I've sent some courtesy notes to students whom I believe would benefit from the amnesty oral exam. I didn't send these notes to everyone who needs them: some of you should know that you should take it.
I am getting a lot of late papers that do not fulfill the length requirement. It's been long established that papers should be 2-3 pages long total (all three parts). If you turn in all of Paper 5, for example, and it is only 1.5 pages long, I will give you two scores based on the quality of your writing. The third score will be "Zero". Make sure to correct the error this week if you turned in a paper that isn't long enough.
There are more posts in the website addendum (see link below). You can read these posts for reading practice or to prepare for the Final Exam Extra Credit questions.
Sean
Friday, June 13, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
This Week
Class:
If you have not taken the 3rd oral exam, you should make sure to do so this week. You can take the exam during one of the class breaks, or you can take it in my office. You have to have a good reason to take the oral exam during the final exam week--a car accident, for example. Don't flake on this exam. (If you were in an accident, make sure to contact me. Also, if you say that someone will come to class on your behalf, and that person doesn't come to class, I have to punish both of you.)
You can retake the 3rd oral exam if you think you can do better than you did last week. Again, take time during a break or an office hour. I will have to talk to people who have not taken the test yet first, of course.
Next week we will review for the final and watch several episodes of The Simpsons. I will also announce in class the names of students who need to speak with me.
I will talk to students who have missed a lot or class or students who have had other problems. If I do need to talk to you, make sure that you come to class this week; otherwise you miss your chance to mitigate circumstances that might reduce your participation grade.
If there is something that I need to know in order to grade you fairly, make sure that I know about it (e.g. you missed a lot of class because of a serious illness, etc.).
Remember that I am offering an Amnesty conversation to ease your participation grade; some of you really should take advantage of it. If you've missed class, if you haven't worked hard during the oral/aural training, if you have misbehaved in class and made it harder for me to teach, you should consider the Amnesty conversation for the sake of your grade.
This week you should turn in your Oral Exam paper that describes other students' ideas about the movie. At the Final Exam, you can turn in a rewrite of one section of Paper 6; if you want to rewrite all of Paper 6, you need to talk to me first.
Let me add that you all are doing a good job of improving your vocabulary. I've heard many of you say and seen many of you write some of the words you learned from The Simpsons, and I think half of you used the word "inveterate" in the last paper, which I believe I used in the paper prompt. Great work.
Best of luck on all of your other final exams.
Sean
If you have not taken the 3rd oral exam, you should make sure to do so this week. You can take the exam during one of the class breaks, or you can take it in my office. You have to have a good reason to take the oral exam during the final exam week--a car accident, for example. Don't flake on this exam. (If you were in an accident, make sure to contact me. Also, if you say that someone will come to class on your behalf, and that person doesn't come to class, I have to punish both of you.)
You can retake the 3rd oral exam if you think you can do better than you did last week. Again, take time during a break or an office hour. I will have to talk to people who have not taken the test yet first, of course.
Next week we will review for the final and watch several episodes of The Simpsons. I will also announce in class the names of students who need to speak with me.
I will talk to students who have missed a lot or class or students who have had other problems. If I do need to talk to you, make sure that you come to class this week; otherwise you miss your chance to mitigate circumstances that might reduce your participation grade.
If there is something that I need to know in order to grade you fairly, make sure that I know about it (e.g. you missed a lot of class because of a serious illness, etc.).
Remember that I am offering an Amnesty conversation to ease your participation grade; some of you really should take advantage of it. If you've missed class, if you haven't worked hard during the oral/aural training, if you have misbehaved in class and made it harder for me to teach, you should consider the Amnesty conversation for the sake of your grade.
This week you should turn in your Oral Exam paper that describes other students' ideas about the movie. At the Final Exam, you can turn in a rewrite of one section of Paper 6; if you want to rewrite all of Paper 6, you need to talk to me first.
Let me add that you all are doing a good job of improving your vocabulary. I've heard many of you say and seen many of you write some of the words you learned from The Simpsons, and I think half of you used the word "inveterate" in the last paper, which I believe I used in the paper prompt. Great work.
