University of Roehampton Review (1)

University of Roehampton Review (1)

Europe

Even when I was at school, I loved to go on language trips to England during my holidays. The English culture fascinated me and it has made me use and develop my language skills fun. When a fellow student made me aware of the possibility of a semester abroad, I wanted to go back immediately. I came across MicroEDU through my home university. Thanks to the simple search engine, I quickly decided on the University of Roehampton. I got all the information I needed through MicroEDU and was able to submit my application.

When choosing the modules, I was actively supported by a professor from my home university in order to ensure that the modules I selected are recognized in my course.

I completed my semester abroad in the fall semester. This starts in September, one month earlier than the winter semester in Germany. The semester ended at the end of December. Visit existingcountries.com to get information about where to study Buenos Aires or Santiago.

Arrive

Since I was accepted, I have been looking forward to my stay in England. When the time came and I was on the plane to London, however, I became nervous and feared that my next four months would not be as good as I had imagined, that I would miss my family very much and that I would miss my studies might not make it. My fear completely evaporated when I arrived on the beautiful campus of the university and moved into my new home. I lived in some kind of dormitory on campus. There I had my own room and bathroom. I shared the kitchen with my seven other flatmates.

Campus

The campus consists of four “colleges” to which you are assigned depending on the course of study. Since I studied in the ” Education ” department, I was assigned to Froebel College. Accordingly, my room and the lectures of two of my three modules were located there.

Everything you need can be found on campus. There are various “diners” where you can eat during the week, there are various cafes and a shop where you can buy essentials and a pub.

Campus life

The first week is the so-called “Freshers Week”. This week there are a lot of activities and celebrations that are perfect for meeting new people. But even after this week there are still a lot of leisure activities on offer. There are many different sports clubs that you can join or societies where you can meet people with the same interests on a weekly basis. The university’s “students union” also offered additional weekly activities. There are always parties on Wednesdays and Fridays, bingo evenings on Tuesdays, karaoke on Thursdays and a pub quiz on Sundays.

Personally, I went to the hip-hop society every week. I also got to know a lot of people here. We played a lot of games and there were different workshops, for example for dancing or rapping. In addition, anyone who wanted could perform songs or dances themselves.

All the activities made it possible for me to make contacts from all over the world and also to immerse myself in the English language and culture beyond the technical level of my studies.

The university also offered a program for all international students that was arranged by the organization “Somewhere New”. These included, for example, a tour of the London borough of Greenwich, a musical and a weekend trip to Wales. But you could also book further excursions through this organization independently of the university. I also used the opportunity to spend a weekend in Scotland.

Education

The system of education points at the university in England and that in Germany is very different. You can get 60 UK credits per semester. Since most modules yield 20 UK credits, you can usually only take three modules. That doesn’t sound like a lot at first, especially since you “only” take part in a three-hour lecture per module per week. However, you have to prepare well for the lectures with the help of a weekly reading list.

While I am used to lectures with around 90 fellow students from my home university, there were between 10 and 40 students in the lectures in England, which means that the lectures have more of the character of a seminar and a class-like feeling. There are a lot of discussions and as a student you are much more active than I was used to from Germany, which makes the content much more interesting and understandable.

Modules

My three modules were “Communication, Language and Literacy”, “Leadership, Management, Partnership and Multidisciplinary Teamwork” and “Multicultural Education”. I had to write an essay in each of the three modules. In the “Multicultural Education” module, I also had to give a 10-minute lecture, which was also included in my final grade.

In the module “Communication, Language and Literacy” I had to observe a child for my essay and analyze it with regard to its language, its interaction with books and its literacy or drawing skills. At first I had difficulty finding a child to watch, but as soon as I asked my teacher about it, she helped me find a child. This module is part of the second year study program in Roehampton. The other two modules are offered in the third year of an English student.

In “Leadership, Management, Partnership and Multidisciplinary Teamwork” I had a Leader in for my essay early Pedagogical area regarding the work with parents to interview. The lectures in this module did not have the same interactive intensity and quality as the other modules because this was the largest number of participants with forty students. In addition, there was a smaller share of participation here than in the other modules.

“Multicultural Education” was my favorite module, even if I had the greatest doubts about this because it was the first time I had to give an English lecture as part of this module, which was a bit scary for me. However, the atmosphere in this module was great, as the enthusiasm of my lecturer and my fellow students totally passed on to me. There were exciting discussions and group work in every lecture.

In all three modules, the lecturers were of great help with the essays. In each module at least one consultation was offered, in which one could ask questions about the essays and present the drafts and first chapters of the essays and receive initial feedback.

Financing

Since studying in England was a much greater financial burden than in Germany, the PROMOS scholarship was a great help to me.

Conclusion

In summary, I can say that my semester abroad exceeded my expectations a lot. It was a great experience to live in a different culture for such a long period of time. I made an incredible number of contacts and made friends from all over the world. I was able to gain a new insight and a different perspective into the field of early childhood education. I also really liked the distinctly different type of lectures. Since I am a rather shy person, I initially had great reservations about this active type of lecture and my graded presentation, but in the end it made me grow beyond myself.

Now I’m already planning to do a master’s at the University of Roehampton after my bachelor’s degree.

University of Roehampton Review (1)