News
Celebrating another successful cohort of students of the Public Engagement Scheme
We are very glad to announce that the second cohort of students who have been attending “English classes for teenagers” in the framework of the Public Engagement Scheme at CITY College, University of York Europe Campus, has successfully finished its 3-year programme by participating in the B2 English language exams. In this framework, the final-year students of the BA in English Language, Linguistics and Literature, offered by the Humanities Department, have conducted their teaching practice under the supervision of Dr Vicky Papachristou, Assistant Professor at the Department. Although it has been a challenging period for both students and the numerous teachers who have taught in this programme given the COVID-19 pandemic and all the changes it has brought about, still both parties have managed to overcome the adversities with persistence, eagerness to learn and teach, collaboration and professionalism. We would like to congratulate all the students who participated in this programme and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavours. Here are some students’ testimonials about their experience: DT: In these three years, I learned a lot of things and I surely became better at English. Now I can easily communicate with people from foreign countries. I liked this experience a lot, the teachers were very friendly and lovable and taught us a lot of things. Expect for learning English, we also spent a lot of time doing group work and I really liked collaborating with my classmates. It was a beautiful experience and personally I had a lot of fun in these three years. SR: I have been at CITY College for 3 years and I haven’t realized that 3 years have passed, but all I have to say is that I have learned many things about the English language. Moreover, I liked that we had many different young teachers and not only Greeks ones but also foreigners from other countries which was very interesting. I have improved my English because of the teachers. I'll miss every moment about CITY College and everything that we have been through and I'm so grateful for this experience. VM: I haven't realized it yet that these three years have passed so quickly. I still remember the first day I entered CITY College and I saw these smiley faces staring at me and welcoming me in the best way I could ever imagine. These three years I had a great time and I can only say good things for sure. I’m so blessed and grateful that l had the opportunity to be in this amazing college and learn so many things from those amazing people.
15/06/2022
Webinar: 'How to start your International Relations career'
WATCH NOW: "How to start your International Relations career; top skills for the European job market addressing global challenges today" Thursday, 9 June 2022 16.00 - 17.00 EEST Watch the event! Speakers: Professor Asteris Huliaras, University of Peloponnese Professor Dimitris Keridis, Panteion University, Member of Parliament Dr Sotiris Petropoulos, Co-Founder of NGO incubator HIGGS Mr Michalis Spanopoulos, General Counsel, Black Sea Trade & Development Bank Ms Maria Tsakali, UK Consular and Head of British Council Mr Manolis Vlachogiannis, Vice President of Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce and Industry Moderator: Dr Alexandra Prodromidou, Assistant Professor, Programme Lead of the MA in International Relations and European Union Studies, CITY College, University of York Europe Campus - Research Associate, SEERC Overview: An online debate about the present and future of the job market for International Relations and European Studies: What are the skills that an International Relations and European Studies graduate can offer to various organisations? What skills are required for working in International Organisations, in export oriented Businesses, in Academia and Research, in NGOs, in Diplomatic Missions? What are these organisations looking for from their prospective employees? How can International Relations and European Studies incorporate and effectively address the needs of the job market in a rapidly evolving world that confronts global challenges? In co-operation with Navarino Network MA in International Relations and European Union Studies The event will take place in the frame of the MA in International Relations and European Union Studies programme offered by CITY College, University of York Europe Campus in Thessaloniki, Greece in partnership with Navarino Network. Event participants will have the opportunity to attend a brief presentation of the programme. Watch the event! Please note that the time of the event is in EEST. If you are located elsewhere, please calculate the time difference accordingly. For your convenience you can use this time zone converter to make sure you have the right event hours according to the time zone you are located in. Add to Calendar
01/06/2022
Personal & Professional Development Webinars 2022 by our Humanities Dept.
