A2600 - Learn to guide: building confidence, stories and presentation skills

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Start Date: 23/09/2026      End Date: 04/11/2026        Start Time: 18:30      End Time: 20:30        Hours per Week: 2.00      No of Weeks: 6
Fees:      £80.00 (tuition)     £153.00 (overseas)     £25.00 (concessionary)
Tutor: David Charnick        No of Places: 11
Idea Store Watney Market

Course Overview

Course Overview
Come and discover how your local knowledge can become an engaging walking tour.

This hands on course invites you to explore Tower Hamlets through the power of walking tours and storytelling. You’ll uncover the hidden histories of streets, markets, buildings and everyday places, and learn how they connect to wider stories of migration, work, activism, culture and community life.
Through a mix of interactive classroom sessions and guided walks, you’ll build practical skills in research, storytelling and confident communication. You’ll see Tower Hamlets in a whole new way, both as someone who knows the area and as someone who can guide others through it.
The course includes 5 indoor sessions and 1 guided outdoor walk, giving you the chance to experiment, share ideas, and experience local spaces firsthand while learning how to bring them to life for others.

This course is for you if you have a connection to Tower Hamlets, whether you’ve grown up here, arrived recently, work locally, or are simply curious to understand the borough more deeply. No previous experience is needed, just curiosity, enthusiasm, and a love of stories.

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What you’ll explore
• How local places tell stories about migration, labour, faith, resistance and change
• How to shape walking routes around themes drawn from Tower Hamlets’ history and present day life
• How guides research stories using local resources, archives and lived experience
• How to speak confidently and clearly to groups in public spaces
• How walking tours help communities share heritage in inclusive and accessible ways

What will you learn and be able to do?

What will you learn and be able to do?
* Use a range of local resources (maps, archives, online sources, community knowledge) to research and present a story about the area.
* Apply basic presentation and communication skills suitable for sharing stories with small groups in public spaces.
* Identify key individuals, movements and institutions that have shaped Tower Hamlets, past and present.
* Explain how storytelling support community connection, access to heritage and local understanding.
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Entry requirements

Entry requirements
No previous experience or qualification necessary. You will be able to speak English clearly and follow verbal and written instructions. You will also be able to read English fluently.
You will need to be able to walk comfortably for 2 hours with regular stops on outdoor visits.
Prosp User 8

Equipment required

Equipment required
Comfortable shoes and appropriate clothing for outdoor sessions. Pen and paper for notes
Prosp User 9

How will you know you are making progress?

How will you know you are making progress?
The tutor will give on-going feedback during the course, particularly by means of the mid-course assessment.

Students are encouraged to monitor their progress and achievement using an Individual Learning Plan (ILP).

You will also gain more from the course if you commit time to it outside the classroom
Prosp User 12
No formal examination or assessment, but all learners will be asked to give two short presentations in class: an individual presentation on a local building or institution, and participation in a group presentation. Evidence of preparation is required, and peer assessment will be given for presentations. Also you will be asked to monitor your own progress using an Individual Learning Plan.
Prosp User 11

Progress opportunities - your next steps

Progress opportunities - your next steps
Tour Guiding in Tower Hamlets: Going Further
Prosp User 10

Other info

Other info
In general, we will not allow late enrolment to any course after the first two weeks.

Children are not allowed in our health & fitness courses unless they are specifically family learning classes. Please do not ask your tutor to give your child access as they do not have the authority to do this.

Health and Safety requirements demand that all learners participating in fitness classes must complete the warm up. Therefore, latecomers that miss the warm up will be refused entry to the session.
Prosp User 13

Extra Support

Extra Support
If you have declared a learning difficulty, disability or support need whilst enrolling and you require support/assistance in class or to complete your course, please discuss your needs with your tutor at the first lesson.

If you intend to take an examination and feel you have an additional learning need or special requirements, you must declare them to your tutor within the first 2 weeks of your course.

If you are studying in an online group, then you can arrange a one-to-one online discussion with your tutor, after the session, or by email.

Where we aim to make reasonable adjustments to support our learners, please note we are unable to provide any type of in class or in person support if your course takes place online.
Prosp User 14