Archive for the ‘West’ Category

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.

A New Semester, New Responsibilities

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009

So, it’s been quiet around here all summer, sorry about that!  It’s not because nothing was happening, in fact, the opposite is true!  We were VERY busy this summer with the end of the Spring ’09 semester and the arrival of 13 cultural exchange students from America!

Now the Fall ’09 Semester has begun and in addition to the class I taught all last year, The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ),I am now also working in the foreign exchange office of the Hunan Institute of Science and Technology ( 湖南理工学院 )!

I have some new and exciting responsibilities that are going to make this next semester a new challenge, but one that I’m really looking forward to!  I’ll be sure to post a story or two here about how things are going!

Week 15: Canada (Unit 15 – Intro to Canada)

Friday, May 29th, 2009

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 Two / Second Edition)

This week’s lesson covered unit 15  from the textbook which is an Introduction to Canada, the country and its people.  (Due to the Dragon Boat Festival, my Thursday classes will not get this lecture until next week!)

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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 14: USA (Unit 13 – Sports & Scenic Spots)

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

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 Two / Second Edition)

This week’s lesson covered unit 13  from the textbook which is about Sports and Scenic Spots in America.

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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 12: USA (Mid-Term Group Project)

Friday, May 8th, 2009

vimeo-logoThis week in my class, “The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries ( 英语国家社会与文化入门 ), we had our mid-term group project reports.  Each group came up with a list of stereotypes that Chinese often have about Americans or America in general.  From that list of stereotypes, I chose one and the group chose one and those two stereotypes became the basis for a research project.

The results of the research were put into a written report (500 words) and a 5 minute oral report to the class.

Everyone did a great job.  If you’d like to see the reports, I’m slowly getting them online here.  (They should all be up by next Thursday – that’s my goal anyway!)

Week 11: USA (Unit 12 – US Foreign Policy)

Friday, May 1st, 2009

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 Two / Second Edition)

This week’s lesson covered unit 12  from the textbook which is about US 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 10: USA (Unit 11 – Technology in America)

Friday, April 24th, 2009

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 Two / Second Edition)

This week’s lesson covered unit 11  from the textbook which is about Technology in America.  We attempted to define “technology” and then we discussed briefly the history of technology in America  from the 19th century until today.

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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.