Best of luck on all of your other final exams.
Sean
Music Paper Example
--Here's the beginning of a paper about a song with lyrics. I don't expect your in-class essay to be this long or polished, but you can get some examples of how to talk about lyrics and explain them. This is also good reading comprehension practice.
Black Star's "Astronomy"
I think rap music is interesting because it takes popular culture references and turns them into poetry and figurative language. It's fun to figure out the references to movies and songs and people in rap songs, and the ideas in rap music can be very interesting and moving.
One song I enjoy is the rap group Black Star's record "Astronomy (8th Light)". The first interesting aspect is the group's name. "Black Star" refers to the rappers themselves: they are two black men (Mos Def and Talib Kweli) who are famous. "Black Star" also refers to a famous ship: in the early 20th century, an African-American man named Marcus Garvey argued that African-Americans should return to Africa because America would not give them the freedom they deserve. So the name "Black Star" also refers to African-American history. Also, the "Black Star" is a celestial event, so the band is also connected to space and the univserse. The multiple meanings of the names show how complex rap music lyrics and names can be.
The song is built around references to American cultural uses of the word "black." One common perspective is that the term "black" is usually negative, and this negativity reflects negative attitudes toward African-American, or "black," people. For example, Mos Def says, "Black like my baby girl's [girlfriend's] stare": a "black stare" is an angry look, so "black" is a negative word in this case. Other uses of "black" are positive, positive uses that reflect support for the black community specifically and peaceful coexistance generally. For example, Talib Kweli raps, "Black is the color of my true love's hair," a reference to a famous song by black singer Nina Simone. In this case black is something beautiful about the person whom you love.
Talib Kweli has a verse that looks at perceptions of African-Americans in American culture. He raps, "Deep on the front lines, and blacks is all there. / Black like the perception of who, on welfare / Black like faces at the bottom of the wellI've been there before / To bring the light and heat it up like 'la cocina' / Make without imagine happen but maybe i'm just a dreamer / I love rockin tracks like John Coltrane love Naema." The first line references how black people (and other minorities) are the ones most commonly on the "front lines," or the most dangerous places, in a war. This is literally true (most foot soldiers in the U.S. military are ethic minorities) and also reflects the idea that black people are on the "front lines" of the "war" of life. The second line refers to the prejudicial perception that most welfare (Governmental monetary support for the poor) recepients are black people. Statistics show that the typical welfare recipient is a white woman who has been abandoned by her husband, but the prejudice that most welfare recipients are black is often thought to be used as a way to think that black people behave badly. Next, he reflects on his wish to make relieve people "at the bottom of the well" (those destitute and in trouble) through his music and his love. He worries that he is "just a dreamer" and can't help anyone, but he knows that he is committed to art because he "loves [rap music] like John Coltrane loves Naema," a reference to a famous jazz musician and one of his songs.
Links:
song: http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=4-hVkorqicw
lyrics: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/black+star/astronomy_10040228.html
Black Star's "Astronomy"
I think rap music is interesting because it takes popular culture references and turns them into poetry and figurative language. It's fun to figure out the references to movies and songs and people in rap songs, and the ideas in rap music can be very interesting and moving.
One song I enjoy is the rap group Black Star's record "Astronomy (8th Light)". The first interesting aspect is the group's name. "Black Star" refers to the rappers themselves: they are two black men (Mos Def and Talib Kweli) who are famous. "Black Star" also refers to a famous ship: in the early 20th century, an African-American man named Marcus Garvey argued that African-Americans should return to Africa because America would not give them the freedom they deserve. So the name "Black Star" also refers to African-American history. Also, the "Black Star" is a celestial event, so the band is also connected to space and the univserse. The multiple meanings of the names show how complex rap music lyrics and names can be.
