We started our day by walking down to Côte Brasserie on Bridge Street, a local restaurant for a delicious Full English breakfast. Leaving with very full tummies, we headed back to Reach Hall, where our very own Director of Curriculum Monika gave students a very important lesson on interview techniques. This included the opportunity to practise honing their own skills, such as perfecting a hand shake, and building confidence in talking about themselves and their education, experience and talents. The session was rounded off by the students asking some pertinent and interesting questions – it’s always a thrill when our students bring their own insights to the sessions, and we are very proud of them all for engaging so thoroughly.
After lunch (tasty jacket potatoes with various yummy fillings, in the comfort of Reach Hall), we headed to the Cambridge Union Society for an interesting debate session. It was particularly exciting to visit the Cambridge Union building, which has been continuously hosting debates and guest speakers since its opening in 1866, and is a place filled with much history and prestige. The students took part in some starter exercises to get a feel for how to present an argument and how to spot the presuppositions in the arguments of their opponents, before undertaking a timed debate themselves. It was so exciting to see our students get up to speak at the podium in such an historic hall, which has seen thousands of great speakers over the years. We were also grateful to Freya, who took charge of our first Instagram ‘takeover’ and challenged us to step up our emoji game – check out her contribution to the Story below!
After debating, we all headed to Jesus Green to bask in the glorious sun while playing tennis and football (separately of course). It was great fun and lovely to see everyone getting involved! In the evening, students had the chance to explore the city some more during their free time. Naturally, this free time is an important part of gaining independence and growing in self-responsibility, which all students will need to be prepared to do when they head to university. For many, this meant the chance to do a bit more shopping and enjoy dinner in town. Wasabi proved to be a popular choice! Maybe not so “quintessentially English”, but there’s something very sweet about sushi being a firm favourite all over the world.
The evening lecture carried on the day’s oratory theme, by addressing the subject of public speaking. Students watched videos on various different speeches, analysing their story and anecdotes, seeing them grab their audiences’ attention. Student then moved on to practising clear diction and pronunciation, delivering speeches with clarity and confidence and using the right level of volume and forming a strong presence on stage.
We wrapped up our evening with a game of cards before heading off to bed in preparation for tomorrow’s action-packed day. We can’t believe Week 1 is nearly over! But already our students are fit to take over the world…
Football on Jesus Green!
Reach Spring students in class