April - May 2022 Join and share! Online Participation Form Join the Webinar Ready to join? - Join via your mobile device, laptop or PC - Enter the event 10' earlier by clicking on the 'Join' button (you will be requested to enter your email to join in) - Make sure that you have your camera and microphone turned off - Make sure you PIN the presenter's image so you can have a full screen view. Join the Webinar
24/03/2022
Students from the English Studies Department participate in a translation internship for an EU project
Students of the English Studies Department successfully completed a translation internship for DigiLeap (Digitally Shifting EU’s Law & Legal Studies’ Content in Higher Education), an Erasmus+ project of the European Union. More specifically, YET, one of the project partners, and its founder and CEO, Mr Vassilis Tsoulis, offered our students the opportunity to complete an internship by translating educational material for the project from English into Greek. Under the supervision of Dr Zoi Tatsioka, Head of the English Studies Department, students were able to hone their translation, decision-making and time management skills and gain valuable experience. Antonia Chatzikonstantinidou, Athanasios Filanis, Eleni Gavriilidou, Sofia Georgouliou and Smaragda Giannaraki, congratulations on your excellent work.
11/03/2022
ESD students and alumni praised on their excellent work subtitling forty films for the Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival
The English Studies Department of CITY College, University of York Europe Campus has successfully completed its collaboration with the Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival. Current students and alumni of our MA in Translation and Interpreting completed an internship subtitling forty films which featured in the TiSFF 2021 and did a praiseworthy, professional job! Under the supervision of Dr Kelly Pasmatzi, Assistant Professor at the English Studies Department, our current and former students were able to practise and sharpen some of the skills they acquired through the ESD MA in Translation and Interpreting programme within the context of one of the most important short film festivals in Europe. We would like to congratulate all of them for pushing their limits, delivering professional results, being open to experimentation and having excelling team-working skills and know-how. Michaella Gerogioka, Theofilos Gkarmpounis, Maria Liakatou, Stella Papachristou, Antonia Theodoridou and Maria Varouta, congratulations for your outstanding work! Dr. Kelly Pasmatzi, who supervised the project commented: “Collaborating with the Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival and being able to offer our students and alumni the opportunity to participate in such a project was one of the most rewarding experiences CITY College has offered me. The experience was made all the more excellent because of the specific cohort of participants who were always so willing to take initiative and face challenges, serious about their work and stubbornly committed to learning and solving problems. Michaella, Maria, Theofile, Maria, Stella and Antonia, kudos on doing a fantastic job!” Dr Kelly Pasmatzi What students who participated in the project said about their experience: “Subtitling for the Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival as part of my internship from the English Studies Department-CITY College, University of York Europe Campus was an awesome experience! Despite encountering some challenges, I enjoyed the whole procedure immensely! What I found mesmerising was the fact that not only could I watch the film since I am a cinephile but also practise and enhance my translation skills. I would like to thank Dr. Pasmatzi for all her guidance and support and CITY College for providing us this unique opportunity.” Michaella Gerogioka "Participating in the Subtitling Internship for the Short Film Festival has been such a rewarding and creative experience for me. I am glad that I was given the chance to be part of this project." Maria Varouta
10/11/2021
Personal & Professional Development Webinars 2021 by our English Studies Dept.
November - December 2021 Join and share! Online Participation Form Join the Webinar Ready to join? - Join via your mobile device, laptop or PC - Enter the event 10' earlier by clicking on the 'Join' button (you will be requested to enter your email to join in) - Make sure that you have your camera and microphone turned off - Make sure you PIN the presenter's image so you can have a full screen view. Join the Webinar
05/11/2021
Ms Maria-Araxi Sachpazian represents ESD at the International Conference on Language Education and Research
Ms Maria-Araxi Sachpazian, Lecturer at the English Studies Department of CITY College, University of York Europe Campus delivered a presentation at the 3rd International Conference on Language Education and Research, which was organised by the Applied Language Studies House and the Journal of Applied Languages and Linguistics and was carried out online from 1st to the 3rd October 2021. Ms Sachpazian presented her preliminary work on a research project entitled “Is this a forgotten hand: issues of learners’ cognitive engagement in Digital Learning Environments”. The presentation aimed to explore from a bibliographical perspective the reasons why learners of English in secondary and tertiary education failed to exploit digital learning environments during the online teaching made necessary by the pandemic and why their cognitive engagement left so much to be desired.