The song is built around references to American cultural uses of the word "black." One common perspective is that the term "black" is usually negative, and this negativity reflects negative attitudes toward African-American, or "black," people. For example, Mos Def says, "Black like my baby girl's [girlfriend's] stare": a "black stare" is an angry look, so "black" is a negative word in this case. Other uses of "black" are positive, positive uses that reflect support for the black community specifically and peaceful coexistance generally. For example, Talib Kweli raps, "Black is the color of my true love's hair," a reference to a famous song by black singer Nina Simone. In this case black is something beautiful about the person whom you love.
Talib Kweli has a verse that looks at perceptions of African-Americans in American culture. He raps, "Deep on the front lines, and blacks is all there. / Black like the perception of who, on welfare / Black like faces at the bottom of the wellI've been there before / To bring the light and heat it up like 'la cocina' / Make without imagine happen but maybe i'm just a dreamer / I love rockin tracks like John Coltrane love Naema." The first line references how black people (and other minorities) are the ones most commonly on the "front lines," or the most dangerous places, in a war. This is literally true (most foot soldiers in the U.S. military are ethic minorities) and also reflects the idea that black people are on the "front lines" of the "war" of life. The second line refers to the prejudicial perception that most welfare (Governmental monetary support for the poor) recepients are black people. Statistics show that the typical welfare recipient is a white woman who has been abandoned by her husband, but the prejudice that most welfare recipients are black is often thought to be used as a way to think that black people behave badly. Next, he reflects on his wish to make relieve people "at the bottom of the well" (those destitute and in trouble) through his music and his love. He worries that he is "just a dreamer" and can't help anyone, but he knows that he is committed to art because he "loves [rap music] like John Coltrane loves Naema," a reference to a famous jazz musician and one of his songs.
Links:
song: http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=4-hVkorqicw
lyrics: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/black+star/astronomy_10040228.html
Friday, June 6, 2008
Final Exam Requirement
You must write questions correctly. No longer is there an excuse to leave out a "do" or "does" or forget to rearrange words for a question. You all use English well enough that this mistake will confuse people with whom you are talking.
"Why is the sky blue?" --If you write, "Why the sky blue?" <--Fail
"How does Homer keep his job at the Nuclear Power Plant?" --If you write, "How Homer keeps his job at the Nuclear Power Plant?" <--Fail
Etc.
(I won't really fail you, but I have talked about this problem a lot and I still see the mistakes with each assignment. Make it a priority to check for the problem.)
"Why is the sky blue?" --If you write, "Why the sky blue?" <--Fail
"How does Homer keep his job at the Nuclear Power Plant?" --If you write, "How Homer keeps his job at the Nuclear Power Plant?" <--Fail
Etc.
(I won't really fail you, but I have talked about this problem a lot and I still see the mistakes with each assignment. Make it a priority to check for the problem.)
New Posts on Both Blogs
I will include some new posts on both this blog and its addendum. http://ntuenglishnonmajors2.blogspot.com/
These posts can be used for reading practice. I'll write some personal narratives so students can practice understanding unusual diction and written humor. (Maybe my sense of humor is better written down; sometimes if you don't understand my jokes when I say them out loud, it might sound like I am being mean for no reason. Actually I'm being mean for a specific reason: to be funny.)
I will also write some posts about some of the material we have covered in class, so it might provide some useful review for the final exam or just for some general English practice.
S.
These posts can be used for reading practice. I'll write some personal narratives so students can practice understanding unusual diction and written humor. (Maybe my sense of humor is better written down; sometimes if you don't understand my jokes when I say them out loud, it might sound like I am being mean for no reason. Actually I'm being mean for a specific reason: to be funny.)
I will also write some posts about some of the material we have covered in class, so it might provide some useful review for the final exam or just for some general English practice.
S.
Affects
The American scholar Silvan Tomkins is regarded as one of the great writers on affect. He approached the subject through cybernetics and systems theory. He thought the following were the human affects:
Interest-Excitement
Enjoyment-Joy
Surprise-Startle
Distress-Anguish
Shame-Humiliation
Contempt-Disgust
Anger
Fear-Terror
Some quotes from "What Are Affects?" in the book Shame and Its Sisters.
