dumb

They know nothing of literature, politics, history or much on more vocational subjects. They are often misogynistic with little knowledge of even the recent past. Of course, many may be claiming qualifications they do not possess or did not obtain as the result of their own efforts. No doubt many are. However, this is not the whole story.

DUMB AND DUMBER

While my stories of the above college will continue, and remember the other classes only contain a small number of this criminal type, I want here to consider lecturers in general in these private colleges. As a whole they are disturbingly vacuous. You cannot easily apply the term erudite to them. I am not the only one who has noticed this discrepancy between their claimed status, supposed qualifications and apparent intellectual ability. I have discussed it with a small number of other lecturers while we attempt to understand the problem.

While they might have a working knowledge of their own specialization, they are clueless about other matters.

TO BE CONTNUED

greed

Yes, the students are recruited simply for money. Most have no qualifications even though the course is supposed to be first year of a degree course. Many are just plain stupid. Most would struggle with level 1 or 2.

In one class, I was struck by a student's boyfriend (while my back was turned), sworn at by a student, subjected to extensive abuse by students without any intelligence and told I did not know how to teach. Then I was complained about. Whoa Ho, the owners enriching themselves by conning these crooks and low lives, never have to face the consequences of their greed.

Unfortunately, about 70% of students on the course are not up to its less than demanding standards and will produce poor work, copy and paste, or pay others to do it. Edexcel lends itself to cheaters but probably others do now too. I've just read an Open University course that, although it touches on points of intellectuality, helps students far too much.

The disruptive girls/women in the class, a gang of six or so, manipulate the system but not for gain, just for laughs and power. Streetwise, they seem unable to see what they can gain long term from study. These fit neatly into the psychopathic spectrum of personality traits but are not. This so-called trait, the diagnosis of sedate armchair theorists and psychiatrists, ignores cultural and environmental matters, as well as harm/benefit calculations common to us all. The latter are merely perceived differently.

the bad again

The criminal-type students are there for the grants of several thousand pounds. They enrol in gangs. They are only, once in a college, interested uin disruptive and destructive behaviour. The college owners are only interested in money. Usually they have no background in education and use the system just to make themselves' immense fortunes.

the bad

The college provides a supermarket approach to education. Students come in and select a purchase and walk off with it after an agreed period of time. Distinctions between good and bad students are not made. The bad students use all means, bullying, threatening, cajoling.

GOOD/BAD

Next college lecturing position-part-time. A large private college in central London made up of International and local students but otherwise without a recruitment policy. The majority of my students are great, but there are a considerable number throughout the college who are lacking in intelligence and with a criminal background of one kind or another. These ones, needless to say, are highly disruptive. They have nothing better to do!


I have five classes and the students in four are progressing excellently. In the fifth, the good students are in despair over the other's behaviour.

BRITISH HISTORY

GREENWICH TUTORIAL ACADEMY HISTORY OF BRITAIN

Britain consists of a small number of islands off Western Europe. For many thousands of years its existence was unknown to those living in urban cultures to the south. For a period it was known as Alban, a land in the North Sea. Only for approximately a thousand years has it been known as England.

At present, Britain has a population of approximately 62 million. It is made up of the largest island in Europe, although the entirety of the British Isles consists of about 1000 islands. An originator of modern democracy, its Empire once touched the four corners of the world. Two World Wars left it deeply indebted, and for decades forestalled economic stability.

Britain was for many thousands of years subject to Ice sheets that rolled over the country only to retreat and roll over the country again. At times, the weather was hot and inhabited by rhinoceros, lions, and early humans.

At Boxgove and Swanscombe in Kent are examples of early human hunting sites. Boxgrove is best known for the Lower Palaeolithic archaeological site discovered in a gravel quarry near the village. The site was excavated between 1983 and 1996. Acheulean flint tools and the remains of animals (some butchered) dating to 500,000 BCE. Remains of Homo heidelbergensis were found on the site in 1994, the only postcranial hominid bone to have been found in Northern Europe. At Swanscombe, a small quiet town, 400,000 year old bone fragments and tools of a late Homo erectus were discovered in 1935. Excavations for the Channel Tunnel revealed similarly aged human tools alongside the remains of a Straight-Tusked Elephant.

