free course icon
level 1: introductory icon
History & The Arts
Start writing fiction: characters and stories
Start writing fiction is a free course that helps you to get started with your own fiction writing, focusing on the central skill of creating characters.
free course icon
level 1: introductory icon
History & The Arts
What is poetry?
Have you always wanted to try to write poetry but never quite managed to start? This free course, What is poetry?, is designed to illustrate the techniques behind both the traditional forms of poetry and free verse. You will learn how you can use your own experiences to develop ideas and how to harness your imagination.
free course icon
level 1: introductory icon
History & The Arts
Speeches and speech-making
This free course, Speeches and speech-making, explores an aspect of language use where 'voices' and 'texts' converge: the art of speech-making.
free course icon
level 2: intermediate icon
Languages
How to be a critical reader
In this free course you will focus on how to be a critical reader. Reading critically is an essential skill at university. It means being aware of your own purposes and opinions as you read and being able to recognise the writer's purposes and opinions in their writing.
free course icon
level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
History of reading tutorial 3: Famous writers and their reading - Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Vernon Lee
Have you ever wondered about the reading tastes and habits of famous writers in the past? This free course, History of reading tutorial 3: Famous writers and their reading Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Vernon Lee, is the third tutorial in a series designed to help users of the UK Reading Experience Database (UK RED) search, browse and use this...
free course icon
level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
History of reading tutorial 1: Finding evidence of reading in the past
How do we know what people read in the past, and how they read it? This free course, History of reading tutorial 1: Finding evidence of reading in the past, is the first in a series of tutorials designed to help users of the UK Reading Experience Database (UK RED) search, browse and use the resource, and explores the types of evidence historians...
free course icon
level 3: advanced icon
Languages
Grammar matters
Grammar matters because, combined with vocabulary choice, it is our main way of making meaning. This free course introduces you to one approach used to understand how meanings relate systematically to different aspects of grammar and shows how this deeper understanding can be applied to make everyday communication more effective.
free course icon
level 1: introductory icon
History & The Arts
Form and uses of language
In this free course, Form and uses of language, we will consider how language can be used in different ways for different purposes. To do this we will use the theme of memorial and commemoration. In the first section we briefly discuss the life of the poet Siegfried Sassoon before examining both his poetry and his prose. Through this we will see...
free course icon
level 1: introductory icon
Languages
Англійська у світі сьогодні
Як англійська мова стала сьогодні справжньою глобальною силою? Цей безкоштовний курс «Англійська у сучасному світі» досліджує статус мови та її розмаїття на планеті. Він розглядає, як соціальні та політичні аспекти впливають на ставлення людей до англійської, а також на зв’язок між мовною спадщиною та почуттям власної ідентичності.
free course icon
level 1: introductory icon
Languages
English in the world today
How did English become the global force it is today? This free course, English in the world today, explores the status of the language and its worldwide diversity. It looks at how social and political factors influence people's attitudes towards it, and at the relationship between one's linguistic heritage and sense of identity.
free course icon
level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
Approaching poetry
Do you want to get more out of your reading of poetry? This free course, Approaching poetry, is designed to develop the analytical skills you need for a more in-depth study of literary texts. You will learn about rhythm, alliteration, rhyme, poetic inversion, voice and line lengths and endings. You will examine poems that do not rhyme and learn ...
free course icon
level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
Approaching prose fiction
Do you want to get more out of your reading? This free course, Approaching prose fiction, is designed to develop the analytical skills you need for a more in-depth study of literary texts. You will learn about narrative events and perspectives, the setting of novels, types of characterisation and genre.