Staff and Student Ambassadors
Staff
The COLT Project hires a number of staff from our main Languages - Arabic, Chinese, Italian and Urdu.
For our Teacher Training Project, the Teacher Trainers are:
For Arabic - Yosra Aqil and Majda Al-Liabi
For Chinese - Amy Wang and Feixia Yu
For Urdu - Saeed Varacchia and Shahid Hussain
For our Language Enrichment Events, the Language Tutors are:
For Arabic - Mohamad Aljarrah and Mabrouk Saud
For Chinese - Nancy Yang and Lucy Zhang
For Italian - Marilina Cesario and Raffaella Antinucci
For Urdu - Kokab Jameel and Samina Butt
We also occasionally hire members of staff from our partner universities for a variety of events and school visits.
Student Ambassador Scheme
Student Ambassadors play a very important part in our projects – without them Routes into Languages North West could not have achieved the success in reaching local pupils it has.
Recruited from each of the five North West Universities involved in the project, our Student Ambassadors come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Some are taking degrees in the community languages we promote – Chinese, Urdu, Arabic and Italian – while others are native speakers, coming from the countries where these languages are spoken. This year we have also recruited Year Abroad students who are currently studying here from many different countries, as well as students studying any Language at the partner universities.
The Ambassadors are highly visible at all our events, guiding and helping pupils throughout the day and taking active part in the language taster sessions. Their enthusiasm for languages is infectious and can change pupil perceptions, letting them see the benefits of speaking a second or even third language.
Outside the events, Student Ambassadors regularly travel to schools in the North West to deliver talks about the huge advantages of second languages. Last year, we also started up after school clubs in Chinese, Italian and Arabic, giving pupils the chance to talk with Ambassadors in a more informal setting. However, we are unable to provide this for 2010-2011.
All Student Ambassadors going into schools are CRB checked. If you would like an Ambassador to visit your school, please contact routes@mmu.ac.uk.
If you are a student at one of our partner universities (MMU, University of Manchester, University of Salford, University of Bolton, UCLAN) and speak Arabic/Chinese/French/German/Italian/Spanish or Urdu, and you would like to join our team of Student Ambassadors, please fill in a Job Application Form, and return to routes@mmu.ac.uk.
NB: Deadline for Applications is Wednesday 13th October 2010.
Student Ambassador Profiles:
Stacey Barsby
Name: Stacey Barsby
Age: 19
Year of degree: First Year
Degree course: Translation and Interpreting in Spanish and Italian
Languages spoken: Spanish, Italian, English
What motivated you to learn Languages: From a young age I have always had an interest in foreign languages. Having always been encouraged by my parents to continue studying languages, visiting lots of foreign countries throughout my childhood and being lucky enough to have really good teachers at GCSE has driven me to continue my language learning up to degree level.
Did you take a Gap Year and where? When I turned 18, my twin sister and I made the decision to do some work experience in Madrid as part of our Gap Year. It was one of the best experiences of my life!
What did you learn from your experience abroad? Not only did I gain confidence, make new friends and gain work experience but I also gained some invaluable life skills that I don't think I could have acheived in any other way.
Saad Ajmal
Name: Saad Ajmal
Age: 22
Nationality: British
Languages spoken: German Arabic and Urdu
University: University of Central Lancashire Preston
Course of study: Journalism and Arabic combined honours.
Why did you choose this course? I always loved languages from a young age especially as I come from a diverse background. It was always fun for me to learn languages like at school learning German we could always have a laugh with the teacher and at the same time learn the language.I chose the course I did as Arabic always interested me as well as Journalism so I took both as a combined course which was great. Also learning a language enables you to meet new people and attend events you wouldn’t usually be able to and of course you get to travel abroad.
What’s the best thing about studying languages at university? The best thing about studying a language is you become more confident and enthusiastic as learning a language requires a lot of dedication and hard word but surely in the end it is rewarding. Secondly you get to meet native speakers and go on a gap year which is one of the best and most memorable times of your life something you never forget.
What do you want to do after university and why? After University I hope to go into a field which represents both Journalism and languages such as the home office, or Foreign office also I would like to do a MA Postgraduate in translating.
What do you enjoy most about working as a student ambassador? Working as a student ambassador as always been fun I get to speak to school children of different ages and tell them of my experiences in learning a language also its an opportunity for them to learn and see new cultures something they wouldn’t really do at school. Generally it’s a great and entertaining day out for them as well as educational.
What was your favourite subject at school? My favourite subject at School was Maths and Geography I always came first in both.
