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Recorded talks and workshops

Our recorded talks and workshops are a great way for your students to engage with university content when we are unable to come to you. Explore our taster workshops, recorded lectures and Ambassador talks by subject below.

Art and Design

Waste and West Africa: Making Artworks from Recycled Materials

Please note that sewing kits (enough for a few needles and different coloured thread per person) and scissors will be required for this session.

This session will look at the impact of colonialism on waste accumulation in West Africa and how artists in West Africa use waste as part of their arts practice and how we can use recycled material to make art. Students will think about how to use waste material in their own arts practice and get creative with cutting, stitching and arranging compositions. At the end of the session, we will have formed a textile artwork that is reflective of students’ own identities.

Creative Arts Ambassador Talk (KS3)

Our interactive KS3 talk covers the benefits of studying Creative Arts subjects at GCSE, the skills gained by pursuing Creative Arts study and the career opportunities available. Our Student Ambassadors share their inspirational journeys and experiences studying the Creative Arts, including opportunities to study abroad and work in industry!

Creative Arts Ambassador Talk (KS4/5)

Our interactive KS4/5 talk covers the benefits of studying a Creative Arts subject at A-Level and beyond, with an introduction to potential career pathways, supported by alumni case studies. Our Ambassadors provide an overview of Creative Arts course options and facilities at the University of Leeds and the highlights of our campus. They also share their inspirational journeys studying the Creative Arts, including opportunities to study abroad and work in industry! Please note the audio on this video is uneven, so you may need to adjust the volume between each speaker - we apologise for this technical issue.

English

Discovering Dialect

Dr Fiona Douglas from the School of English delivers a lecture on Discovering Dialect for Year 12 students taking part in the Explore English project.

‘Show, Don’t Tell’: A Creative Writing Workshop (KS4/5)

This is a hands-on creative writing workshop which engages students in a piece of descriptive writing. Students will be introduced to the ‘show, don’t tell’ technique; they will perform analysis and practice activities to familiarise themselves with the technique and its effect before using it in a piece of their own creative writing.

How to Save the World, One Book at a Time: Eco-Memoirs and the Climate Crisis

This interactive reading session incorporates various levels of reading skill and focus. It familiarises students with the Eco-Memoir and its defining traits before situating examples of the genre within (eco-)critical responses to it. The session aims to stimulate students’ critical engagement with texts in order to evaluate the effectiveness of texts in communicating with a readership in the midst of a climate emergency; in other words, does a text promote environmental consciousness just by virtue of being “about nature”.

Literature of Place: A Close-Reading workshop

This session practices close reading skills within the context of place writing. Students will read extracts of literature and analyse the devices used by the author to create engaging descriptions of a place. The session has the potential to be extended through the addition of a creative writing element in which students would then use these devices themselves. Similarly, a separate creative writing session could be designed which uses the devices identified in the close reading activity from this session (please mention this on the online form if you are interested in this extension session).

How to Read Comics

PhD student Jess’s video talks about how to read comics, showing us that why we read comics, and how we read comics, can help us to think about how we tell stories.

Watch the video here.

Linguistic Prescriptivism – Recorded Lecture and Follow-Up Workshop

Professor Peter Trudgill (University of Adger, Kristiansand, Norway) is a prominent language expert and author of a wide range of books on sociolinguistics. After a public lecture that he delivered at the University in 2017, we created a follow-up workshop that can be delivered to A-Level English Language students.

English Ambassador Talk and Q&A – Life Studying English at Leeds

Ambassadors Jennie and Henna talk about their experience studying English at the University of Leeds, and answer audience questions!

Alumni Talk - Linguistics and English Language

Katie, who studied Linguistics and English Language at the university, is an Organisational and Workforce Development Officer at Leeds City Council. She tells us how she chose her course, the skills she developed at university, and how they helped her get to where she is today!

 

History

Careers with History (KS4/5)

Would your students like to gain a better understanding of the transferable skills that come from studying History and career paths that are open to graduates?

This interactive recorded workshop is delivered by two History PhD students, who will guide your students through a range of activities, all designed to highlight the relevance of studying History and open their eyes to a wide range of jobs.

What is a Primary Source and What Can It Tell Us? (KS4/5)

This interactive session will provide key information on using a variety of primary sources with a focus on written as well as non-written sources. It will help students engage with the past in order to interpret and understand it from first-hand documents.

Medieval Humour (KS4/5)

This interactive session will consider various primary sources in order to combat the notion that medieval people were incredibly devout and religious and therefore, could not have a sense of humour. We will look at drawings, poetry and riddles which all point to Medieval people having a great sense of humour!

