Reach Cambridge English Studies Trip, Mar 2019

The Reach Cambridge English Studies Trip held from 9-18 March 2019 was a fulfilling and enriching trip for our students. 20 English Language and Linguistics (ELL) and Literature students had the opportunity to participate in bespoke seminars taught by academics from Cambridge University that extended their learning of the subjects. For example, the ELL students had the opportunity to learn more about the unique features of dialects in the UK, America and were also introduced to the field of Psycholinguistics. They were also trained to do fieldwork and had the privilege of conducting research on accents in the town of Cambridge. Similarly, the Literature seminars stretched the critical thinking and understanding of Literature. The seminars engaged students in thinking about the Literary Canon, Shakespeare and his works, Modernism and also prepared the students to critically engage with a play, Richard II, which they watched in London.

The students also had learning journeys to Stratford-upon-Avon and London. In Stratford-upon-Avon, they had a special tour of Shakespeare’s schoolhouse and learnt what the nature of classroom interactions were like in his era. They also had a tour of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) to gain a better understanding of the process of producing a play. In London, the students visited Tate Modern and had the opportunity to connect their learning of Modernism to the wonderful display of art in the museum. Finally, our students also visited the Medieval and Modern Languages department in Cambridge during their Open Day to learn more about how Linguistics and Modern Languages are taught in Cambridge University.

The students had such a rich learning experience from this 10 day trip! The most wonderful takeaways highlighted was their ability to make connections between disciplines and seeing the relevance of what they study come alive. In the words of Natalie Ong (2T05), “sitting in a classroom with teachers from all over the world and listening to them speak made me realise that Literature and Linguistics have been a medium to bring people from vastly different cultures and walks of life together”.