Hi, I’m Hathaway, and here is an example of a week in my life as an Education student!
Monday
As an English in Education student, I don’t have early sessions on Mondays, so… a cosy sleep till around 9! Then, after having breakfast and washing up, my day officially starts! To prepare for the discussions in seminars, I always do the pre-sessional readings on Mondays. 20 pages can be a bit long, as I have recently started studying abroad in the UK – English is my second language.
Luckily, York has some amazing skills guides and study coaching sessions. There are five major sectors to help you with your academic life here. These are: find & research, organise & analyse, create & communicate, being critical, and groupwork & collaboration.
The note-taking tips in the skills guide save me hours from getting lost in readings. They help me find my own system to take and organize my notes and thoughts!
Also, what I love about this useful guide is that it has interactive quizzes to check you have fully understood those tips!
After reading and lunch, I have my dissertation workshop at 2pm. Here we get guidance from the lecturer, and review dissertation plans with peers. I love this session as it is chill but effective. We read each other’s work, give our opinions and help detect gaps. We can then celebrate the improvement afterwards!
After the workshop, as it is still early, I will go straight to Aldi. This is the perfect place for students (including international) to do grocery shopping. I always recommend Aldi when asked by new students. It is close to campus, and has a reasonable price. There’s also the supermarket Nisa on both Campus West and East!
Tuesday
I do not have sessions today, and I plan to finish all the preparatory work before my seminars. As some of my modules are adopting a blended teaching style (a combination of pre-recorded videos and face-to-face sessions), I have a few lectures to watch. I find blended teaching very useful, especially for international students. You can adjust the speed and volume of the lecture, and can have subtitles if you prefer. You can watch the lectures whenever you want. In summary, you can follow your own pace!
I do some intense reading on International Development – a very intriguing topic – and organise my notes in the afternoon. Finally, it’s time for cooking – I will try some Turkish cuisine tonight!
Wednesday
Two seminars today! I enjoy the insightful discussions with my hard-working peers!
Hungry after the seminars? Vending machines are everywhere on campus, and there are quite a few AMAZING places to grab something to eat on campus. Try Cookies in Biology, and The Kitchen in Alcuin College, which is right next to the library. This is a perfect place to relax after an afternoon in the library. Starbucks, Costa and Greggs are also available on campus.
Thursday
Just one seminar to go, and I am free this week! Today, I will be having the seminar of my core module: New Directions to Educational Research. It is an insightful module, and I love the arrangement that each week we will have an invited speaker to introduce his/her research project.
The students each week will do the chairing in the style of a professional academic conference. We also engage in a Q&A session to discuss research interests and/or other aspects. After my seminar, I made exciting plans for the rest of the day – afternoon tea and watching a production of Wuthering Heights at the York Theatre Royal!
As an international student studying Education, I love the epic story of love, revenge and redemption. The performance of the cast was so good that I clapped my hands hard enough to make them swollen – just like the rest of the audience.
I am very lucky, because the same day I saw the show was the day of the Christmas light switch-on in York city centre!
Friday
No session today, and I have a trip planned with my friend to Edinburgh! Another thing I love York about is that it has great transport links.
This is very convenient for international students like me because it’s easy to explore other parts of the UK! I managed to travel to Edinburgh and back in the same day!
Weekend – hurrah!
I am on the committee of the educational volunteering society – Theatre in Schools. I attend and assist the volunteering sessions every two weeks. We play games with young children, and welcome volunteers from across the University at all levels of study to have fun with us!
We had a few games that day, and since it was a taster session for volunteers, you will probably notice that there is no child in this picture!
To wrap it up…
This is a week in my life here as an Education student at York. In conclusion, I love my course, and aspire to discover more in the field of education. Also, I have received loads of help and support from the teachers and my peers. As well as being academic, I love the student life in York. For example, I love having a sip of coffee after class, and enjoy the grand view of York Minster.
I hope this blog is helpful to you, and that now you are interested in studying Education in York!
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