B.B.C. Expects 5000 In English Classes

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30855, 14 September 1965, Page 17

B.B.C. Expects 5000 In English Classes

(Special Crspdt. N.Z.P.A ) LONDON, September 13. About 5000 people are

expected to enrol as serious students of “after school English” courses on the British Broadcasting Corporation’s third

network. The courses have been arranged in conjunction with the National Extension College, Cambridge.

Each student will have a tutor and the college is planning week-end and one-day courses at universities where tutors and students can meet. The courses are being aimed at those wishing to improve their knowledge, according to Mr John Griffiths, director of the college. Most existing courses were dull and old-fashioned, said Mr Griffiths. He thought there would be general inter-

est in the broadcasts even among those not wishing to take the examination. Students will take 24 correspondence lessons and need to spend between four and six hours in study and three hours on each piece of written work for the tutor. It is expected to t’ke them at least 30 weeks. But students will be able to work at their own pace. There will be four separate opportunities to sit for the examinations. There will be 19 programmes using the same books. Shakespeare’s “Henry IV, Part 2,” Thomas Hardy's “Far From the Madding Crowd," and a book of twentieth century poetry. Mr Griffiths said that the course brought a step nearer a “college of the air." The broadcasts stimulate the student by bringing the subject to life."