Meet and Greet
Hey Everyone. This is a little insight into our society; LAEL (which for those of you who don’t know stands for Linguistics and English Language). We may be an academic based society but it doesn’t mean we’re not as exciting as the others.
Let us introduce you to our team; our President is Rosie Knight and she keeps us all in check and oversees everything. Our secretary, Carla Morrell, makes sure we have record of everything and keeps everyone organised. Tasha Elliot is our Treasurer, handling all of our money issues and Laura Mitchell is our Social Secretary who makes sure we have lots of exciting socials planned. Last but not least is Lauren Maughan and I (Sarah Taft) who are the publicity officers and it is our job to make sure the Lancaster student population know what’s going on in our society (hopefully this article will help too).
Fresher’s Fair
This was an opportunity for us to present our society to the members of Lancaster University. First of all, there was the showcase where we were able to show potential members what we had to offer in our society. To make this a bit more fun we played giant scrabble which involved lots of masking tape on the floor for the squares and cardboard letter cut outs. This gained a lot of interest both with English Language and other students from across campus where lot of students joined and we had prizes for the winners. All members who joined were given a goody bag. We also made posters and sported LAEL society t-shirts to help promote the society.
LAEL Meetings
All the exec gets together once every two weeks and has a meeting, which is also a great excuse to socialise with friends. We have a chat about everything that we have coming up and decide on our plan of action, sorting out things that you wouldn’t think of like risk assessments for socials, providing money for lecturers to visit and getting all of you to join our events are just some of discussion points on our agenda. The other great thing about our LAEL meetings is that we invite members to join in on decision making as we find it works well as everyone feels they have a voice. A democratic society, what more could you want?!
Guest Lecturers
It may not seem as exciting as hiking up a mountain or learning to salsa but guest lecturers are definitely an interesting aspect of our society. They provide an opportunity for students to listen and interact with new topics that wouldn’t necessarily be available to them on their course. At LAEL, we are conscious of the fact that everyone has to attend lectures as part of their study but this is why bringing experienced and knowledgeable people from outside adds a fresh take on the subject and a chance to listen to people whose books they have read.
For all you budding linguists out there I’m sure the name David Crystal has been mention on numerous occasions in books and lectures. Here at LAEL, we are ecstatic that he will be visiting Lancaster University next term to give a talk especially to all you LAEL members out there. Neil Smith, another linguist, was the first guest lecturer we organised and he was well received. Other than visiting speakers we are also in talks with some lecturers from the course including Kevin Watson and Willem Hollmann to give us an insight into more of their linguistic studies.
Socials
All societies need a bit of fun and ours is no exception. With many socials organised throughout the term it is a great way to meet people from your course and have some well deserved fun. Our socials include fancy dress nights out; our first social of the term was a neon rave where we all put on our brightest coloured clothes and grabbed our glow sticks for a fun filled night. Other socials we have lined up include the letters of LAEL which is where we will be having the odd drink at the Carleton. Also, takeaway and scrabble nights are planned for later in the term so there is something for everyone to enjoy.
To get involved with the LAEL society you can find them on Facebook or contact them directly at [email]l.maughan@lancaster.ac.uk[/email].
