English through Movies

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English through Movies

• Liu Rui
• E-mail minors_at_mail.xjtu.edu.cn
• Tel [phone]
• ftp 202.200.225.207
• BBS http//202.200.225.207/bbs/Default.asp

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INTRODUCTION

• Course description
• Course aims
• Organization
• Contents
• Assessment
• Resources
• Requirements

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Course Description

• Course Aims
• Organization
• Contents
• Assessment

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Course Aims

• Listening and speaking
• e.g. understanding themes important details,
  giving presentation, discussion
• Understanding culture
• e.g. US postwar history, geography, historic
  events, figures, current affairs (e.g. AIDS and
  discrimination, womens liberation and family,
  law and justice,etc.
• Doing research
• e.g. information locating, problem solving,
  citation, paper writing, etc.
• Critical thinking

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Critical thinking

• thinking about how you think
• the process of asking and answering questions and
  trying to understand the process and reasons why
  you came to the conclusion that you did
• to develop a thought process to come up with
  answers
• some skills needed to become better critical
  thinkers
• Comparing the view points of other people to your
  own way of thinking (your perspective).
• Finding ways to ask questions that apply to many
  perspectives.
• Being able to understand why some statements are
  more correct than others while still
  understanding the uncertainty of knowledge.
• Researching through critical reading and
  evaluation.
• Understanding problem solving through
  establishing criteria.
• Being about to present arguments in a
  constructive way.
• Gary Rybold Debate for English Language
  Learners, 2004

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Organization

• Pre-watch preparation
• Key words, presentation
• While-watch understanding
• Re-watch after class, language problems, culture
  issue
• After-watch discussion
• Group/pair discussion, debate, BBS discussion,
  etc.

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Performance Objectives

• Get information from a variety of sources.
• Take readings into consideration.
• Listen for the gist, draw conclusions based on
  evidence.
• Infer hidden meanings when listening and
  watching, understand issues behind facts.
• Take an active and responsible part in
  discussions.
• Organize your own ideas, illustrate them, and get
  them across.
• Build on what others have said, critically
  evaluate all positions.

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ContentsSemester 1

• Kramer vs Kramer (NYC, court terms, some
  holidays, womans lib)
• Back Home (BE vs AE, Arthurian legend, Britain
  in WWII)
• Dead Poets Society (Romanticism, Walt Whitman,
  lines, poetry, Thoreau Walden, Emerson, the
  50s, Rockn Roll)
• Apollo 13 (Space exploration, mission to the
  moon, terms of astronomy, superstitions, the
  moon hoax)
• The Untouchables (the Prohibition, US in 20s-30s,
  Chicago, Al Capone, Eliot Ness)
  
• Optional
• Mr. Hollands Opus (60s-80s in US, the Beatles,
  teaching method)
• Forest Gump (US history after WWII, KKK, the
  King, George Wallace, Presidents, Vietnam war,
  Hippies, assassination of JFK Robert K,
  southern accent, etc.)

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Semester 2

• Super Size Me (Research, fast food health,
  medical terms)
• Malcolm X (Civil Rights Movement, Black
  activism, racism, 60s in U.S.)
• 12 angry men (Argumentation)
• The Color Purple (Status of black women, black
  English,black-white relations)
• JFK (JFK presidency, US in 60s, Cuban missile
  crisis, Bay of Pigs invasion, JFK Day of
  Drums)
• Optional
• On Golden Pond (Aging, generation gap)
• Philadelphia (Equality, discrimination, social
  tolerance, AIDS, city of Philadelphia)
• And the Band Played on (AIDS, science social
  problems, San Francisco)
• In the Name of the Father (Ireland)
• The Joy Luck Club (Culture conflict, change of
  womens status)
• My Fair Lady (Phonetics, accents, social
  hierarchy)

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Other possible choices/movies(documentaries) with
related themes

• Mrs. Doubtfire (divorce, family problems cf.
  Kramer vs. Kramer)
• I am Sam (child custody, parenthood)
• First Knight (Arthurian Legend, related to Back
  Home)
• Hope and Glory (WWII from childrens view cf.
  Back Home, Empire of the Sun)
• Did We Land on the Moon (moon hoax)
• John F. Kennedy Years of Lightning, Day of Drums
  (JFK presidency)
• Rashomon (interpretation of facts/truth)
• Bram Stokers Dracula (Bram Stoker, Dracula, cf.
  Interview with the Vampire)
• A Time to Kill (Black and white conflict,
  justice, law)