"All animals 'want' but only man concerns himself with the nature of his own wants. He wants to know what he is really concerned about, why he is concerned, and even what should concern him" (33).
"Man is neither as free as he feels nor as bound as he fears" (33). (In other words, we only have some much control over our emotional responses, but neither are we computers that cannot change or manage our feelings.)
--I found the topic interesting here because I think people are more attuned to their affective responses in Taiwan than they are in America. People (particularly young people) act out their feelings in Taiwan, whereas Americans hide how they feel. Perhaps some of that comes from the "stiff upper lip" tradition of the West (a British tradition of heroism whereby a man does not draw attention to the pain of his experience--e.g. "Oh dear. It appears my arm has been chopped off" as opposed to "Ahhhh! My arm!!!")
Interest-Excitement
Enjoyment-Joy
Surprise-Startle
Distress-Anguish
Shame-Humiliation
Contempt-Disgust
Anger
Fear-Terror
Some quotes from "What Are Affects?" in the book Shame and Its Sisters.
"All animals 'want' but only man concerns himself with the nature of his own wants. He wants to know what he is really concerned about, why he is concerned, and even what should concern him" (33).
"Man is neither as free as he feels nor as bound as he fears" (33). (In other words, we only have some much control over our emotional responses, but neither are we computers that cannot change or manage our feelings.)
--I found the topic interesting here because I think people are more attuned to their affective responses in Taiwan than they are in America. People (particularly young people) act out their feelings in Taiwan, whereas Americans hide how they feel. Perhaps some of that comes from the "stiff upper lip" tradition of the West (a British tradition of heroism whereby a man does not draw attention to the pain of his experience--e.g. "Oh dear. It appears my arm has been chopped off" as opposed to "Ahhhh! My arm!!!")
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Final Exam Format: In-Class Essays
The Final Exam format will include two essays to be written in class. You can use your dictionary, and you can bring a vocabulary list (for words we've learned in class that you want to try to use in the final exam) and a set of notes. (Your notes should fit on one side of one page of notebook paper. Do not write part of your essay as your notes.) The essay has to be written in class, though.
--You should plan to write for an hour for each essay, but you have all three hours to complete the exam. There will be an extra credit in-class essay for those who have the time and inclination to write one.
Here is the first exam prompt: Music
Earlier, you were asked to describe a piece of music or a type of music that you enjoy as part of your oral exam. Now, you will write about a piece of music or type of music that you enjoy. Preferably, you should write about music with lyrics, but if you prefer classical music or do not care at all about lyrics, you can write just about the music.
Your paper should concentrate on the power of the lyrics: why are the song lyrics good? What metaphors and images do they use? You will need to talk about the lyrics in English, but the song does not have to be in English. You may translate the song at home and bring a translation of the song lyrics to the final exam.
If you don't want to write about lyrics, your paper should follow a similar format as the second oral exam: describe what the music sounds like, and describe what effect the music has on you and how it creates that effect.
Second Paper Exam Prompt: Media
Choose one of the following prompts
1. Although The Simpsons is a cartoon, it is surprisingly vulgar. A lot of the jokes on the TV show are about taboo issues such as sex, death, drug use, etc. Does the type of humor used in The Simpsons reflect a fundamental difference between American and Taiwanese cultures? Can Taiwanese television and cinema use similar types of humor? If American and Taiwanese culture are very different, how are you able to understand the jokes on The Simpsons and enjoy them?
To write this paper, describe some of your favorite jokes or events from the Simpsons episodes that we watched this semester. Describe an episode that you thought was funny, or describe a set of jokes over several episodes that you thought were funny.
After these descriptions, answer some more abstract, difficult questions: Why did you enjoy these things? What about the show reflected some truths about American culture or the differences between Taiwanese and American culture?
--Try your best to answer all of these questions. Your score depends on how clearly you write, how well you describe the aspects of The Simpsons that you enjoyed, and how well you answer the more abstract questions. You can still get a very good score if you are able to describe what you liked but don't have the time or language skills to answer the more abstract questions.
