Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
SSLC Meeting
Tuesday 12th March 2013
13.00
Room E6 (East Wing)
MINUTES
In attendance: Alicia Kent (Chair), Safia Shakarchi (1), Cathy Bremner (1), Hannah
Jones (2), Mirabel Stuart (2), Hannah Mallinckrodt (4), Andre Freixieiro (4), Marivi
Quinones Rodriguez, Catarina Fouto, Tom Horne, Kate McCulloch (minutes).
1. Apologies for absence
i. Apologies were received from Vincent Nadeau (MA).
2. Minutes of the last meeting (12.02.13)
i. The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed. AF asked for an amendment to
6.i (Language Assessment and Marking Criteria).
Action: AK to send updated minutes to KM.
3. Matters Arising
i. Discussion on MA modules. AK had received information from Ana Amalia. This
has been passed onto the MA convenor. Thanks to Ana Amalia for supplying this
information. It was hoped to find a balance between having a breadth of module
choices and minimising disappointment if a module had to be cancelled due to
low student enrolment.
ii. (6.v.) Newsletter suggestion. AK had sent out a “Senior Tutor Bulletin” to each
year group, including one to students on their year abroad. This one included
information from Catherine Boyle about the move to Kingsway so that students
not at King’s this year were aware.
iii. (6.vi.) Postgraduate day. AK had spoken to Catherine Boyle and had
confirmation that taster days were already run by Arts & Humanities School.
Looking at how this was publicised to students. HM confirmed that students
would prefer any SPLAS specific day to be at the start of semester 2.
Action: AK to take to department meeting. AK also to ask personal tutors to
discuss taking an MA as an option for any students in years 2 and 4 doing
well.
iv. (6.vii.) Changing Modules in Semester 2 and Preview classes. AK would ask
chair of school SSLC to add this to the next meeting agenda. AK would also take
the idea of a preview class to the next department meeting.
4. Year 1
i. Lisbon Trip
Students asked to know the dates earlier in the year. CF confirmed the course
usually takes place in July and this was communicated at the start of the
academic year. CF also confirmed that information regarding Santander grants
would be sent out to students soon. AK felt that it would be good to review the
communication about the trip with information made clearer on the website.
Action: CF to review module description for first year beginner Portuguese
language module (4AAPP01B) and add dates of Summer School
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ii. Students who don’t have English as their first language
Some students who don’t have English as their first language were finding
Temas classes a struggle, especially as errors they made were related to their
English, not their Spanish. AK said they could view these classes as a chance to
improve their English and encouraged these students to talk to their language
tutor if they were struggling, to let them know English wasn’t their first language.
AF confirmed this is what he had done in first year and a different textbook had
been suggested for him. CF added that personal tutors could also advise their
tutees to look into provision in the English Language Centre who offer support
with academic English and study skills.
Action: AK to remind personal tutors that the English Language Centre ran
classes for native and non-native speakers
Timetabling- particularly difficulty of 9am language classes
The timetable is created around student module choices with staff availability and
room availability also affecting it. The complex timetables of Languages students
and the high number of Joint Honours students also affect when classes are
scheduled. CF and MRQ confirmed that they were in discussions about asking
for language teaching to only take place between 10-5 (although this did mean
that content modules may take place at 9am instead).
Action: AK confirmed she would ask that this point be raised at the School
committee.
iii. Overall Degree Grading/Classifications
Students had asked how much their language assessment in first year counted
towards their final degree as it was unclear.
AK confirmed that as a general rule the first year was worth 1/12, second year
3/12, third year 3/12 and final year 5/12. This was to give students the chance to
improve over the four years and to do their best in final year. Having both essays
and exams also gave students the chance to improve their mark if one part did
not go to plan. It was confirmed that the breakdown of assessment (exam/essay)
for each module was available on the module description pages online.
iv. Personal tutors for “With Students”
Students who are “with” don’t have personal tutors in their “with” subject (eg. with
English, with Film) and don’t feel part of the other department, it was also difficult
to ask for advice when the subject was new (eg. Film studies).
Action: AK would ask that this be raised at the School SSLC.