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Assessment

• Continuous assessment final assessment (group
  work)
• Listening speaking
• Final 40 (written exam 20 group discussion
  20)
• Term paper(self evaluation) 10
• Participation Performance (assignments,
  presentation, quizzes) 40
• Attendance 10

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Note (papers, make-up exams, incompletes,
plagiarism)

• Papers type-written, single-spaced, margins, no
  fancy folders
• Make-up exams, paper extensions - verifiable
  medical or family emergencies.
• missed exams - fail
• later papers - penalized 1/3 of a letter
  grade
• No allowances will be made for last minute
  problems with typists, computers, or printers.
• Citations
• Form and Style Research Papers, Reports, Theses
  (10th ed) by Slade, C
• Cheating FAIL !
• downloading papers
• purchasing papers/paying someone to write or
  rewrite drafts
• If you are having problems in the course please
  come and talk to the teacher about it before
  doing something that will put your entire college
  career in jeopardy.

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Resources

• Books ( texts)
• The Internet
• Useful sites (texts)
• ftp 202.200.225.207
• ??VOD (e.g. Friends), etc.
• Teachers
• Friends

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Books (/texts)

• Required texts (/books )
• Shelley, Mary Frankenstein
• Thoreau, H. D. Walden
• Walker, Alice The Color Purple (during winter
  vacation)
• Haley, Alex The Autobiography of Malcolm X as
  Told to Alex Haley (during winter vacation)
• Stoker, Bram Dracula (during winter vacation)
• http//www.pinkmonkey.com/dl/all.asp
• Other required readings are available on the web
  or will be distributed to you.
• Text books reference books
• ?????????(English Through Films)(??)
• ????????????,?????????1992.4
• ?????????(English Through Movies)(????),???????
  ???, 2000.8

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Other useful reference books

• Lucas, Stephen The Art of Public Speaking,
  FLTRP, 2005
• Coontz, StephanieThe Way We Really Are Coming
  to Terms With America's Changing Families, Basic
  Books, 1998, ISBN 0465090923
• Frum, David How We Got Here The 70s The
  Decade That Brought You Modern LifeFor Better or
  Worse, Basic Books, 2000, ISBN 0465041965
• Krutch, J. W.,e.d. Walden and Other Writings by
  Henry David Thoreau, Bantam Books, 1981, ISBN
  0-553-21246-X
• Lovell, J. Kluger, J. Apollo 13, Pocket Books,
  1995, ISBN 0-671-53464-5
• Rose, G. The Color Purple (Cliffs Notes), Cliffs
  Notes, Reissue edition (May 15, 1986) ISBN
  0822003082
• Haley, Alex The Autobiography of Malcolm X as
  Told to Alex Haley, Ballantine Books, 1999,ISBN
  0-345-35068-5
• Shelley, M. Frankenstein or, the Modern
  Prometheus, Penguin books, 1994, ISBN
  0-14-062030-3
• Shilts, R. And the Band Played On Politics,
  People, and the AIDS Epidemic, St. Martin's
  Press, 2000, ISBN 0312241356

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The Internet

• Useful references/sites
• http//www.movie-page.com/movie_scripts.htm
• http//www.allmoviescripts.com/
• http//www.script-o-rama.com/table.shtml (movie
  scripts)
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
• http//www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk
• http//www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/notes1.asp
  (US history, US government, literature notes)
• http//www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html
  (Internet modern history sourcebook)
• http//www.emporis.com/en/ (pictures info of
  cities buildings)
• http//eslcafe.com/search/Vocabulary/
• ?????????? Gale Net(??Gale?????)?Gale
  Databases?Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center
• ??????????OCLC FirstSearch / Netlibrary

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From NetLibrary

• Mining the Internet Information Gathering
  Research On the Net (eBook) by Clegg,
  Brian.Publication London Sterling, Va. Kogan
  Page, 1999.
• Relevance in Argumentation (eBook) by Walton,
  Douglas N.Publication Mahwah, N.J. Lawrence
  Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2004.
• The Reader's Companion to American History
  (eBook) by Foner, Eric. Garraty, John Arthur
• Student Companion to Ernest Hemingway (eBook)
  Student Companions to Classic Writers,
  1522-7979by Tyler, Lisa.Publication Westport,
  Conn. Praeger, 2001.
• The Columbia Guide to Standard American English
  (eBook) by Wilson, Kenneth G.Publication New
  York, N.Y. Columbia University Press, 1993.

