Topic: Education. Cultural societies in British universities.

I have read the article, which is taken from a British national daily newspaper “The Guardian”. The title of the article is “International students: a guide to social success”. The subtitle is “Cultural societies provide a safe haven in your first term, but make sure you also mix with other students”. The author of the article is Natalie Gil. This article is devoted to the problem of cultural societies in British Universities: whether they are useful for students or they prevent communication between students from different countries.

The author of the article writes that all freshers worry about making friends when they start university. Natalie Gil believes that great starting points in those first weeks are the societies that represent your culture. Further the author says that the goal of culture and language societies is to bring together students with shared heritage and provide an anchor in a daunting new environment. But Natalie stresses that these societies can make students less inclined to broaden their social circles. Further the author writes about what some members of cultural societies think about this problem. She emphasizes that Chris Lee, the Hong Kong society member at Bristol University, thinks such societies can stop students getting fully involved with British culture and can even prevent their members' English skills from improving. The article goes on to say that many cultural societies reach out to students outside their own nationality. Among them are: the American society at Brunel University, the Irish society at the University of Sussex and  the Hong Kong society at Durham University. The members of these societies Karol Kelner(Brunel University),Cal McLoughlin (the University of Sussex) say that there are students from different countries in their societies. The author reports that Cal McLoughlin teaches the students about his culture and the differences between the cultures. Moreover, Eric Chim (Durham University) says his university helps different groups get to know one another. Besides, the author of the article writes that not everyone feels the need to join cultural societies. For example, Audrey Le Bihan, a French student at the University of Manchester, didn’t join the university's French society, because he didn’t feel this could be a potential support for himself. Further Natalie Gil writes some tips for international freshers from members of cultural societies. The author considers that these tips can help them to make friends and integrate themselves into British university life. The members advise to arrive early to lectures and start up conversations with your fellow classmates, make an effort to speak English in social situations if it's not your first language, learn the norms so you don't offend anyone and don't start university with assumptions about British culture or feeling like you automatically won't fit in. In conclusion the author stresses that societies are not just for freshers. For students already at university, freshers' week is a great time to join one and give freshers invaluable advice, concerning how to establish their own friendship groups.

To my mind, this article is very interesting and informative, especially for international students, who want to enter the University in Britain. In my opinion, cultural societies help students to make friends and overcome difficulties.Moreover, I think that the tips given in the article are very useful for freshers. In conclusion I would like to ask my group mates. Would you like to join a cultural society, if you were students of the British University? Please, explain your choice.