Competition Winner

My Unique Experience

The beginning was exhilarating as it was confusing. As one navigated entirely new socio-cultural spaces, the culture-shock was inexorably intriguing: from vehicles whose wheels were steered from the right-side to painfully narrow roads; to weird accents of English tumbling down at speed of light from mouths of tribes and tongues that made social spaces a mini-UN General Assembly. Having taught English language and Shakespeare in my early years as a teacher, I have had to chastise myself when I had to apologise to a taxi driver or the grocery store attendant for reasons bordering on my incomprehension of their versions of English and badly requiring a repeat of what was said, preferably, in a slow-motion. Who would have thought beautiful England, the homeland of English would have so many accents of the same cherished language, even from her own native speakers? That was simply intriguing for this new- comer. The Welsh, the Scots, the wonderful people of the North,the entire Yorkshire belt; then there are Pakistani English, Chinese English, Vietnamese English, Bangladeshi English, Indian English, the Nigerian English and so on. Each tribe or race brought their own flavour and style to the thick mix, and most times, it’s daunting for a new arrival to discern and navigate through. Well, as I settled in, my ears started adapting well to the new tones and tunes. We’re getting there. Then came the Induction. For weeks stern warnings had gone out for new intakes to attend. The day finally came, and there was palpable tension in the hall as the students sat and listened to the Facilitator reel out all the “Do’s and Don’ts”. It reminded one of an Army drill Sergeant Major. Several minutes after it was over, nobody moved, it was as if everybody was just realizing the enormity of the new responsibilities, they had hoisted on themselves. Weighty scales, like bricks, fell off many eyes that mid-morning especially the aspects that had to do with Class Attendance, Home Office and the possibility of being tossed on the next available flight home upon default. What a rude awakening that was! 

Soon afterwards, lectures commenced as expected. The regular bus shuttle between Storthes Hall Park and Queensgate became a daily routine. For weeks on end, I grappled with new jaw-breaking terminologies and how to apply them as required: Ontology, Phenomenology, Triangulation, Epistemology, and all the Research methodologies and analytics. From the exhilarating labyrinths of Methods of Enquiry to the Agony Aunt’s Couch of Coaching and Mentoring, we rolled over to the Soothing balm that International Learning Development,999 really offered to most of us. It’s like a car wash experience. The huge rolling brushes beat and toss the chassis of the car as they clean it and then only slowing and becoming gentler as they rinse and roll off it. The last act is like a towelling and polishing experience, as the poor car now looks spick and span. Well, to say the least, the International Learning Development lectures were most reassuring, nerves-calming and engaging. The designers of the Curricula were masterfully thoughtful in adding that as a Stop-gap-Support mechanism for many of us, pseudo-wannabe-researchers, who were no doubt, tossed, turned and totally lost in the maze of research analytics, and of course, the non-critical-mindedness that followed some of us like a curse from our diverse homelands. As the days went by, one’s confidence grew in critical writing, critical reading, critical reflection and ultra-sensitivity to the littlest of nuances in Research methodologies, methods and all the principles, practices, theoretical frameworks, conceptual analysis and philosophical underpinnings of perspectives and approaches. Now, with so many long essays under my belt, and the chief of them all, my dissertation, almost completed, I dare say; what a journey! What a unique experience! The journey to SEPD, (Lockside)University of Huddersfield has been positively mind-altering, impactful, exhilarating, and eventful. The SEPD has adequate curricula, adequate pedagogical practices, new technologies and learning setting that make student engagement, a wonderful experience. Students from all over the world arrive at Lockside with rough edges to them and by the time SEPD is done with them, they are smoothened, transformed, inspired, made career-ready -and placed on the trajectory of becoming transformational leaders in their chosen fields –sheer gift to their immediate communities and above all, pride to their nations.