Hunan Cross Cultural Education

For the next two weeks, everyone should be working with their groups on the Mid-Term Group Project.  Each group received a copy of the Group Project Guidelines along with your list of cultural stereotypes.  Please pay close attention to these guidelines as you prepare your written and oral reports!  Following directions is the key to doing well on the project!

Here is a sample presentation from a previous class that you might find interesting;

If you’d like to see some similar presentations from previous years, check out the videos HERE.  (Some of these are examples of GOOD presentations, some are examples of POOR presentations – you can watch and decide which is which!)

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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)“

This week’s lesson covered units 9 & 10  from the textbook which covers British Media (unit 9) and British Sports, Holidays & Festivals (unit 10).  In this unit we discussed the traditional media (TV, Radio, & Newspapers) and how radically things have changed in this area since your textbook was written.  (Your textbook doesn’t even mention the internet!)  We discussed the over-all effect the internet is having on society and we discussed the trends that can be seen in the traditional media and what that might look like 10 or 20 years into the future.

We also discussed sports, holidays and festivals in the UK.  We pointed out that the UK is rather diverse, so there are also a diverse set of sports, holidays and festivals enjoyed by UK citizens.  However, there are still some predominant sports and holidays enjoyed by the average British person.

If you would like to have the PPT slides from this week’s class, click HERE to view or download them.

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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)“

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.

If you would like to have the PPT slides from this week’s class, click HERE to view or download them.

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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)“

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.

If you would like to have the PPT slides from this week’s class, click HERE to view or download them.

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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)“

This week’s lesson covered unit 5  from the textbook which covers the United Kingdom’s 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.

If you would like to have the PPT slides from this week’s class, click HERE to view or download them.

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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)“

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.

We discussed how statistics can often times be misleading when used to describe economic matters, especially when used by people who are biased or who have an agenda.  Therefore, having perspective on the topic is always a good idea when discussing economics.

If the reading quizzes still seem impossible to you, then maybe you need to evaluate how much effort you are putting into your reading and preparation every week.  Talk to me if you feel like you need advice!

If you would like to have the PPT slides from this week’s class, click HERE to view or download them.

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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)”

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Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

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.

The key to success in this class is YOU and the amount of effort you put into preparing for class (by carefully reading your assigned units) and your effort to listen and understand the class lectures.  Another important factor is to ask questions when there is something you don’t understand.  Please don’t hesitate to ask questions at appropriate times during class!

If you would like to have the PPT slides from this week’s class, click HERE to view or download them.

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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)“