When the ice returned, human groups left crossing over to Spain. Although some geneticists assert that many British people can trace their ancestry to the original Homo Sapiens settlers of 20,000 years ago, this seems unlikely, unless the same groups left and returned after as much as a thousand or two thousand years. Genetic evidence asserts that indigenous British, now best represented by Welsh and perhaps the Irish, are related to Basques in northern Spain. Because of differences in language between the Welsh and Irish it is also thought that they may have entered the islands by different routes.

By the Mesolithic, approximately 10,000 BCE, there were settled populations living throughout Britain and in what is now part of the North Sea. With the rise in sea levels, c6000 BCE, the North Sea rushed in and the Channel between England and France was created. The Dogger Bank, now under the sea, was probably one of the more fertile areas of the region and was also a way for groups, including herds of deer, to pass over from the continent. From then on, the British Isles became secluded in the Atlantic.

Of course people from the continent found a way to reach Britain. A skeleton, found close to StoneHenge, is of a strong middle aged man who originated from Central Europe. He may have been part of an elite group speaking a Celtic language that over time controlled parts of Britain, ruling over an indigenous population, different perhaps in appearance. Britain has long been a haven of immigrants.

STONE HENGE

The West Atlantic area of Europe is famous for its monolithic constructions. There are many notable ones throughout Britain, as far north as Scotland. These monoliths appear to present a cultural development that may indicate changes in lifestyle, perception and a new approach to the land. Monoliths declare an ownership of the land, indicating a sedentary society.

Often, as in Britain it indicated increased control over the land, imposing local identity and boundaries, control over the landscape. The large stone circles may have replicated the heavens, demonstrating a concept of the world, continuous, contained and circular. Time may have become an obsession as a consequence of intensified farming.

Settlements have recently been discovered close to StoneHenge indicating that originally it was the centre of a vibrant urban community. Places like StoneHenge, rather than standing isolated as they do now, were a means of establishing large communities over a considerable area. They represent an important stage in greater social complexity, StoneHenge serving as St Paul’s Cathedral, Houses of Parliament and the London Eye in one symbol. It represents a statement on the nature of the surrounding community at the time.

The religion StoneHenge represented is difficult to ascertain. Whatever, it is likely to have been one based upon the seasons and the heavens, apparently providing computational data on both the moon and sun.

Clearly, peoples entered the country from abroad, but then there would have been little genuine concern other origins. It is likely communities in Eastern Britain had kin in communities on the continent; exchange of goods and ideas was commonplace as imperialism had yet to be invented in Western and Northern Europe.

ROMANS

Britain’s prosperity, largely confined to the South East of the country, was due to its connections with the continent, especially with northern Gaul, what is now northern France and Belgium. Some tribes of northern Gaul may have had land also in Britain. Elsewhere, trade prospered between Spain, Ireland and southern Britain, what is now Devon, Somerset and Cornwall. The Romans were never to enjoy much control over these areas, left in the hands of powerful tribal leaders who continued the British way of life.

Although Caesar land in Britain in 55 BCE, he struggled to make an impact against the combined tribes facing him. He returned the following year, with greater luck. But still he only made limited impact. Back in Rome, nevertheless, although he had acquired little booty, he claimed a victory.

By the time Britain became of interest to the cunning Roman general Caesar, intent on raising his political profile back in Rome, it was a prosperous and largely peaceful land. It may be that Britain had seen few wars up to that point. British chieftains or kings often ruled from hill forts, similar to those found in Gaul. In the far west of England, many of these appear to have survived Roman rule.

In 43 AD the Roman Emperor Claudius, related to Caesar, tried again with a much better prepared invasion. In this instance, the Romans obtained a foothold. They occupied the Catuvellaunian capital of Colchester, the most important town of southern Britain. It took another 30 years before the Romans conquered most of southern and eastern Britain, the area we now call England.

Although the ancient Britains are thought to be Celtic language speakers, we cannot be sure. While elements close to modern France may have been, it is possible that others spoke different languages. Those opposite present day Holland and Western Germany may, for all we know, have spoken a similar language.

