Ian Clark BA French and German (Linguistic and Language Studies)

Hi, I'm Ian Clark and I studied BA French and German (Linguistic and Language Studies) within Humanities at the University of Southampton.

All the staff are really helpful and friendly, and are experts in their fields. Modern Languages and Linguistics focuses on seminar teaching where your input is welcomed and encouraged.

Studying at university is a lot different to anything you’ll have experienced at school. At Southampton, you’ll have 10 classes a week either crammed into two or three days if you’re lucky, or spread out over the week. Two or three classes a day is nice and easy but there is quite a lot of work to be done independently. You’ll have an hour a week with a language assistant for every language you do to practise your speaking – this is a very rewarding experience not to be missed. All the staff are really helpful and friendly, and are experts in their fields. Modern Languages and Linguistics focuses on seminar teaching where your input is welcomed and encouraged.

Experiences of the year aboard

I spent last year in France as an English assistant on the British Council Language Assistantship scheme run in conjunction with their French counterparts. I was in Blois in the Loire Valley teaching at three primary schools and a sixth form college. This should be the best year of your degree and it certainly was for me – I got to travel every weekend visiting local sights, providing I’d done my marking, of course! You make lots of new friends on your year abroad – I now have friends in Germany and the USA who were teaching there as well.

Experiences of university life

Obviously, university is not just about studying - you can do virtually anything here, whether it is drinking, joining lots of sports clubs or getting involved in student welfare groups. I have been a member of a halls committee for two years of my degree and enjoyed it a lot – it gives you a different insight into student life. Uni is supposed to be fun, make sure it’s fun for you. Enjoy it!