Bio
Details: 20, from Argentina
Imperial Course: BSc Medical Biosciences
Optional Modules: Attributes and Aspirations, I-explore ‘Science Communication’
Clubs and Societies: Netball, Hockey, Catholic Society
Job: Part-time barista at Costa
Tags: Overseas, UG, FoM, BMB, Catholic
Motivations and Frustrations
Motivations
Joana wants to get good grades and improve her English. She would also like to learn about British culture but plans to return to Argentina. She spent her first year living in halls and has a part-time job at Costa Coffee to earn some extra money so she can travel in the holidays and improve her English further. She has played hockey for many years but has taken up Netball as well.
Frustrations
Joana is from a large Catholic family in Argentina and while her friends know this, they don’t really understand how important her faith is to her. Her father is a well-respected doctor, and their family is very embedded in the community at home. She misses this support and sometimes feels a bit homesick. She is sometimes frustrated by her English language but goes to the Academic English conversation groups to help build this.
Joana's Stories
Joana uses Attributes and Aspirations for Undergraduate the sections in bold refer to the units she takes.
English isn’t Joana's first language and while she has good IELTS scores she still wants to improve. In AA2 for UG – About Imperial he signs of up the Centre for Academic English ‘Communicating Science Successfully’ workshops and explores other places within Imperial where he might find English Language support. In AA3 for UG – Reflection she then uses her experiences with the conversation forum to practice reflective writing.
In AA5 for UG – Making the Most of Learning Joana is doing an English course with the Centre for Academic English. She has been asked to lead a group of 5 other students in a project to create a 3–5-minute video. In this unit she explores strategies for making online group work more efficient. She then explores SD1 – Understanding your Skills where she selected three skills that she would like to develop. This unit helps develop strategies to do that by sharing links to other AA modules and college services.
As she starts year two of her course, she now lives an hour away from campus. In EE1 for UG – Managing Your Time she looks at how much time she can/should spend on different aspects of her life. Further AA4 for UG – Time Management looks at how to set up physical and digital environments that are conducive to productivity. Joana considers how to make her environment comfortable for working.
Demo section for Student Hub website
Joana is a second-year student from Argentina studying the BSc Medical Biosciences. She is part the of the Animated Inclusive personae project. To find out more about Joana and to meet other personae visit the AIP website.
In her first year Joana had help from the student Hub with paying her tuition fees. Now she is in her second year and has moved out of halls she has used the online process to get her Statement of Registration letter to open a bank account and get her council tax exemption certificate. Joana and her friend from Thailand want to travel in Europe during the holidays. They decided to go to the Hub office in person to ask about the visa requirements for travelling in Europe.
The advisor in the hub was really helpful and told them that most of Europe is covered by the Schengen Visa zone which requires people from certain countries to have visas to travel for less than 90 days. Citizens of Argentina do not require a visa but those from Thailand do. The Hub advisors were able to tell Joana and her friend this information which is also on the International Students webpages and inform them that the same Statement of Registration letter can be used to prove student status in a Schengen visa application.