Unison suggests: Improving your English

Many people do not feel confident with their reading and writing skills. Improving this can be as simple as watching a few videos online.

 

 

English teacher Emma

5 tips to improve your writing

English Lessons for u

 

Tenses in English - Future or Present Continuous

 

Chris McKenna's Creative Writing lessons.

 

 

Creative Writing. Lesson1: Getting started

Unison suggests: Camp Nanowrimo-Write a book in the month of July

Based on November’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), Camp NaNoWriMo provides the online support, tracking tools, and hard deadline to help you write the rough draft of your novel in a month… other than November!

Camp NaNoWriMo was established in 2011 as a project of the Office of Letters and Light, the parent 501(c)(3) nonprofit to National Novel Writing Month and the Young Writers Program. 2013 Camp sessions will take place in April and July.

What: Writing a novel from scratch in one month’s time.

Who: You! (And about 20,000 other novelists around the world.) Let’s write some perhaps-awful, but definitely lengthy, prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To actively participate in one of our era’s most enchanting art forms! To write without having to obsess over quality. To be able to make obscure references to passages from our novels at parties.

When: You can sign up anytime to add your name to the roster. Writing begins at 12:00 AM on April 1, and again on July 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach your word-count goal by 11:59 PM on the last day of the month. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the partying begins.

The Rules:

Write a 50,000-word (or longer!) novel in July.

Start from scratch. None of your own previously written prose can be included in your Camp NaNoWriMo draft (though outlines, character sketches, and research are all fine, as are citations from other people’s works).

Write a novel. We define a novel as a lengthy work of fiction. If you consider the book you’re writing a novel, we consider it a novel too!

Be the sole author of your novel. Apart from those citations mentioned two bullet-points up.

Write more than one word repeated 50,000 times.

You can be inspired by list of published NaNoWriMo authors here: http://nanowrimo.org/publishedwrimos/.

Good luck and have fun writing!

Unison suggests: Improving your Maths Skills



It's time to improve your maths skills. A lot people struggled with maths at school and continue to struggle in their everyday lives where having a better understanding of maths would help make life easier. We can all gain confidence in maths and start using it to make our lives easier at home and at work. And if we’re better at maths we can help our children as they learn it at school, so they won’t see it as difficult.

 

The Maths4you website can help you gain confidence in your numeracy skills.

 

In addition there are numerous youtube videos on how to improve your skills. Check them out.

 

 

Khan Academy: Provides a world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

 

Adding and subtracting fractions .



Tecmaths: Specialises in Math Tricks for fast results.

 

 

Mental Addition Trick - Add faster than a calculator!
 

Vividmaths: Boasts itself as the ultimate maths channel.

Pythagoras Theorem In 2 Minutes.



ehow: Learn the lessons you forgot to help your child with their maths homework.

   
How to Determine Percentages.

 

Learn more about becoming an Union Learning Rep with Unison

 

Learn more about the role of an Union Learning Rep with Unison

 

 

Ballad of the Union Learning Rep

 

 

Learning in UNISON with  Jackie Gilchrist a rep from Scotland.

Learning in UNISON with Ian Allen a rep also from Scotland.

National Numeracy Challenge

 

Join the National Numeracy Challenge. Sign up to improve your maths skills.

 

https://www.nnchallenge.org.uk/home/index.html

Unison suggests: Adult Education: Art:Work sessions

Out of Work? Stress? Isolated?

We can help! Come to our fun, free workshops

Get messy! Have fun! Meet people!

Art:Work – Our Aim

 

We are running a series of workshops which combine art with skills for improving bounce back ability – how to cope with whatever life throws at you. We want to help you if you’re feeling stuck in a rut, stressed or just want to try something new.

 

Our aim is to bring back some fun into your life, giving you the chance to have a go at creating something new and different, both in art and in your life.

 

We want our workshops to be what you want, for you to get a real sense of satisfaction, achievement and positive change.

 

Our Workshops

 

Our workshops are run by Sharron Briggs, an Artist from Bounce Back Art, and Celia Viner, an NLP Practitioner specialising in enabling your potential.

 

Our interactive workshops are three hours long. They are in two parts, the first is a fun art activity, and the second will teach you ways to change your mind! 

 

Here’s what each workshop will cover:

 

The X Factor  Saturday 13 July 10am-1pm

 

• Discover your talents – surprise yourself with what you can do. Create your own masterpiece.

• How to turn negative to positive, discovering your true potential.

 

The Apprentice  Saturday 20 July 10am-1pm

 

• How do you present yourself – what’s hidden in the box?

• Boosting your confidence and assertiveness. Techniques for stressful situations.

