Star Wars Event and Letter Writing

Star Wars Event

On Wednesday, the LRC hosted a Star Wars themed event in the Enterprise lounge involving activities facilitated by different departments in the College. Inclusive learning students performed the Imperial March on boomwhackers and created Star Wars figures out of saltdough. Make-up students offered hand tattoos of Star Wars characters and other artists displayed their Star Wars-inspired artwork as well as creating Star Wars Christmas tree baubles (which will be displayed on the LRC Christmas tree). The LRC tombola together with sales from cookies made by hospitality students raised over £119 for the Book Trust so thank you to everyone who contributed.

See below for some photos from the event.

Yoda maze activity
Photo: Peterborough Regional College

Science department's Chemist Tree!
Photo: Peterborough Regional College

Animal care guinea pigs dressed up as Porgs for the event.
Photo: Peterborough Regional College

Darth Vader mannequin (for selfies).
Photo: Peterborough Regional College

Christmas is coming and Letter Writing (to Santa or otherwise)

It's nearly Christmas and traditionally it's a time for writing letters although most of our customers probably consider themselves far too old/ mature to write to Santa. However, you may need to write a "thank you" letter for a gift you've received (always a good idea and will mean a lot to the person who receives it - especially as letters are so rare nowadays).

Letter writing, even in this age of emailing, texting and direct messaging, is a skill you are likely to need in the workplace. You may need to write a formal letter arranging a meeting with a member of your staff or to thank a visiting speaker. When sending a CV to a company, it can make all the difference if you write a covering letter. See below for links to resources which help you learn to write a good letter. 

For covering letters see https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/cvs-and-cover-letters/cover-letters  or the National Careers Service website. The ARU website has an example in their CV guidance pack.

To learn how to write different sorts of letters, take a look at the SkillsYouNeed website - a great site for help with all sorts of life skills such as interpersonal skills, writing skills, learning skills.

Why not give it a go this Christmas and make someone's day by sending them a "thank you" letter if you receive a gift. If you are applying for work, remember to write a covering letter with your CV making sure it is tailored to the job. 

Learning activities for the lead up to our Star Wars event

Star Wars - The Last Jedi

The new Star Wars film is out next week and the Learning Resource Centre is putting on a Star Wars themed event in the Enterprise Lounge between 1.30 and 3pm. Different curriculum areas will be providing activities including a Yoda maze, a make up stall, quizzes, crafts and the Imperial March on Boomwhackers! We hope you can be there.

Darth Chester
Photo: Peterborough Regional College

Online Star Wars-themed learning activities

In the run up to the event or even afterwards, we thought you might enjoy some of these activities which help with English and other skills or are just a bit of fun to do.

• Download a Star Wars Apostrophes worksheet on the TES website here. There are also other Star Wars themed activities here which may be useful where they aren't aimed at too young an audience. 
• Learn how to draw R2D2 on the Andertoons website (beginner). Tescos also have a link to the official Lucas drawing instructions which look a bit more complicated.
• The English Caddy website has a whole lot of ideas for Star Wars English language activities (they seem to be aimed at learners of English as a second language but could still help anyone brushing up on their English). However, I am unsure of the authority of this site. The Correct Yoda activity could be useful as a grammar exercise and there are other ideas including a critical thinking activity mainly around a scenario from the Force Awakens film.
• The BBC have created a What Star Wars character are you? quiz - aimed at children, but when it comes to Star Wars, age doesn't seem to matter!
• For those of you more musically minded, try watching this parody by the Piano Guys called Cello Wars: the Phantom Cellist

Hopefully we can report back in next week's blog on how the event went.

Live streaming and Fake News 

Meanwhile in the news this week, attention has been drawn to the risks of streaming apps. Go the thinkuknow website for more information. This website also has videos to help explain online safety to young people with learning difficulties.
The BBC have also announced that they are so concerned about fake news that they are launching a service to help children understand what is true and what is fake. IFLA (The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) have a poster available for download on their website in different languages and we have some of these displayed in the LRC.

Evaluating information - celebrity endorsements and advertising

Evaluating information

In the LRC we are always keen to encourage students (and staff) to be careful when using the internet for finding information. We want everyone to look critically at the information they find before deciding whether it can be used as a source for an assignment.

Advertising and celebrity endorsements

Be aware of websites - especially company websites - which are selling something. If hairdressing and beauty students are looking for information on the human skin, for example, they may find plenty of websites from companies selling skin products which also have pages explaining how the skin works. Much of this information may be correct and they may have consulted with dermatologists but they will probably have paid them to give information that helps sell their product (and perhaps leave out other information), for example. We would recommend using our Primal anatomy online resource, for example, as an alternative.

With the royal engagement this week, some magazines are talking about Meghan Markle the brand and what products she uses. Companies search for high profile people to say they use their products as this can make a lot of difference. Do you look at a celebrity social media account, for example, and decide a product must be good if favourite celebrity uses it?This is called influencer marketing and can be very subtle. Companies can even dress adverts up as news stories. See the South Park video below for a humorous take on this.

 However, Celebrity endorsements do not mean that the products are necessarily the best and the Advertising Standards Authority have ruled that it is now illegal for a celebrity to endorse a product without indicating this in any posts they make on social media.

Listen to a BBC podcast here about why you cannot always trust adverts online.

How do I know if what I read online is an advert?

All celebrity social media accounts (twitter, vlogs, blogs etc) must now by law indicate whether any content is a result of a commercial relationship - i.e. the celebrity is being paid to endorse a product by the company which makes it (i.e. there is a commercial relationship). You will also notice that Google indicates where it's results (usually first in the list) are adverts - so you know they have been paid to put these results first rather than that they are necessarily most relevant to your search. So, think twice where there is #ad  or #adfeature in an online post or website and avoid using the content in an assignment. Smilarly you might also notice the phrases "sponsored content" or "ad or promotion". Avoid this content and instead look for information from recognised organisations (charities, government departments, authorities, associations) or academic institutions. Look for the About link to find out about the organisation/ person behind the website.

The Advertising Standards Authority have more information on this on their website.
Have a look at their advice on identifying when something is an advert.
If you are a marketing student, you may like to read about the Oreo lick race case which led to this standard being introduced or even better read the article through our Infotrac resource.