Lera makes the news in Scunthorpe

Day 10 at JLC by Lera Yakubova

Here it is… my last day at John Leggot College. It was good despite the weather. English literature was alright when we watched a Macbeth movie this time produced by a BBC channel. I also got a copy of reading suggestions, might read something from that list. After break at double IELTS I had a surprise from the International centre and a couple of my teachers. They all gathered to give a Certificate of Achievement stating that I completed my two-week taster course at JLC. They also got me a gift. Thank you all very much!!! The lesson of IELTS did happen afterwards and it was interesting all the information was very useful.

The rest of the day wasn’t long as my last period didn’t happen. At French we had a goodbye party for two language teachers of French and Spanish. So the atmosphere was a little bit sad in the end.

I had a really good time here at college and gained a lot of experience. Thanks to all the teachers who were teaching me these past two weeks. I hope I will have a chance to study at JLC after I finish school.

Lera is presented with a certificate in her final English lesson.

Day 9 at JLC by Lera Yakubova

Today my post won’t be big because a couple of my lessons were cancelled. But the day started great. I finally won the thing at Math I wrote about earlier. It really gave some sunshine to the day because good weather which was lasting for three days now suddenly disappeared. I guess that was the best of sun and warmth I could get. At ICT I finished my last project which was a jigsaw puzzle. I had fun doing it. Unfortunately, that was my last ICT lesson.

Day 8 at JLC by Lera Yakubova

Today I hadn’t had any lessons because I visited Bradford University. I had to get up quite early because it was almost a 2 hour drive, plus we got lost in Bradford itself. As it was an ICT trip everything was connected with computering and programing. First we had a small introduction. First lecture was about creating animation and making character movements. It’s really hard to create an animated movie clip. A three-minute one takes about six months. Can you believe that? After that we worked with java and made computer do simple command like writing “Hello World” on the screen. I’ve never worked with java before but it was really interesting to know about. After a quick lunch we had a last event for the day which included a character workshop with a lady. We had to create a character for a video game which was also supposed to have something in common with a movie. It had a title “Red Riding Hood” directed by Quentin Tarantino. In the end our Red Riding Hood wasn’t exactly a girl with a basket carrying cookies to her grandma but she really corresponded to women in Quentin Tarantino films.

Day 7 at JLC by Lera Yakubova

I think this was my most active and hectic of all since I’ve been here. First of all there was Biology. I wish it never happened. Although I got to know some useful information about kite diagrams and discovered how many kinds of grasses there could be on a field that looks green and you assume it’s just an ordinary grass. So by the end of this double my legs were wet covered in dirt but at least the weather was great. I don’t know what could’ve happened if it was raining again. At my break I met the Principle of the college. After that there was a double Maths. We were revising the previous lesson topic and had to make a poster on this topic. There was also some sort of math solving competition using distance remote control system. They weren’t hard but unfortunately I didn’t win. At ICT I was still working on Flash program and our teacher gave us some “chocolate” dip (it really tasted like coffee). At my free 9^th period local press came to interview me. I enjoyed answering their questions very much. They also took some photos outside of college. So I’m hoping to see my face in the paper soon.

Interview with the local press

Lera is interviewed by a reporter at the Scunthorpe Telegraph

Meeting the principal

Official welcome to John Leggott College from Principal David Vasse

Day 6 at JLC by Lera Yakubova

Here goes another week. Same classes but much more to expect. ICT and IELTS went fine. At IELTS I got my writing assignment which stated that I did alright for my first time doing this kind of work. On double French we finished watching “La Haine” which had a kind of sad ending with a hanging line in the end. Math was fun as always. We got to know how architecture can be displayed in Math on a particular example of 7 bridges of Konigsberg. Dijkstra’s algorithm was interesting to know about too. It tells us about the shortest route from one point to another throughout other different posts. Literature was quite good. We started reading Macbeth and exploring his character and personality.

Weekend by Lera Yakubova

Saturday...a visit to London.....