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• An Introduction to Literary Studies (eBook) by
  Klarer, Mario.Publication London, New York
  Taylor Francis, 2004.
• The Chronology of American Literature America's
  Literary Achievements From the Colonial Era to
  Modern Times (eBook) by Burt, Daniel
  S.Publication Boston Houghton-Mifflin Trade and
  Reference, 2004.
• Literary Theory A Very Short Introduction
  (eBook) Very Short Introductionsby Culler,
  Jonathan D.Publication New York Oxford
  University Press (UK), 1997.
• The Singularity of Literature (eBook) by
  Attridge, Derek.Publication London, New York
  Taylor Francis, 2004.
• The Greatest English Classic A Study of the
  King James Version of the Bible and Its Influence
  On Life Literature (eBook) by McAfee, Cleland
  Boyd.Publication Charlottesville, Virginia
  University of Virginia Library,, 1998.
• A Companion to the Study of History (eBook) by
  Stanford, Michael.Publication Oxford, UK
  Malden, Mass., USA Blackwell Publishers, 1994.
• Noam Chomsky A Life of Dissent (eBook) by
  Barsky, Robert F.Publication Cambridge, Mass.
  MIT Press, 1998.

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• ????http//edu1.macrochina.com.cn
• ???xju ??xju
• ?????(1999?????????????????????????????????????,
  ??????????????????????????????????????????????????
  ????????????????)
• ???? http//edu.qikan.com/xjtu

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• http//www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/usaquiz.htm
  l (US map)
• http//www.aviewoncities.com/_cityindex.htm
  (cities in US)
• http//www.ipl.org (The Internet Public Library)
• http//www.netstate.com/
• http//www.usflag.org/toc.html
• http//encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Fifty20
  tallest20buildings20in20the20USA (50 tallest
  building in US, cities,etc.)
• http//www.webster-dictionary.org (online
  dictionary)

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• www.hotbot.com
• www.vlib.org/overview.html
• www.britannica.com
• www.northernlight.com
• www.alltheweb.com
• www.savvysearch.com
• www.highway61.com
• www.dogpile.com
• www.lycos.com
• www.magellan.com
• www.he.net/kamus/useen.htm
• www.infoseek.com
• www.webcrawler.com

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Friends

• Study groups
• BBS http//202.200.225.207/bbs/Default.asp

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Requirements

• Attitude
• Notebook pen

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Factors that contribute to success
Love Fortune Relation ATTITUDE
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Summary

• Course description
• Course aims
• Organization
• Contents
• Assessment
• Resources
• Requirements

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Kramer vs. Kramer

• Pre-watch Qs
• 1. What does vs mean?
• Why Kramer vs. Kramer?
• What do you know about New York City?
• What comes to your mind speaking of NYC?
• Does it have any nicknames? What are their
  origins?
• What are the attractions? What do you know about
  them?
• How many boroughs is it consisted of? What are
  they?

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Do you know anything about the following? What
comes to your mind speaking of them?
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• Central Park
• UN building
• Fifth Avenue
• Times Square
• The Rockefeller Center

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Assignment

• Read the scripts of the movie
• Make a list of words, phrases and sentences
  related to law
• Take notes of the difficult points
• http//www.scu.edu.tw/language/3self-access/dl_mo
  vie/MVH_Kramer20vs_20Kramer.pdf (for language
  points)
• Find as much information as you can about NYC
  (ref The Architecture of New York City
  Histories and Views of Important Structures,
  Sites, and Symbols From NetLibrary )
• ftp 202.200.225.207

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• Monitor (contact)
• Technical support