English Taster Sessions (several choices on offer)

Sessions include:

Making the News
Students will learn how to write a simple news story and publish it on social media, with a practising journalist and lecturer. All you need is a phone, and preferably a Twitter account. We will explain the basic structure of a news story, how to find a story, and get you writing and publishing one by the end of the session.

Fake News
Learn about where it’s come from, where it’s going, how it’s made, and what you can do about it. This interactive session from a practising journalist and lecturer includes a lively talk with a group exercise to test your ability to tell truth from lies - and a discussion about how you can help fight the fakes.

How to Read a Script (for Radio/Film/Stage)
So, how exactly do we read a script? First, we need to note what type of script it is. Radio? Film? Stage? They are all formatted differently from each other but have one thing in common – a story! Reading scripts is vital toward immersing oneself in character and the scripted world. Finding the main plot is easy but what about the sub-plot? Character relationships? Physical traits? Emotional highs and lows? Comedic moments? This workshop will guide potential student writers/actors/directors toward digging deep into a text to study its structure, characters, themes, style and so forth.

Analysing a Play of Your Choice
An interactive seminar exploring one of your set plays, or a play of your choice. Explore themes, character, structure and performance possibilities with one of our playwriting experts.

Contemporary Plays: Text and Performance
An interactive seminar exploring selected contemporary plays and how they deal with current themes. Example themes could include; climate change, identity, refugee experience, mental health, science, and pandemic.

The Study of Cinema
The study of cinema exhibition offers us a fascinating insight into the unique relationship between the moving image and its audiences. This illustrated talk, suitable for students working in a wide range of subjects - including Film and Media, English, History and Sociology - will investigate the way in which our experience of cinema has developed from the very intimate and personal ‘peephole viewing’ of Edison’s kinetoscope to the truly social, immersive experiences we recognise today. We’ll take in the lavish 1,000+ seater auditorium or ‘dream palace’, the ‘drive-in’ popular with American youths, the bespoke movie theatre and the multiplex. And we’ll consider whether the increasingly popular ‘pop up’ cinema, site-specific screenings and the ‘open cinema’ movement (aimed at extending exhibition to excluded communities) is the future of independent cinema exhibition in the UK.

Creative Writing for Professional Purposes
In this workshop, will share tips and tricks for using visual cues and exercises to start the creative writing process for professional purposes, whether it be for social media or for campaigns, and explain the crossover between creative writing and copywriting, art direction and creative direction. The workshop will be run by our Senior Lecturer in Advertising Design, Molly Owens, who is an award-winning writer and creative director, and who has had her creative writing published in literary anthologies and periodicals. Students will have an opportunity to participate in creative copywriting exercises, and produce some draft copy which they'll receive feedback for from the faciliator, and be given some resources to continue learning about this subject.

Storytelling on Behalf of Brands
Students will be given a presentation on storytelling for brands, and will then participate in creative copywriting exercises and develop some draft copy of their own in this interactive and inspiring workshop. The workshop will be run by our Senior Lecturer in Advertising Design, Molly Owens, who is an award-winning writer and creative director. Students will have the opportunity to receive feedback at the end of the session, and be given some resources to continue learning about this subject.

Creative Idea Generation
Where do ideas come from? How do I get started with ideas? What is my creative process? These are all questions that are addressed in this workshop, which will help students with techniques that they can use to begin to meet a brief. The workshop will be run by our Senior Lecturer in Advertising Design, Molly Owens, who is an award-winning writer and creative director. Students will participate in creative idea generation exercises and have a short brief that they will begin creative concepts for, and will receive feedback on these.

How to Write a Cover Letter
What are the elements of a strong cover letter, and where do I begin? This workshop will help students learn the basics of writing a cover letter for university applications and employment, and they will be given the opportunity to write draft letters and receive feedback on them. The workshop will be run by Senior Lecturer Molly Owens, who is an award-winning writer.

Enquire about this event