Medieval Coronation Ceremonies (KS5)

Have you ever wondered how an early Medieval coronation ceremony might differ to a modern church ceremony? This session will highlight a particular aspect of primary source analysis: understanding what the scope of a particular source is for understanding the past. This session will help students understand how to identify which questions certain sources can help us answer, and what their uses are, as well as provide some understanding of what happened in an early medieval English coronation ceremony.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

A taster lecture on The Cuban Missile Crisis delivered by Dr Robert Hornsby.

 

 

Languages

Beginners Italian

Learn the basics of the Italian language and culture with this beginners taster session - you probably know more than you think!

Activity Sheet: https://artsoutreach.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2021/05/linguastars-italian-session-ac.docx

Transcript: https://artsoutreach.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2021/05/linguastars-italian-session-tr.pdf

Beginners Arabic

Let’s get your students EXCITED about studying languages!! Our language taster workshops introduce your students to a language subject they may not have studied before. The workshops can be delivered online and have been designed to show your students just some of the other language options available to them in the future. They will spark your students’ interest and encourage the uptake of languages through school, college and onto Higher Education.

Introduction to Linguistics and Phonetics

Discover what it's like to study Linguistics alongside a language at university as we explore accent variation.

Worksheet: https://artsoutreach.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2021/05/linguastars-linguistics-sessio.docx

Transcript: https://artsoutreach.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2021/05/linguastars-linguistics-sessio.pdf

German - Was bedeutet Deutschsein? (KS5)

For students studying German at A-Level, our undergraduate taster session explores identity, through the music of pop-star Namika!

Activity Sheet: https://artsoutreach.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2021/05/linguastars-german-session-act.pdf

Transcript: https://artsoutreach.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2021/05/linguastars-german-session-tra.pdf

French - Simone Veil: Une Vie (KS5)

For A Level French students, this undergraduate taster session introduces participants to Simone Veil to look at different aspects of her life, and her significance as a political figure.

Activity sheet: https://artsoutreach.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2021/05/linguastars-french-session-tra.pdf

Studying International Relations with Languages - Who should solve climate change?

Discover what it's like to study International Relations (IR) alongside a language at university as we ask the question 'Who should solve climate change?'.

The transcript for this talk can be found here: https://artsoutreach.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2021/05/linguastars-international-rela.pdf

Career Opportunities for Language Graduates

Find out about the career opportunities available and the skills that languages graduates build during their time at university.

Transcript: https://artsoutreach.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2021/05/linguastars-employability-sess.pdf

Language Course Options Talk

Find out about the course options available in the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies at the University of Leeds.

Transcript: https://artsoutreach.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/21/2021/05/linguastars-courses-talk-trans.pdf

Linguastars Ambassador Q&A

Our Ambassadors answer all sorts of questions submitted by our #Linguastars participants!

Media

An Introduction to Political Communication (KS5)

What is Political Communication and has social media changed the way politicians’ communicate? If you are interested in studying politics or media at university then this is the session for you. This interactive recorded workshop will provide you with an opportunity to act as a Social Media Officer for a government department to see some of the challenges faced when trying to communicate politics on Twitter!

Music

Music and Wellbeing (KS4/5)

Do you think studying music is just about learning to play an instrument? Think again! The session will be suitable for students interested in music, psychology and general wellbeing. In this interactive workshop, students will discuss the impact of music on physical, psychological, emotional and social wellbeing. Drawing from current research in music psychology, including key models of wellbeing, as well as their own experiences they will explore what we mean by ‘wellbeing’, and how it relates to our musical engagement. Together we will consider the ways in which we use music for wellbeing in our own lives and reflect on the impact of music through lockdown. This workshop is available as a pre-recorded session or it can be delivered live online whilst your students are at home.

Careers in Music (KS3/4/5)

In this session, our Education Outreach Fellow will share an overview of the varied careers available in the music industry, including hidden careers you may not have considered. Drawing from her own varied experiences in the industry, including working for a major record label, as a music teaching assistant, a freelance singer and music facilitator, and a music psychology researcher, Melissa will reflect on her own musical pathway and the skills required to find success in the industry. This session will also discuss the transferable skills you can gain from studying and/or engaging with music, including how to frame these for an employer and some hints and tips on how to build your CV for a career in music.

Philosophy, Ethics and Religious Studies

Ethics Untangled Podcast

Ethics Untangled is a series of conversations about the ethical issues that affect all of us. In each episode, Jim Baxter interviews an academic, usually a philosopher, who has spent some time thinking about those issues, and between them they try to work out what’s going on.

An Introduction to Reasoning and Argument

The aim of this workshop is to introduce students with little or no academic background in philosophy to some of the basic concepts and issues involved in the study of reasoning and argument. What is an argument, and what makes for a good one? What does it mean for an argument or be valid or invalid, sound or unsound? Students will learn how to distinguish between opinion and knowledge, articulate why they believe something to be true, identify the premises and conclusion of  and reconstruct an argument, and identify the difference between a valid argument and a sound argument – valued skills in many different subject areas.