18/10/2021
Dr Vicky Papachristou receives award for her presentation at the University of York Annual Learning and Teaching Conference
We are extremely happy to announce that Dr Vicky Papachristou, Assistant Professor in the English Studies Department, received the Poster Session Runner-up award for her presentation at the 2021 Annual Learning and Teaching Conference "The Changing University", organised by the University of York on Friday, July 2nd 2021. The award was made by the University of York Learning and Teaching Forum Committee. More specifically, Dr Vicky Papachristou delivered a poster presentation through a screencast titled "Reconnecting with society: The Public Engagement Scheme", which focused on the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion values that educational institutions have started adopting in Europe, showcasing the turning point for change. Drawing on the notion of Service Learning, Dr Papachristou demonstrated how civic engagement has been promoted and successfully implemented in the “Practice in English Language Teaching” Stage-3 module and curriculum of the English Studies Department at CITY College, University of York Europe Campus, by designing and offering language lessons to learners coming from financially vulnerable groups. As the aforementioned module combines public engagement with credit award and employability, teacher-trainees are engaged with real teaching of English in a foreign language context applying the knowledge they have acquired throughout their studies. At the same time, teacher-trainees are assessed via portfolios and observed teaching. What is of pivotal importance is that teacher-trainees offer back to society by teaching learners who come from financially weak social groups and who otherwise would not have the means to learn English. We would like to congratulate Dr Papachristou on the award and the great work she has done in organising and supervising the Public Engagement Scheme.
03/09/2021
ESD students participate in subtitling internship in the context of the Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival
The English Studies Department of CITY College, University of York Europe Campus is happy to announce a collaboration which has taken place between our department and the Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival. Current students and alumni of our MA in Translation and Interpreting are currently engaged in an internship which involves the subtitling of forty films which will feature in the upcoming festival this Fall. Under the supervision of Dr Kelly Pasmatzi, Assistant Professor at the English Studies Department, our current and former students have been given the opportunity to practise and sharpen some of the skills they acquired through our programme within the context of one of the most important short film festivals in Europe. We would like to thank all of them for exhibiting extreme professionalism and excellent skills and know-how. Congratulations for their contribution to Michaella Gerogioka, Theofilos Gkarmpounis, Maria Liakatou, Stella Papachristou, Antonia Theodoridou and Maria Varouta!
07/07/2021
The English Studies Department Learns How to Build Narratives and Structure Stories
Where would we be without stories? We live life, reflect on it, escape from it, engage with it through narratives…oral, written, audiovisual as well as digital. On Wednesday, 12th May 2021, the English Studies Department’s last spring semester Personal and Professional Development seminar focused on exactly that. Dr Richard Steadman-Jones, Senior Lecturer of the School of English at the University of Sheffield, delivered an intriguing presentation titled: “Building Digital Narratives: Stories and Structures” that raised awareness towards yet another way to engage with and create narratives, namely hypertexts. What are hypertexts, one might ask? Think of Wikipedia! Hypertexts consist of chunks of text that are linked together in complex ways that can result in reading them in a different order, potentially resulting in a different story, what some may call a “branching narrative.” Some similar examples are text-based games such as Zork or an audiovisual example is from the BBC TV series Black Mirror, specifically the Bandersnatch episode. The big question is if one can tell a story utilizing this type of structure. The answer is, of course! Dr Steadman-Jones shared various student produced hypertexts as examples and brought other such texts to our attention, such as the Choose your own Adventure print book series. As Dr Steadman-Jones informs, hypertext stories can adopt different types of structures that lead to different story and reading experiences. There is the linear structure that resembles how we would read a print novel or short story. There is the hierarchical structure that provides us with options that branch off the landing or home page of the story, and what one chooses determines the progress of the plot. In some cases, we may come across a combination of linear and hierarchical structures. Of course, an element of randomness may be added such as rolling a dice to determine a choice. There are also the flat or weblike structures where the chunks of text of linked in a dense network where all chunks are or can be interrelated and lead into and away from each other in very intriguing and complex ways. An example Dr Steadman-Jones brought forth was Edward Falco’s Charmin’ Cleary. Dr Steadman-Jones further noted how even minute details such as colors, fonts, italics can be significant hints or clues that can reveal information about characters, setting or the plot. Depending on what one may choose, the focalization or point-of-view of the story may change, thus giving another character’s version of the events. The links in hypertexts carry heavy weight as they guide the reader, provide routes one can follow, but they can also subvert expectations. Links can be abstract items thus again pointing at something random or arbitrary in terms of path choice. Then again, they may be invisible thus prompting kinesthetic engagement with the text by having to explore our screen to find the link. Additionally, the order of the information is quite important as the same information but in different order can infer different stories. Or better yet, one text (and depending on the order and structure one adopts) can lead to endless stories. Dr Steadman-Jones also demonstrated a very helpful, free, and accessible tool one can use to create hypertext narratives. Twine can be downloaded to one’s computer or used online. It enables one to create chunks of text, establish links, insert images, and create a simple linear hypertext or have a go at something more complex. AI Dungeon is a similar type of tool. All in all, the area of digital narratives and hypertexts is rich as it brings together narrative, digital media, and technology. It combines storytelling, software tools and coding. It can be inspired by areas such as gaming either at a cognitive level, material level, physical level or even be taken into account when considering various debates such as the narratology versus ludology debate or current practices, such as transmedia storytelling. What is more, it reveals new author/creator storytelling practices, new reading experiences and well as different digital literacy skills. For those interested in areas such as linguistics, literature, media, this is not an area to be overlooked!
