I’m currently teaching in the new School of Pre-degree Studies in Level 3 in Design, Media and Screen which is internationally only course.
I also teach on CertHE: Preparation for Design, Media and Studies which has a majority of international students.
The units that I teach is Studio which is more practical, working on developing their ideas, thought process and skills, and I also teach Contextual and Theoretical Studies.
All of the units have different approaches towards creative practice which also includes a lot of reflective writing and contextualising ideas. Even as an academic myself, I have struggled to understand briefs and heavily academic language that has been part of both courses even though their aim is to introduce and prepare students for HE.
Looking at my experience as a student both in UG and PGCert studies, academic language has been challenging. The main challenge I think is to understand colloquialisms and cultural references as I starting building my academic and English vocabulary throughout my studies but also by connecting with people from different backgrounds.