Through
the Looking Glass of Internet and Animation . . .
Junior
Composition and
Conversation:
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Room SF 124
(H)25282570; (O)29031111-3676
Office Hours: Mon 10:00
- 12:00, Fri 10:00 - 12:00 & by
appointment
Narration
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Analysis
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Comparison
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Argumentation
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Animation for
Conversation Activities
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Welcome to the world of English through Internet and Animation!
Objectives:
There is no shortcut to our
improving our English; you just have to keep on practicing.
"But how do I make
you think and speak in English as much as possible? What stimuli
can I offer?"
This is a question I have asked myself for six years.
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This year I want to try something
new: something that can bring an English environment to you twenty-four
hours a day as long as you are there in front of -- a computer! Yes,
I want to navigate with you in the world of internet, show you a few pathways
and also enjoy with you the excitement of learning new knowledge on the
internet and meeting new friends through our cultural
connections project.
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If Internet (as well as your
Texan peer-tutor) is a lively stimulus that I would like to have you enjoy
in and work hard for at home, in class, I will offer another lively
stimulus: animation. Not Disney's animation, but those shorter (and
mostly Canadian) animations that are, for me, enjoyable artistically, intellectually,
as well as, hm, in a childish way.
Of course, I am not here just
to entertain you or stimulate you to speak and write in English; I will
train you to write in different modes (Narration, Text and Event Analysis
and Argumentation this semester) and speak more fluently first in private
and then gradually in more and more formal occasions. Critical and
Independent thinking is definitely invovled in every of our activities.
At the same time, however, one general goal is for us to be self- motivated,
but not alone, in writing and speaking. To make us work as a community,
we will have group work in class and free interaction via email and our
message board. In this sense, the class will involve both strict
discipline and friendly sharing of ideas and coorperation.
Requirements:
1. Attendance: Since
this is a workshop, attendance is essential. The final grade will be lowered
after the third absence, and six absences means failing the course. Three
lates means one absence.
2. Participation: Bring
an active and critical mind to class. Always be ready to speak out in class,
or to me out of class, about our topics and the class itself.
Deadlines: Deadlines
are negotiable. But once they are agreed on, you have to keep them. The
grade of the late papers will be lowered.
No plariarism of any sort!
--Don't copy ideas or passages from others' writing. If you want to revise
your old paper, please let me know first.
Assignments: 1. 4 papers
with several drafts for each, a research paper (first draft),
2. (As a substitute for journal requirement) cultural connections project
(See its requirements).
Grading policy: writing¡X5
of the highest grades of all the papers (including exams); each
20%
conversation¡Xcultural
connections 30%; group report 20%; individual presentation 30%; class participation
20%