2. Yi Yi
Write a clearly structured (Intro, Body, Conclusion) brief essay about the film Yi Yi. You can follow any of the questions that I asked in the course handout, you can continue with some of the thoughts that you had at the third oral exam, or you can discuss something new. You may talk about the film, or you might compare the film to another Taiwanese film or book or television show that addresses similar issues (family, maturity, regret, death, etc.). Decide what you will write about before class, bring an outline of the essay to the final, and write the essay.
--Your score depends on how clearly you write and how thoroughly you describe your ideas and observations about the movie.
Conclusion
Over the next week, I will post some Simpsons vocabulary and some short paragraphs and essays on the course website. The paragraphs and essays can be used for reading practice or to give you some ideas about what to write at the final exam; you are free to ignore these if you want.
--You should plan to write for an hour for each essay, but you have all three hours to complete the exam. There will be an extra credit in-class essay for those who have the time and inclination to write one.
Here is the first exam prompt: Music
Earlier, you were asked to describe a piece of music or a type of music that you enjoy as part of your oral exam. Now, you will write about a piece of music or type of music that you enjoy. Preferably, you should write about music with lyrics, but if you prefer classical music or do not care at all about lyrics, you can write just about the music.
Your paper should concentrate on the power of the lyrics: why are the song lyrics good? What metaphors and images do they use? You will need to talk about the lyrics in English, but the song does not have to be in English. You may translate the song at home and bring a translation of the song lyrics to the final exam.
If you don't want to write about lyrics, your paper should follow a similar format as the second oral exam: describe what the music sounds like, and describe what effect the music has on you and how it creates that effect.
Second Paper Exam Prompt: Media
Choose one of the following prompts
1. Although The Simpsons is a cartoon, it is surprisingly vulgar. A lot of the jokes on the TV show are about taboo issues such as sex, death, drug use, etc. Does the type of humor used in The Simpsons reflect a fundamental difference between American and Taiwanese cultures? Can Taiwanese television and cinema use similar types of humor? If American and Taiwanese culture are very different, how are you able to understand the jokes on The Simpsons and enjoy them?
To write this paper, describe some of your favorite jokes or events from the Simpsons episodes that we watched this semester. Describe an episode that you thought was funny, or describe a set of jokes over several episodes that you thought were funny.
After these descriptions, answer some more abstract, difficult questions: Why did you enjoy these things? What about the show reflected some truths about American culture or the differences between Taiwanese and American culture?
--Try your best to answer all of these questions. Your score depends on how clearly you write, how well you describe the aspects of The Simpsons that you enjoyed, and how well you answer the more abstract questions. You can still get a very good score if you are able to describe what you liked but don't have the time or language skills to answer the more abstract questions.
2. Yi Yi
Write a clearly structured (Intro, Body, Conclusion) brief essay about the film Yi Yi. You can follow any of the questions that I asked in the course handout, you can continue with some of the thoughts that you had at the third oral exam, or you can discuss something new. You may talk about the film, or you might compare the film to another Taiwanese film or book or television show that addresses similar issues (family, maturity, regret, death, etc.). Decide what you will write about before class, bring an outline of the essay to the final, and write the essay.
--Your score depends on how clearly you write and how thoroughly you describe your ideas and observations about the movie.
Conclusion
Over the next week, I will post some Simpsons vocabulary and some short paragraphs and essays on the course website. The paragraphs and essays can be used for reading practice or to give you some ideas about what to write at the final exam; you are free to ignore these if you want.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Sorry, and Final Exam
Classes:
I was caught in the rainstorm on Friday. I had my backpack on. In the backpack were the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday papers. They are a little wet. Sorry for the trouble.
I will announce the structure of the Final exam in the next few days on this site. I will also start a two week study guide to help you prepare (like I did for the midterm).
Sean
I was caught in the rainstorm on Friday. I had my backpack on. In the backpack were the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday papers. They are a little wet. Sorry for the trouble.
I will announce the structure of the Final exam in the next few days on this site. I will also start a two week study guide to help you prepare (like I did for the midterm).
Sean
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