Learn Academic English

Academic English requires greater language skills than usually employed as can be seen with many newspaper and magazine articles, often written by experienced journalists. It certainly requires greater care and concentration than most novel and short story writing. There are rules to be observed and choice of words to be considered.

Learn from us, develop your techniques, and achieve the highest marks.

ACADEMIC ENGLISH 2

Academic English 2.

This is an advanced course which will consider how to achieve a 2.1 or First in a degree course, how to achieve a Masters. This course consists of 9 lectures, of 3 hours each. These will be conducted in 3 blocks. The course looks at Case Studies, reports, essays and assignments and the different demands of each discipline.

Writing: Case Studies

• How to identify issues in a case study
• To turn the issues identified into a structured assignment, essay or report.
• To conduct research into issues.
• Help to show how research was achieve

Academic Skills:

• Understand nature of academic writing
• The brick by brick understanding of essays and assignments
• How to achieve synthesis
• Working for a First/Masters

Study Skills:

• Exploring an essay. Exploring a written piece of work.
• Exploring research. Critique of research.
• What a Master’s requires.
• Creative thinking.

Academic English

Academic English: 1

These courses, Academic English 1 and 2, can be combined with degree tuition courses. It enables a student to gain the academic skills for studying at a British university. They help the student gain the language skills needed for academic study, including summarising lectures, note-taking skills, debating techniques, carrying out research, writing reports, essays, assignments, and presenting data.

Learning outcomes:

1. The capacity to write degree level assignments and essays.
2. The capacity to write reports.
3. To summarise lectures.
4. To debate
5. How to carry out research
6. How to collect and present data.

Course details:

24 lectures split into blocks of 4.

Block 1) Study Skills

• Use of study time
• Grammar
• Understanding Lecturer feedback
• Evaluating work activity

Block 2) Writing

• How to structure essays. The three point approach developed by Dr Wilkin. An easy way to understand how to structure and write assignments/essays.
• Writing fully analysed by experts, with recommendations.
• Grammar reviewed and sentence structure.
• Assignments, reports, essays completed and analysed.

Block 3) Research.

• Processes of academic research using books and internet
• How to apply academic research
• How to annotate research
• Integrating academic research into assignments, essays, reports.

Block 4) Reports

• Planning and research
• Structure: content, acknowledgements.
• Terms of reference: decide what your report is about. What questions will it answer?
• Main body findings

JUST ANOTHER BOGUS COLLEGE

I had an interview today at a college in East London. I thought I might get a day's work if nothing else. I found the address but the college's name was not outside the building, an old town hall, nor listed inside either. The building looked inauspicious-actually inside it was dirty and uninviting. I was being polite. I asked the receptionist if the college was located there but he was uncertain and suggested I go to the third floor where one was. I went there, the lift of course was broken, but could not find the reception. Eventually I found someone to talk to and they directed me to the first floor as the third was used only for lecturers. When I arrived there the receptionist knew nothing of my interview. By then I wanted out already. The reception area was also gloomy and dirty. I was told to wait while they checked up on my supposed interview. I was offered coffee that arrived half-an-hour later.


After 40 minutes (yes, I should have gone) I was told the principal would see me. He turned out to be an amiable man from North England. He introduced himself and the much younger man beside as his CEO, in other words his boss. My invite had asked me to produce a SOW, a lesson plan, and also a power point on teaching. None of which I was asked to give. This is typical! I sat up half the night completing them! While the principal had some knowledge the CEO seemed, as usual, to have none. He looked bored. Clearly, he wasn't an academic by any stretch of the imagination.

I wish I'd just walked out. One of the reasons I'd gone is that I'd recently received information on the facility. More later!

I am nevertheless intrigued by the principal, who I later searched for on the internet. He has held a responsible position in a government college, so what is he doing there? Perhaps, just gullible. Some long-time teachers and educationalists see themselves as giving something back by taking such positions. OK not all. One I know just wants to make as much money as he can. The principal does not realise perhaps exactly what he is involved in, the type he is mixing with! Just another bogus college.