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Film club study gets nod as head of CTL Qwaqwa Campus obtains PhD

08 December 2021 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe

Dr Bernard — Dr Eleanor Bernard heads the Centre for Teaching and Learning on the Qwaqwa Campus.

“I realised that our students are not regularly exposed to and immersed in an English first language environment. So, for two years, I created control groups and tested how to implement a film club to support their language learning as well as engage them. In the end, I created a framework that university language teachers can use, with very specific guidelines as to how to make it successful.”

For her PhD study in Higher Education Studies, Dr Eleanor Bernard created a play on traditional learning by implementing a film club as a way of enhancing the basic interpersonal communicative and English literacy skills of non-native speakers on the Qwaqwa Campus. Dr Bernard is the Assistant Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning on the Qwaqwa Campus. She will be graduating with her PhD in Higher Education Studies during the December 2021 graduations. The title of her study is: Implementing a film club to enhance English second-language students’ basic interpersonal communicative and basic English literacy skills.

Building on her passion for language learning and acquisition, Dr Bernard wanted her study to be a fun and interesting way of enhancing the already existing General English language module by creating a space for exposure and social interaction. She did this by forming student groups that would regularly watch films and opened spaces for engagement as a way of focusing on the language development of the students.

“The highlight for me was sitting in a university lecture venue, while watching Tsotsi or Pitch Perfect with students, and seeing them interacting, laughing, and enjoying a usually very serious space. Also, the wonderful discussions they shared on Blackboard around elements such as lobola, or stereotypes. Lastly, seeing how by the end of the year, they would walk into my office and interact with me more confidently in English,” she said.

Language studies has been a part of her academic journey from her Honours qualification. She has an MA degree in Language Studies from the UFS. She said working on the Qwaqwa Campus with language and literacy modules, she loved the process of watching students blossom as they gained more confidence in using the English language. “I especially love receiving a student at the beginning of the year, who you can see struggling and almost battling through the content and the skills. And then to see the change by the end of the year, and how their confidence increased.”

‘No learning can take place without engaging students’
She said she hoped faculties would also see the value of focusing on the language development of students as a baseline for academic literacy skills development.

“No learning can take place without engaging students, and there are so many guidelines and practical ways to ensure this engagement, including in language learning. Student success is not just about performance or final marks, but also about students completing a year where they have interacted with others and learned to care for them, where they have been changed to want to impact societies and communities, and where they have acquired skills that they will use when they enter the world of work.”

News Archive

Multidisciplinary conference on TB control

2003-09-22

Theme: Tuberculosis control: a multidisciplinary approach to research, policy and practice Venue: CR Swart Auditorium, University of the Free State Campus, Bloemfontein Date: 11 and 12 November 2003 Time: 11 November, 19:00-20:30 AND 12 November 08:30-17:00

Tuesday, 11 November - 19:00-20:30 (registration from 18:30) and Wednesday, 12 November - 08:30-17:00 (registration from 07:30)

The Honourable MEC for Health in the Free State will officially open the Conference on the evening of 11 November, while Prof Frederick Fourie (Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the University of the Free State) will attend to the welcoming. In addition, Prof Françoise Portaels (Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium) and Dr Refiloe Matji (National Department of Health, South Africa) will respectively present a global and a South African perspective on TB. The majority of the presentations will follow on 12 November.

Main thrust of Conference

The main thrust of the Conference is to disseminate both research results and policy/managerial matters relevant to TB and TB control, and to facilitate discourse among researchers and health policy makers/managers/practitioners in the field of TB control. Presenters of papers, as well as delegates are, therefore, drawn from both academic/research institutions, and from health service sectors involved in TB control in all provinces and in neighbouring countries.

Topics of presentations

A variety of topics will be dealt with during presentations, such as: New challenges in the global control of MDR-TB New strategies and policies on MDR-TB in South Africa A South African perspective on TB control A provincial perspective on implementing the national TB control policy

The role of the public district hospital in TB control Tuberculosis control through DOTS Case detection strategies

TB in children Hospital to clinic: is this the missing link? Patient compliance with DOT for TB Challenges for effective health communications in a multicultural context

The economics of TB Frequency of multiple infections with M. tuberculosis in pulmonary TB patients HIV/AIDS and TB, etc.

Speakers

Among the speakers will be Dr Victor Litlhakanyane (Head of Health: Free State); Prof Françoise Portaels and Dr Leen Rigouts (Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium); Dr Reliloe Matji (Director: NTBC Programme); Ntsiki Jolingana (Director: HIV, AIDS, TB and Communicable Diseases, Free State) and Annatjie Peters (Free State TB Coordinator); Dr Karin Weyer (Medical Research Council); Profs Herman Meulemans, Diana De Graeve, Luc Pauwels and Christiane Timmerman (University of Anwerp, Belgium); Dr Lara Fairall (UCT Lung Institute, University of Cape Town); Prof Frikkie Booysen (Department of Economics, University of the Free State); Christo Heunis, Ega Janse van Rensburg-Bonthuyzen, Zacheus Matebesi and Kobus Meyer (CHSR&D); Dr Mary Ednington (School of Public Health, Wits); Dr Carmen Báez and Sabine Verkuijl (ISDS); Anneke Van der Spoel-Van Dijk (Medical Microbiology, University of the Free State).

Costs

There will be no registration fees. However, delegates are expected to arrange their own transport and accommodation, or arrange for sponsorships themselves.

Contact details in case of inquiries and confirmation:

Postal Address: The Director, CHSR&D, PO Box 339, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, 9300 Fax: 051 448 0370 Tel: 051 401 2181 OR 051 401 3256 E-mail: vrensh@mail.ufs.ac.za (Dingie van Rensburg) OR neljc@mail.ufs.ac.za (Ohna Nel)

PLEASE, CONFIRM YOUR ATTENDANCE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, BUT AT THE LATEST BEFORE 25 OCTOBER 2003 ? BY TELEPHONE, FAX OR E-MAIL.

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