A Day in the Life of an Oxford Professor at Dulwich Pudong
Recently, Dulwich Pudong had the honour of welcoming guests from the University of Oxford, Brown University, MIT and Harvard University. These guests actively engaged in profound exchanges with our community.
During their visit, these distinguished guests not only delivered captivating presentations at Dulwich Pudong but also actively participated in various workshops alongside our students and teachers. Together, they explored academic frontiers and educational philosophies, fostering a dynamic learning environment.
Oxford mock interviews with Professor Kim Plunkett
When it comes to admissions interviews at the University of Oxford, myths abound. Many students fear they will be interrogated about the meaning of life and set trick questions designed to trip them up, or simply that they will be expected to know everything there is to know about their subject.
On April 12th after school, a number of our Year 11 and 12 students were fortunate enough to get an insider’s perspective on what these interviews are really like, from none other than experienced Oxford interviewer Professor Kim Plunkett. After sharing invaluable advice on the importance of explaining your ideas actively in order to engage in a productive dialogue with the interviewer, Professor Plunkett carried out a mock interview, taking the students through the Wason selection task and discussing how they might answer it. The session concluded with a Q&A session covering all aspects of academic life at Oxford and the admissions process.
As one of the many high-profile university visitors our students had the chance to interact with in recent weeks, we are sincerely grateful to Professor Plunkett for his time in sharing such valuable insights with our students.
We look forward to continuing to welcome a diverse range of university insiders to the college to share their perspectives, as we equip our students to become truly ‘worldwise.'
Learn about how toddlers make meaning from words with Professor Kim Plunkett
DUCKS staff were very fortunate to be able to host Professor Kim Plunkett during his visit to Shanghai to present at the Future of Education event. Professor Plunkett has spent his career researching language acquisition in babies and young children, specialising in learning a second language in early childhood.
A group of DUCKS teachers had Professor Plunkett’s undivided attention for an hour’s session in which questions were raised about how children best acquire and develop a second, or even third language and how to provide the optimum environment in which to develop a child’s native language whilst simultaneously learning a second language.
The advice and guidance that Professor Plunkett offered was invaluable. He described the conditions and environment in which young children learn best, and we were delighted to see that it aligned exactly with how we approach language development at DUCKS. We hope to further engage with Professor Plunkett over the coming months as we continually review our approaches to language acquisition, and we hope to be able to invite Professor Plunkett to come to DUCKS again in the future to work with more of our teachers and students.