 

Mastermind   Saturday 27 July 10am-1pm

•  Artistic licence– how would you like your life to look – create an image

 

• How to make it a reality – practical steps, goal setting, creative thinking

 

Come and have a go!

 

The Griffin, 212 Yarmouth Road, Thorpe St Andrew, NR7 0SN

About our techniques

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)

 

NLP is really about three things – our minds, language and patterns. We have patterns for everything we do, whether these are positive, for example learning something new or negative, like being frustrated.  NLP uses a series of techniques for rapidly changing the thoughts, beliefs and behaviour patterns that limit people's potential and development.  It can be described as a user’s manual for the brain!

Art

 

Bounce Back Art offers a way to well being through creative activity and social interaction. Active, creative imagination can bring balance and clarity to a chaotic mind.

 

About Us

 

Sharron Briggs

Artist & Art Facilitator

 

As an artist and someone who has suffered from depression, I know that art activity can help with the recovery process.  Using art as a means to help re-focus the mind, distracting individuals from the issues that ‘creep’ in.

• City & Guilds PTLLS Level 4

• Mental Health Awareness (Level 2 NCFE)

• BA (Hons) Professional Studies

• Foundation Degree Art and Wellbeing

• Access to Art and Design

• City & Guilds Art & Design

• A-Level Art and Design

 

Celia Viner

EFT and Master NLP Practitioner

 

My aim is to enable people to realise their potential, get creative and constructive thoughts flowing, and help them lead more fulfilling lives. My skills enable people to manage their emotions and behaviours by reinforcing positivity and making better choices, using a range of solution-focused techniques that work on many levels. I help people think differently about how they think!

• NLP Practitioner and Masters Levels    

• EFT Level 2 and 3

• Adult Education Tutor including Work2Wellbeing course. Wellbeing Facilitator.

• Courses: Mental Health Awareness, Professional Boundaries, Lone Working,  Vulnerable Adults, Spiritual Companionship 

Contacts:

Celia Viner EFT and Master NLP Practitioner Isis 01508 571209 or 07789 354519 isisnorfolk@gmail.com

Sharron Briggs Artist & Art Facilitator Bounce Back Art 07777 609743 sharroneb@bouncebackart.co.uk

Free education workshop offer for new UNISON members

New members who join UNISON in May and June will receive a free workshop, choosing from one of four.

This is a new initiative to support our recruitment and organising campaign.

The workshops, to be run from September, include:

• Welcome to UNISON
• Internet skills
• Facing change together
• Your skills, your future - a chance to think about your personal development and next steps.

See the following link for more information: http://www.unison.org.uk/efocus/news_view.asp?did=8557 .

Low cost assertiveness, counselling and coaching skills courses

Unison can help you improve your skills within the workplace. Come along to our low cost sessions to help improve your assertiveness, counselling and coaching skills.

 

Assertiveness Skills – Tuesday June 18^th 17:00-19:00 in the Colman Room at County Hall, Norwich

Do you sometimes come away from a situation thinking “I could have handled that much better”?  This session will give you the confidence to handle difficult meetings with managers in a calm atmosphere of mutual respect to gain the outcomes that the person you are supporting requires. The session will focus on strategies that you need to employ to achieve outcomes and how to put your learning into action.

 

Counselling skills – Tuesday June 25^th 17:00-19:00 in the Colman Room at County Hall, Norwich

Within work you may have to deal with staff who have experienced bullying or harassment. This will involve the staff disclosing difficult and upsetting information to you. These may bring up other issues that you will need to deal with in a sensitive and professional way. No one expects you to be a counsellor and indeed, it is important to recognise when someone has been so deeply affected that you can signpost them to the Norfolk Help Line or HR.  Having some counselling skills will enable you to help others feel comfortable and supported and is an important and useful tool. The session will focus the main counselling strategies and putting them into practise in a safe environment.

 

Coaching Skills – part 1 Tuesday July 2^nd & part 2 Tuesday July 9^th 17:00-19:00 in the Colman Room at County Hall, Norwich. You must be able to attend both sessions.

When individuals have an issue they may initially find it difficult to explain or disclose exactly what the issue is about. This can be due to fear, embarrassment or something else. Within the workplace you need to have relevant information to be able to support the member of staff to the best of your ability. Coaching encourages people to look at the problem and help themselves to find a workable solution. The skills you will practise include open questioning techniques, strategies to enable reflection and building workable solutions.

 

Each 2 hour session is £7.60 per person.  Please contact Melissa Brown Unison Lifelong Learning Project Worker at melissabrown.unison@btconnect.com or on 07590433066 to book or for more information.