Skills in Academic English Course

Using materials created by our teachers, you will practise seminar style discussions on specific topics which will appear in a higher education setting. These discussions will be lively, interesting and will elicit the kind of language that will be crucial as you continue your education in English. Combined with the presentations you will give both as part of the Skills in Academic English programme and the Progressive Skills in Action project based classes in the afternoon, your confidence and lexis will grow and set you up perfectly for the future.

One of the reasons we integrate each skill – Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking -  with the topic of the week is that it provides you with the necessary context you need in order to improve your confidence – especially with unknown language. In this way, you will have both the necessary linguistic and cultural awareness to approach two skills that can sometimes be more challenging: reading and listening. We will be using texts that are longer than perhaps you have been exposed to and this will provide you with plenty of opportunities to discover unknown language and create strategies to understand what unknown words mean. Ultimately, it is our aim that you will complete the course able to read more effectively and be able take notes from an extended listening task more efficiently and accurately.

Always linked to the theme of the week, you will have the opportunity to study the ‘anatomy of an essay’, focusing on how to write an introduction, topic sentences, coherent and cohesive paragraphs and logical conclusions. Different ways of approaching writing will take place during your course which will include following a model of an essay and collaborative writing where you will work together.

We all know that it is essential to prepare well before we start something new. Whether that be a course, project, essay, exam or school, preparation is key. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe” and so , by familiarising and engaging with tasks and challenges that mimic the things you will undertake in the near future, you will complete our course with a new set of linguistic skills that will help you with your future studies.

One of the unique aspects of our summer school is that international students will have a chance to study alongside British students who are from Whitgift School and Croydon High School (Student Ambassadors). From 12:30 – 21:30 each day, Student Ambassadors attend the summer school and take part in project-based lessons, academies, activities, and evening activities with you, our visiting international students. This means you will make friends with students from the UK and also find out what life is really like in a UK boarding school.