17/05/2021
The English Studies Department Explores how to Research Fantasy Worlds and Speculative Fiction
Think of a world…any world…imaginary…slightly imaginary…do you just read about it…talk about it…live in it…? This is what the ESD was called upon to initially consider in the seminar that took place on Wednesday 14th April titled: “Fantastical Worlds and How to Study them: Conducting Academic Research on Speculative Fiction Worldbuilding.” Ms Dimitra Nikolaidou offers her insights, knowledge, and expertise on a rich, entertaining even escapist area, but also one that has begun receiving more attention from academia. Ms Nikolaidou primarily informs of the vastness of worldbuilding, how the term has been applied so broadly that it is difficult to utilize in critical discussions. There are also some noted misunderstandings, for instance, worldbuilding is not to be confused with setting. Instead, worldbuilding involves studying the ways in which authors/creators conjure worlds but also how we as readers or viewers or even gamers perceive those worlds. Drawing on multiple examples from Dune, to Tolkien, to World of Warcraft, to Dungeons and Dragons to Flash Gordon, Ms Nikolaidou raises our awareness towards the fact that certain genres like fantasy, horror and science fiction were not taken seriously and were not considered acceptable topic areas for academic research. Fortunately, for all us avid fans out there, various reasons - either works receiving acclaims, becoming mainstream through adaptation or transmedia treatment, or the academic turn towards such genres and types of story worlds - these genres began receiving more serious scholarly attention. Thus, great opportunities were given to readers, writers, creators, fans as well as scholars and academics to explore these rich and fantastic worlds. Of course, as Ms Nikolaidou explains, when it comes to academic research there are certain requirements: one must have read/viewed/played the respective text (and other similar ones), be familiar with certain traditional core theories, be familiar with the genre of the work, the medium of the work as well as tools and methodologies. While all this appears overwhelming, Ms Nikolaidou offers some guidelines that can assist in narrowing down certain items and becoming more selective. Aspects to consider include whether the world under examination is primary or secondary, the mode of worldbuilding (authorial, reader or critical worldbuilding) should also be taken into consideration as it can narrow and determine our approach as well as theoretical choices and tools we choose to utilize, and the actual fantasy world – as a whole, but also its parts and how they are structured. Ms Nikolaidou presents certain categorizations that have been proffered by scholars to assist in how one approaches texts and the worlds in them. For instance, Ms Nikolaidou referred to Farah Mendlesohn’s 4 categories: portal/quest fantasy, immersive fantasy, intrusive fantasy, and liminal fantasy where each world has a different goal in service to the story. Whilst indicating certain challenges regarding the Authorial or Reader approach, Ms Nikolaidou focused more on the Critical Worldbuilding mode and drawing on Ekman and Taylor suggested two potential approaches one can utilize: the Architectural approach where emphasis is placed on the function of the place, the form and the meaning it generates as well as the idea(s) this conjured world represents, while the second is that of Dynamic Interplay an approach that takes into account the interrelationship of aspects within the world and even outside the world. All in all, whether one is a writer, reader, or scholar, one can find unique, insightful, and fruitful ways to examine worldbuilding, contribute ideas, approaches, and concepts towards its impact across various disciplines and if one thing is certain it is that if a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine how many things we could say, discuss, write, and debate about worldbuilding!
19/04/2021
Seminar on CV Making, Cover Letter & Interview Tips
Wednesday 21 April 2021
14/04/2021
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