will be bidding to host an event next year. For more information see: http://www.routesintolanguages.ac.uk/index.html
German Research Stays in the Headlines
Professor Peter Longerich has published, to considerable acclaim, the first comprehensive biographical account of the career of Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and the one of the most notorious figures in twentieth-century history. This major publication, Heinrich Himmler: Biographie (Siedler, 2008), has been praised in the German media as ‘a milestone in research’ (Die Zeit), and was featured as a cover story in the weekly magazine Der Spiegel (3 November 2008). Details of the volume can be found here: http://www.randomhouse.de/book/edition.jsp?edi=219116
More information about the School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures can be obtained from our website: /Modern-Languages/index.html or from the Admissions Tutor: Hannah.Thompson@rhul.ac.uk
Jonathan Sharman – Cuba Rita Stillwell – Padova
Tel/Fax : +44 (0)1784 414310/470180