Language classes launch at Leeds Beckett

The events will take place on Tuesday 13 and Thursday 22 September at Headingley Campus and Tuesday 20 September at the city centre Rose Bowl building. They will provide the opportunity to find out more about the range of languages on offer, meet tutors, and have your language level assessed by experienced tutors.

The courses are available in a range of levels: from beginners’ to advanced; and begin the week commencing Monday 3 October. They run for a total of 26 weeks, two hours per week, at the price of £325. Most courses are taught by native speakers and run both during the day and evening at Headingley Campus, and in the evening at the Rose Bowl.

The languages on offer at both campuses are: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish; with Dutch, Greek, Norwegian and Swedish also being offered at Headingley Campus.

Daniela Buroni, an Italian language teacher at Leeds Beckett, explained: “We use a communicative approach in our classes here at Leeds Beckett, whilst having fun: we do role plays, games, watch movies, and talk about sport, leisure, food and hospitality, art, architecture and history. Being a native speaker is not only an advantage for students in learning proper pronunciation, but it also gives me the ability to teach language and culture at the same time. I believe that language study is important because anyone who knows a language fluently stands out from the crowd; and it’s scientifically proven that knowing a second language increases your brain capacity and memory.”

Maisie Coates, a Research Administrator at the University who studied beginners’ Spanish in 2015-16, added: “I did French and German GCSE and decided that I would like to try a new language. The course exceeded my expectations. We were taught well but in an informal atmosphere, which made it easy to meet new people and have fun. I found the course materials more useful than those that you get at school: for example we were taught about useful, practical things such as shopping - things that you would use if you were to go on holiday in the country. It’s been a great experience and I’ve made friends that I will keep seeing.”