What did you enjoy / find difficult about studying languages at school and what advice do you have for pupils in their language learning? Learning a language at school is not as difficult as it seems you just need to be confident and speak up as most kids know the lingo but hesitate when it comes to speaking. Also be enthusiastic!!! It pays in the end.
What is the most interesting place you’ve ever travelled to and why? Syria was the most interested place I travelled to. I went there when I took a year out from university and studied Arabic for a few months at the University of Damascus. It had everything one could want such as sunshine, great food, and amazing places to see. I was able to learn the language I wanted within the spoken country with all native speakers which made it so much easier and also at the same time meet new people, make friends and digest the culture. I would advise anyone to visit Syria it’s a great place full of history, culture and diverse.
Rosanna Lewis
Name: Rosanna Lewis
Where you are from: I am British but grew up in France.
Age: 22
Year of degree: Final year
Degree course: MML Spanish and Italian
Languages spoken: French, Spanish and Italian
How you learnt those languages: At the Lycée International in St. Germain-en-Laye, France, and for A Levels. School trips and holidays also helped me develop the languages.
Why you chose to learn languages: I wanted to develop my knowledge of foreign culture (History, Literature, Art, Cinema) and become fluent in four languages to communicate and travel.
Where you went on your year abroad: I went to Perugia, Italy on an Erasmus year at the Università degli studi di Perugia.
What you did on your year abroad. Did you enjoy the experience? What did you learn? What were the highlights? My Erasmus year in Italy was the best year of my life. I made friends with people from all corners of the world and from different backgrounds. I learnt a lot about their cultures and also the local culture, such as the uni life in Italy and the national and local festivals. Every weekend, a group of students would visit different hilltop villages, museums or festivals. I also got very involved in the life in Perugia, singing for the University Choir and translating articles for the local magazine, eGeneration. I really miss it and want to move back there in the future.
What you would like to do after you graduate: I would like to promote Languages in schools across the nation to widen people’s horizons and open them up to different cultures and communities. I would also like to work for the E.U. and have a job that would allow me to keep up my languages.
Sarah Burrows
Name: Sarah Burrows
Age: 21
Year of degree: 4th (final) year
Degree course: Arabic Studies
Languages spoken: Arabic (Modern Standard, Egyptian colloquial and Bahraini colloquial)
How you learnt those languages: Modern Standard Arabic at university, Egyptian colloquial at university and year abroad, Bahraini colloquial when I lived in the Middle East
Where you are from: half English half Filipino, raised in Bahrain.
Why you chose to learn languages: To be able to communicate with a wider range of people
Where you went on your year abroad: Alexandria, Egypt 2007-2008
Did you enjoy the experience? What did you learn? What were the highlights? Studied for a year at a university there, learning 2 languages (Modern standard Arabic and Egyptian colloquial.) The highlights were being taught IN Arabic and not being allowed to speak any English at university – it really helped with learning the language! Learnt more about Egyptian culture and travelling around the country and the rest of the Middle East during the holidays was a definite highlight.
What you would like to do after you graduate: Work in PR in the Middle East.
How do you use your languages in everyday life? I have many Arab friends and speak Arabic with them most of the time. I find having a 2nd language very useful, especially Arabic, because there are many Arabs in Manchester and being able to speak their language in a British accent serves as a funny icebreaker! It’s also useful when I do research for my other classes and need to read books or documents in Arabic.
Why did you get involved in the North West Consortium? I’m quite passionate about my course, learning Arabic and am very involved in my department so I thought I would be a good spokesperson for learning a language at university!
Elena Davitti
Name: Elena
Age: 25
Year of degree: first
Degree course: PhD
Languages spoken: Italian (mother tongue), English and French
Where you are from: Italy
Why you chose to learn languages: Because I loved the idea of being able to help people communicate with each other, get in contact with different cultures, understand different habits and traditions, share ideas and thoughts with virtually anybody. I firmly believe that learning languages is an extremely enriching, rewarding and enjoyable experience.
What you would like to do after you graduate: I already have both a BA and an MA: my goal is to gain more experience as a freelance interpreter and translator while carrying out my PhD research project.
How do you use your languages in everyday life? Do you find languages useful, how? I live abroad, so I use languages every single day to do all sorts of things, talking to friends and professors, going to the shop, taking the bus, etc. Knowing languages is fundamental as it gives you the chance to broaden the scope of people you can share your thoughts and ideas with: this can result in an extremely enriching and rewarding experience, which makes one become more mature,
What do you enjoy about working with the North West Consortium? I really love the initiatives promoted, the team spirit that characterizes the organization, among others, of Language Enrichment events. People involved in the project are passionate about languages and cultures, they love what they are doing and succeed in conveying this enthusiasm to younger people.
