Culture Connect, Employability

Available on campus over the summer? Become a mentor to Pre-sessional English students!

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Join our on campus mentoring scheme as a mentor and get a certificate!

Summer Connect banner MENTORSummer Connect provides face-to-face group mentoring support for our Pre-sessional English students (PS15 and PS10), to help them to settle into life in Sheffield whilst they are on campus over the summer. The scheme runs from July to the end of August.

About the Pre-sessional English students

These students are here to improve their English before starting their degree course. As the University is quieter over the summer, these students may have limited opportunities to meet the wider student body and feel a sense of belonging. These students are often shy and reluctant to use university support services. We’ve developed a mentoring scheme to provide them with extra support.

Recruitment and selection

Mentees are automatically signed up as part of their Pre-sessional English course. We are hoping to recruit about 72 mentors (including 19 Super Mentors) to support them. Mentors must be available on campus at set dates and times, as scheme activities are scheduled as part of their course.

Induction and training

As part of the selection process, you must attend a face-to-face induction. We will tell you more about your specific role and responsibilities at these events.

Group matching

There are 19 Pre-sessional English class groups in total, with around 15 students per class. Staff will allocate 1 Super Mentor and 3 mentors to each class. To make mentoring groups, Super Mentors will randomly allocate 3-4 students to themselves, and to each mentor.

Mentoring sessions

Each mentee will receive 3 mentoring sessions in their mentoring groups. These will take place in university classrooms on a Friday afternoon, as part of the Pre-sessional English course. One of the sessions will include playing SHUoply, a fun team game which involves exploring the University and support services with a chance to win a prize.

At the end of the scheme, there will be a debrief where mentors and Super Mentors support mentees to apply for Culture Connect in a computer room.

The role of Super Mentors

Super Mentors are students who have been part of one of our mentoring schemes before and have extra responsibilities. As staff cannot be present at each mentoring session, Super Mentors will be responsible for providing you with supervision and guidance. After meeting with your mentoring groups, you will meet with your Super Mentor and reflect on how things went. Super Mentors will then feedback to staff later on.

Super Mentors will also be responsible for delivering a 30 minute presentation about a specific topic to their class group as instructed by the International Experience Team.

Overview of schedule

Once the scheme starts, you must be available at these dates/times. More details about the scheme will be announced at your induction:

  • Friday 14 July, 1.45-4pm – Mentoring session
  • Friday 21 July, 1.45-4pm – Mentoring session
  • Friday 28 July, 1.45-4pm – Mentoring session
  • Friday 4 August, 1.45-4pm – Mentoring session
  • Friday 11 August, 1.45-4pm – Conversation Club (optional to attend)
  • Friday 18 August, 1.45-4pm – Mentoring session
  • Friday 25 August, 1.45-4pm – Debrief

Feedback and celebration
Upon completion, you will fill out an evaluation form and get a certificate. You can add the experience to your CV and we are happy to provide job references upon request. By taking part in this scheme, you will also become eligible to apply for Hallam Award.

How to apply

Monday 19 June – 1-3pm – Induction. Book at https://unihub.shu.ac.uk/students/events/detail/450916/summer-connect-induction

Or

Wednesday 28 June – 2-4pm – Induction. Book at https://unihub.shu.ac.uk/students/events/detail/452759/summer-connect-induction