Resources for British Studies - Education - The British Council United Kingdom


	BBC resources for British Studies

	British Studies Now issue 11 Teaching and learning resources for British Studies Radio by satellite Teaching and learning resources for British Studies Naomi Clift, Literature Department, The British Council The BBC World Service provides a wealth of material and ideas for ELT and British Studies. Here are just some of them. Try them out and let us know what you think. If you find any other material you think teachers or learners of British Studies should know about, please contact Wendy Wilkins, Literature Department, The British Council, 11 Portland Place, London W1B 1EJ, Fax +44 (0)20 7389 3175 Find all the Internet and postal addresses you need to locate pages, order materials and brochures at the end of the article Internet Resources Both learners and teachers of English will find the Learning English Homepage invaluable. Currently you can find: Programmes - you have access here to a whole range of sites related to BBC World Service radio programmes. This includes 'Britain Now', which has exercises and Real Audio, and 'Network', a project with a radio series, Internet site, Real Audio, and links to an e-mail discussion group. In the classroom - tips on how to use programmes for learning/teaching English. Words, words, words - a weekly, updated site on the language of the news, including glossaries and Real Audio. Westway Access - the ELT companion to the World Service soap opera 'Westway', based around a doctor's surgery somewhere in the West of London. From this, you can move to the Westway site itself. The Learning Zone (accessed by following the link to the World Service Education site or via the 'programmes' page) - a series of short, informative programmes, presented in clear, accessible English on a variety of themes such as medical emergencies, killer diseases, computers at work. These can be listened on Real Audio and there are also transcripts available. The programmes are broadcast on the World Service English service in Africa and Asia. Information about joining an e-mail discussion group for English learners. Click Here for English, a new Internet business English course for Latin America. Although the course is intended for Spanish or Portuguese speakers and has some support in these languages, the majority of the course is in English. There is also an e-mail discussion group for this. Learn it! - some tips on study skills, including Roger Woodham's 'Exam Revision' section, where he answers grammatical queries as well as questions about exam skills. The BBC News Homepage Although not part of the World Service, this is also an invaluable resource for teachers and students. 'Talking Point', which can be accessed from this page, is an absolute 'must' for conversation classes or as a stimulus for discussion in British Studies classes. Every day, a theme of topical interest, either to the world in general or to Britain, is presented. Readers can then e-mail their views, which appear below the article. Previous 'Talking Points' can be accessed from the same page. Publications Various brochures can be obtained free of charge by writing to the BBC World Service. These include: an English Language Teaching leaflet, highlighting programmes particularly suitable for learners and also containing some learning tips. six-monthly programme guides - these give details of programmes and frequencies and contain programme highlights. When asking for these, please state the language and region of the world you require. Programmes for teachers can be received in Africa, Asia, Europe, Eurasia and the Middle East and details of these are also contained in the programme guides. A leaflet on listening in the UK is also available. Learning World, the World Service Education newsletter, published twice a year. A variety of leaflets, including Radio by Satellite, Learning English and Learning with the BBC. A newsletter with information about learning English with the BBC. Magazines on subscription BBC On Air magazine, published monthly, contains full details of forthcoming radio programmes in English and BBC World and BBC Prime television services. A subscription costs £18 including airmail delivery from the UK. Tel: +44 (0)171 257 2211 Focus On Africa magazine (quarterly), available on annual subscription E-mail: focus.magazine@bbc.co.uk So what are you waiting for?! Why don't you ... Write to the BBC World Service for a programme guide Tune in to its radio programmes Write to the BBC World Service with your questions on the English language (it regularly creates series which answer listeners' questions). Explore the website Subscribe to the Electronic Discussion Groups 'Click Here' for the new Internet course (particularly for listeners/readers in Latin America) Important addresses Radio by Satellite Nick Wadham-Smith, Literature Department, The British Council If you are in Europe and you want to explore the range of the BBCs domestic radio output there is good news for you. The advent of the Astra Satellite and the availability of on-line schedules via the Internet now make it possible to listen to UK domestic radio services from the BBC in much of Europe. In this article we give you tips and shortcuts on how to plan your listening and a quick access to the entire archive of programme listings. Listening to the radio on TV may sound strange but radio gets delivered in may different ways these days. One of these involves 'bundling' with televisual satellite broadcasts. Not only can the BBC World Service be received clearly in some parts of Europe, North America and Africa where you can't get FM or the signal is weak but, if you subscribe to the Astra satellite in Europe, you can also receive UK domestic radio from the BBC. There are 5 BBC domestic channels, called simply Radios 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 Live. This is important for British Studies students and teachers who want to follow UK Arts and national events and debates beyond the scope of BBC World Service and BBC World Television where international coverage is given precedence. You can receive the programmes through your television (the screen is blank) or your stereo system, equipment permiting. To find out how you can receive these radio broadcasts, consult the excellent Astra homepage on the WWW or write for the BBC's very concise leaflet Radio by Satellite (see addresses below) Radio Times The fullest schedules of radio programmes appear in the classic BBC weekly magazine Radio Times, which, despite its title, also covers BBC Television. Now the schedules appear on the BBC's superb website at http://www.bbc.co.uk Searching the RT archive On-line radio schedules started on 24 May 1997. If you want to know about today's programmes or those for the next 6 days of radio (and TV) you can request the information at www.bbc.co.uk/schedules. If you want information about past programmes and have a distinctive enough keyword, you can search using http://www.bbc.co.uk/search. However locating by date is not possible through the search engine. If you want to start from the date of a specific programme, here's a quick (graphics-free) way to do it. Type the following into the address window of your browser and press return: www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/1997 or ../1998 or ../1999 depending on the year of your search. You will then be presented with a list of the months in that year in a range between 01 - 12. Select your month, and you will be presented with the dates of the month. Choose one. You are then invited to make your choice of channel, whether radio or television. So, if you think you heard that elusive talk or play or programme on a particular day or week, now you can track it down. Important Addresses The BBC World Service BBC World Service Letters Bush House Strand London WC2B 4PH UK Tel: +44 (0)171 240 3456, E-mail: worldservice.letters@bbc.co.uk Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice BBC World Service Education BBC World Service Education Bush House Strand London WC2B 4PH UK Fax: +44 171 240 3141 E-mail: wsedu@bbc.co.uk Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/education Learning English Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/BBC_English BBC News Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk The BBC World Service Shop The BBC World Service Information Centre and Shop at Bush House sells BBC books, videos and audio cassettes. These include a full range of BBC English materials. A mail order service is also available (UK only). Tel: +44 (0)171 557 2576 Website: worldservice.shop@bbc.co.uk Astra Website: http://www.astra.lu For enquiries regarding English language programmes: Astra Marketing Ltd Progression Centre 42 Mark Road Hemel Hempstead Herts HP2 7DW UK return to BSN 11 contents British Studies Homepage \| Back to the top

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