It was also discussed that only one personal tutor was showing on student
records, even if the student had two (eg. SPLAS and French). KM confirmed that
she was aware of this problem, both tutors were showing on the back system
and she had advised Jane Elderton of the problem. It was confirmed after the
meeting by Jane that this was being looked at higher up and that it was being
fixed so that both tutors would show.
v. Restrictions on second year module choices
Single honour and “With” students taking Hispanic Studies are restricted on their
second year module choices by the requirement to choose one module from PreModern, Modern and Latin American categories. Students felt that they should
only have this restriction in first year. AK stated that this was to make sure
students covered all areas of specialities in the department and they were then
able to have completely free choice in their final year when they specialised.
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Action: AK confirmed that she would raise this as an issue at the
Departmental meeting and TH confirmed it had also been raised at the
Department Teaching Committee to be discussed at the Departmental
meeting.
5. Year 2
i. Study Abroad Allocations
Second year students had not received their allocations for their year abroad yet.
HM (as a peer advisor) confirmed there had been an unexpected increase in
applications across the College, hence the delay. It was agreed though that if the
deadline initially given was seen as unrealistic then they should give a later date
to reduce the number of queries to the Study Abroad office and to prevent
disappointment. If allocations were then available earlier than expected it would
be a pleasant surprise.
Action: AK confirmed she was meeting Tom Atterson from the Study
Abroad Office and would raise the date for allocations as an issue.
ii. Language Classes
As had been discussed at the last meeting there was no time for extra oral
classes, however the way the existing classes were used was discussed. There
appeared to be a difference between classes depending on the teacher and if
students missed a class they found it hard to catch up- as they weren’t in sync.
Some students also felt there should be a greater range of articles available from
different viewpoints.
AK confirmed that there were scheduled discussions regarding teaching of
language next year, including Portuguese. Ideally there should be a range of
different articles with differing viewpoints.
Action: AK asked for any topics/suggestions to be sent to her to be fed into
this discussion.
iii. Computer Rooms
Students stated that it was difficult to find a computer room, particularly on the
Strand, especially as some departments block book rooms (despite not always
using the full room). Printing was particularly difficult and was what computer
rooms were used most for. A print room at Kingsway was suggested, which used
a flexicard as with the photocopiers.
Action: TH to find out policy with Timetabling regarding booking computer
rooms.
Action: AK to pass suggestion of print room onto JW (Move Champion in
SPLAS)
6. Year 4
i. Staff Pigeon Holes
HM asked if it would be possible to have accessible staff pigeon holes to make
leaving work, books etc easier. Some post has to be inaccessible for
confidentiality reasons (e.g. pay slips, student reports). Hopefully this will be fixed
with the move to Kingsway.
Action: AK to take to Department meeting.
ii. Feedback
Some students felt that with the move to feedback over KEATS they were getting
more negative feedback and this was affecting motivation. AK added that this
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meant that some students didn’t come to tutorials, which are a key part of the
feedback process in the Department and is where constructive verbal feedback is
given.
AK asked the student representatives whether they preferred feedback via
KEATS first with the tutorial to follow or the tutorial followed by release of
feedback on KEATS. The students agreed that they preferred feedback to be
given initially in a tutorial, with feedback on KEATS to follow. TH added that the
initial request for online submission and feedback had come from the Student
Union (KCLSU). Submission of a hard copy was also discussed; TH confirmed
that the policy set by the School is that no hard copies are to be submitted (the
only exception being dissertations).
Action: AK to feedback comments at the next department meeting for
further discussion.
iii. Personal Tutors
HM asked if it was possible for students to be reallocated personal tutors in their
second year, once they had more of an idea about the specialisation they would
follow. In addition it was felt that final year students needed more pastoral care
as it was a very high pressured year and some students didn’t feel very well
supported. AK confirmed that if students were concerned about their tutor they
could talk to her as Senior Tutor or Catherine Boyle as Head of Department but
that it would not be possible to reallocate students in their second year.
7. MA
i.
There were no items from MA students.
8. Staff Items
i. Speed Meet- 5th March 2013
AK reminded students of the Careers Alumni Speed Meet that had taken place
on 5 March 2013. There was a Careers Facebook page which AK had
highlighted to students in her bulletin which had lots of useful information posted
on it.
ii. Exam Timetable/Oral Exams
It was confirmed that the Exam Timetable would be published by the
Examinations office online on 20th March. The oral exams for Portuguese would
take place during the exam period, once the exam timetable was known. Oral
exams for Spanish would take place over the next few weeks.
iii. AK thanked the committee for their submissions over the year and wished them
good luck in their forthcoming exams.
9. Next meeting: TBC in Semester 1, next academic year. All minutes of meetings
this year would be available on the Governance page on the SPLAS website.
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