Archive for the ‘England’ Category

Society & Culture Review – Fall ‘09

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

This week was the final week of class for those in my “The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ) “ class.

We covered units 18 & 19 which touched on Australian politics and the phenomenon known as “whistle-blowing”.  Then we did a quick review of the major topics covered this semester (units 1 – 17).

Week 16: Australia, Politics (Unit 18 – 19 + Review)

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This post is for my students at the Hunan Institute of Science & Technology ( 湖南理工学院 ) who are taking the course: “The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ) : An Introduction (Book One / Second Edition)

Week 7: British Foreign Relations

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

This post is for my students at the Hunan Institute of Science & Technology ( 湖南理工学院 ) who are taking the course: “The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ) : An Introduction (Book One / Second Edition)

This week’s lesson covered unit 8  from the textbook which covers British Foreign Relations.  In this unit we discussed the major bodies that affect British foreign policy (both domestic and international) and we covered the significant international events of the past 60 years or so that have shaped modern British foreign policy.

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If you would like to have the Presentation Notes from this week’s class, click on the link to view or download them.

Week 6: British Education System

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

This post is for my students at the Hunan Institute of Science & Technology ( 湖南理工学院 ) who are taking the course: “The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ) : An Introduction (Book One / Second Edition)

This week’s lesson covered unit 7  from the textbook which covers the British Education System.  In this unit we discussed some of the history and original motivations for the creation fo the modern education system in England.  We also noted differences in the usage of common terms between different Western country’s education systems.

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If you would like to have the Presentation Notes from this week’s class, click on the link to view or download them.

Week 5: UK Literature

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

This post is for my students at the Hunan Institute of Science & Technology ( 湖南理工学院 ) who are taking the course: “The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ) : An Introduction (Book One / Second Edition)

This week’s lesson covered unit 6  from the textbook which covers UK Literature.  In this unit we focused not on a long list of British authors and the books they wrote, rather, we focused on the general trends observed in British literature as well as the possible reasons driving those trends.

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If you would like to have the Presentation Notes from this week’s class, click on the link to view or download them.

Attention:  This is week there was a disturbing number of students who showed poor judgment and chose to behave unethically during the reading quiz.  Don’t waste your time or mine, have respect for yourself and your education and demonstrate that you are capable of success without resorting to cheating!

Week 4: UK Economy

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

This post is for my students at the Hunan Institute of Science & Technology ( 湖南理工学院 ) who are taking the course: “The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ) : An Introduction (Book One / Second Edition)

This week’s lesson covered unit 5  from the textbook which covers the United Kingdom’s Economy.  We spent some time defining some of the important terms needed in order to have an intelligent discussion about modern economies and then we took a look at the recent history of the UK economy.

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If you would like to have the Presentation Notes from this week’s class, click on the link to view or download them.


Week 3: UK Government, Politics, Class & Race

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

This post is for my students at the Hunan Institute of Science & Technology ( 湖南理工学院 ) who are taking the course: “The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ) : An Introduction (Book One / Second Edition)

This week’s lesson covered units 3 & 4  from the textbook which covers Government, Politics, Class & Race in the United Kingdom.  Like last week, we pretty much only covered the basics, we’ll go over some of the more fine details over the next few weeks as we take a deeper look at the UK.

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If you would like to have the Presentation Notes from this week’s class, click on the link to view or download them.

Attention:  This is week THREE and some of you have already missed class!  Please don’t let this become a habit, or your grade will be negatively impacted.  (If you do not attend class, it is impossible to pass, even with a perfect score on the final exam!)

Week 2: United Kingdom Introduction

Friday, September 18th, 2009

This post is for my students at the Hunan Institute of Science & Technology ( 湖南理工学院 ) who are taking the course: “The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ) : An Introduction (Book One / Second Edition)

This week’s lesson covered units 1 & 2  from the textbook which is an Introduction to the United Kingdom.  We covered just some of the basics, we’ll go over some of the more fine details over the next several weeks as we take a deeper look at the UK.

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If you would like to have the Presentation Notes from this week’s class, click on the link to view or download them.