Tag Archives: Education

Aug 12 2015

How teaching your child can strengthen your bond

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Parents choose to homeschool their children for a whole range of reasons. For example, teaching outside traditional classroom environments can help kids who are bored or frustrated at school, or who are being bullied by their peers.

Also, it’s now easier than ever for parents to access the resources they need to home educate their youngsters. Education specialists like www.oxfordhomeschooling.co.uk offer learning materials for a range of courses, including Key Stage 3 and GCSE. Being able to tap into resources like these makes homeschooling much easier. Another reason to consider educating your kids yourself is the fact that it can help to strengthen your bond, and here’s how:

Spending time together

Time is a precious commodity for many modern families. With parents under pressure at work and kids spending their days in school, the little ‘family time’ that people do get tends to consist of mums, dads and children staring at the TV in the evenings or sitting in the same rooms as one another while busily tapping away on their own smartphones and tablets.

In contrast, if you homeschool your youngsters, you’ll get to spend the best parts of each day in their company, engaging with them in a meaningful way. This can play a major role in helping to strengthen the connection between you and your kids.

Having the freedom to try a range of activities

Another bonus associated with homeschooling concerns that fact that you’ll get to try out a whole range of interesting activities with your kids that you might otherwise miss out on. From taking educational day trips to places like museums, aquariums and castles to getting stuck into arts and crafts in the comfort of your home, there’s no shortage of things to keep you and your kids occupied and to enhance your youngsters’ education. As well as being fun, these shared learning experiences can bring you and your kids closer. Every day, you’ll have the chance to create new memories that you can cherish for years to come.

Nurturing your child’s talents

You’ll also have the time and focus you need to nurture your children’s talents. By watching them as they learn, you’ll get to see exactly where their strengths and passions lie and you can do your bit to encourage them to apply themselves to the relevant subjects or hobbies. By being there for your youngsters and helping them to fulfil their potential in this way, you can further cement your bond.

Given the positive impact that homeschooling can have on the relationships between parents and kids, it’s little wonder that a rising number of mums and dads are investigating this alternative to mainstream education.

 

Jun 11 2015

Tour the set of Coronation Street

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Choosing a university is stupidly difficult in itself. But if you come to Manchester as a student, you’ll have plenty of things to explore. When all the paperwork is completed and you’ve and found suitable student accommodation Manchester, you’ll want to get stuck in and familarise yourself with your new surroundings.

Manchester boasts several impressive places of interest - including Old Trafford, the National Football Museum and the People’s History Museum. Yet if you want to tread in the footsteps of many Brits-on-tour before you, you’ll find the Coronation Street tour hard to top!

As one of our longest running soaps here in Britain, the original Coronation Street set is a piece of visual nostalgia for any fan. From its first broadcast back in 1960, Corrie’s kitchen-sink drama concept was readily embraced by the nation. We’ve been enthralled by it’s murderers, adulterers and wayward teens ever since - welcoming the chance to escape our own personal dramas and revel in the misery of its fictional characters instead.

Since opening up the set to the public, Coronation Street’s set has welcomed over half a million visitors from across the world. Although filming has now moved to MediaCityUK, true fans will crave cobblestones under their feet, the frayed seats in the original Rover’s Return and the opportunity to answer the age-old question of whether the stock at The Kabin is real or not. Other sets open to the public are Prima Doner, Underworld, and the Duckworth’s / Dobbs’ living room - if only walls could talk!

Although the tour is due to close to the public in December, it’s still as popular as ever. Even disinterested husbands will find the backstage studio tour a fascinating insight into what goes into making the UK’s most popular long-running soap. Many of the studio guides worked on the soap itself and can answer the questions of even the most ardent fan - they’ve also been known to share the odd secret too. There are also plenty of photo opps so you can take a quick selfie in front of Roy’s Rolls, Audrey’s salon or Street Cars.

There’s tons to take in and you’ll be able to relax in the green room, the actor’s dressing rooms and the costume and make-up room where some of the show’s iconic outfits are displayed. The video editing studio is also a must-see for those due to study (or with a keen interest in) film production.

A common observation of visitors to the set is just how tiny the interior sets are. You can almost feel how the actor’s must have done - surrounded by lights, cameras and director’s assistants. It’s strangely eerie to see these preserved purely for fans to see.

Despite its venerable age in terms of television standards, Coronation Street is still achieves some of the highest ratings in British broadcasting, and shows no signs of stopping. So get your hands on the last of the tickets available and soak up an unique opportunity to experience the world of some of the UK’s leading actors and actresses.

Mar 20 2015

What do I need to become a teacher?

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Teaching has to be one of the most rewarding vocations going. By passing your knowledge and skills onto others, you can help to shape their thoughts and futures, and you get the satisfaction of knowing you’re making a real contribution to society.

There are also a range of career opportunities available to you once you quality as a teacher. For example, as well as conventional classroom teaching, you have the option of tutoring students either in person or via the web. Distance learning specialists like Oxford Open Learning rely on the skills of professional teachers to deliver high-quality tutoring services online.

Of course, before you commit to such a career path, it’s important to realise that teaching’s not an easy task, and there are certain essential skills and attributes that you’ll need if you’re to be a success. This brief guide will talk you through the basics.

The right knowledge and credentials

Bear in mind that before you step into a classroom to deliver a lesson, you’ll need all the relevant certifications. To start teacher training in the UK, you must have C-grade GCSEs in English, maths and, if you want to teach primary or key stages 2/3, a science subject. Some teacher training providers also accept skills developed through work experience, but you’ll need to check to find this out. It’s important to get some school experience before your teacher training too. This will help to strengthen your application and prepare you for interviews.

To go on and gain qualified teacher status, you can follow a number of postgraduate and undergraduate training routes. The path you choose will depend on the qualifications you already have, the area you want to specialise in, the age group you wish to teach and a range of other factors.

Dedication

You’ll also need to have a number of personal qualities if you’re to become a successful teacher, and one of them is dedication. Good teaching requires time and effort. As well as actually delivering lessons, you’ll need to plan them, mark students’ work and complete all the relevant paperwork. Depending on the type of role you take, you might also have to meet students outside class, serve on school committees, speak to parents and more. This means teaching is not an 8.30am to 3pm job.

Great communication skills

It almost goes without saying that impressive communication skills are a must in this line of work. It’s not enough to simply grasp concepts and retain facts yourself. You have to be able to get your students to do likewise. Being enthusiastic about the subjects you cover helps with this, and you should also have a natural ability to explain things to others.

Organisational strengths

Organisation is another key skill. You’ll need to keep on top of all your admin, follow the relevant curriculums and ensure your students stay on track to meet exam and assessment deadlines. This requires excellent time management and plenty of forward planning.

The ability to cope under pressure

Last but not least on this list, you must be able to cope under pressure. Your stress levels may soar in the run up to your students’ exams, and you will often have a heavy workload to deal with. You might also face difficult situations in the classroom, and you have to be able to keep your cool when this happens.

 

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