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben

Day 5 at JLC by Lera Yakubova

Days flow by really fast. Can’t believe it is Friday already. Not a lot of things happened today. At IELTS we had a practice writing test because it was double lesson. The tasks were quite hard and I don’t think I wrote the needed volume. We also started a new movie at French called La Haine which means Hate. It has a lot of humour and some really confusing moments. Math was fun. It’s always the funniest lesson of all. There were songs again. And we also spoke some French language. How cool is that???

Day 4 at JLC by Lera Yakubova

Everything seems fine so far. Today’s math was fun. Our teacher sung us some songs (not about math) and we were solving trig equations too. I wish we had teachers like that in Ukraine.

Then there was chemistry and we learned about half-lives and how they can be measured.

ITC was next and I am still working with Flash program. Only the tasks are getting more difficult but it’s fun and interesting. After lunch and some work at library I somehow managed to get lost on my way to the English literature. At this lesson I found out about Neo Gothics and Mock Gothics which is like Gothics only not so much real and old-aged. In biology we discussed the null hypothesis had ways to prove it or reject it using previous lesson material.

Day 3 at JLC by Lera Yakubova

Well… every day’s just getting better and better. Today my first lesson was French and we were watching the same movie which is called “Welcome”. It was still on the emigration theme. Unfortunately it had a sad ending. And in the end of the lesson our teacher told a little bit about herself. She was working with the immigrants as a translator and experienced all the horrible things some people have to go through.

Then I had an IELTS preparation which I had the first time since I’ve been here. We were divided into groups and had to speak to each other on different topics. And the most important thing I got from the lesson is you have know a LOT of things to get a decent score in your exam.

Then there was English literature. We were discussing Gothics and its presence in architecture and we even watched a cartoon based on Macbeth.

Chemistry was a little bit easier today. I understood pretty much everything. We were doing a practical too. That was my first chemistry practical ever and it went great.

Lera takes part in the A-level chemistry practical.

Day 2 at JLC by Lera Yakubova

During my second day of college life I was more confident but still a little bit lost. Thanks to Helen who guided me through all the corridors. Would’ve been lost without her! Today I had more lessons. Biology was first and we were finishing the practical with snails. We also studied how statistics can be used in Biology. Maths was great two. We learned about trig identities. After lunch with some Russian girls I headed to Chemistry. It was very hard. I understood very little of the information and haven’t answered a single question. This led me to a thought, that and I might not know Chemistry at all. What a shame! My last lesson was IT and I studied Adobe Flash. It’s a very interesting programme that allows you to make moving advertisements. I made my stick man dance.

Lera starts to get to grips with her new surroundings! 

Day 1 at JLC by Lera Yakubova

I am really happy about my two week stay at JLC. The first day was great although I was very nervous. My host drove to the college and accompanied me to the international office. First Helen explained everything about the college and all the other things I needed to know - a lot of information. Then there was the best part of the day – the tour. The college itself is huge, has a lot of blocks. I was really lost at first. I got to meet all the teachers and see different classrooms. There’s a really big difference between everything in comparison to Ukraine but in a good way.

My first lesson was French. I study French in Ukraine so it was fine. We watched a film on the emigration theme which we are supposed to study during these last two weeks. The movie itself had both English and French languages because the action took place in both countries. The teacher was great, she explained and commented on everything making it very easy to understand.

Then there was biology and we studied ecosystems. We had to do a practical to measure the population of snails in the college pond. For this we collected some snails to mark and release afterwards. That was quite unusual. I had never had an outside biology lesson before.

Math was the last lesson. Right now all the students are walking through the themes and topics they will be studying in September. Trigonometry is a bit different, and the ways to solve are too but overall I managed to keep up.

Lera at the college pond where she examined the creatures during her first biology lesson

Welcome to Lera Yakubova

Today we welcomed Valeriya 'Lera' Yakubova from Ukraine to JLC for an A-level Taster Course (read her story 'Student from Ukraine wins taste of life at JLC'). Lera is attending Maths, Chemistry, Biology, ICT, French and English lessons during her two-week visit.

Keeping checking back for regular updates and photographs!