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!