Friday Basic English

Class Syllabus:

Here is the link to our wiki space (8am class):


Week 1: Course Intro; Mormon listening quiz
Homework: Read John Wood article

Week 2: Quiz on John Wood. Class Topic:
Philanthropy.
Homework: read about Chinese food in
America

Week 3: Quiz on Chinese food in America. Class
topic: McDonald's: how bad it is

Week 4: "Progress" and the Environment. Class activity: form groups, create a definition of "progress" and answer the question regarding whether Man is going to destroy the Earth and himself, or if he will use his intelligence to solve the MANY serious problems we have today.

Week 5: Film -An Inconvenient Truth by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.

Week 6: Quiz on An Inconvenient Truth. Class topic: discussion of film
Homework: read article on diseased coral on Taiwan's Green Island.

Week 7: Watch YouTube video about "Gross National Happiness" in the Kingdom of Bhutan.

Week 8: Review of course material to date

Week 9: Mid-term exam.

*we will actually be at Week 10 by this time

American Culture: Syllabus

If anyone wants to see baby photos, they are here



WEEK 3: Music presentations. Homework: read article on American-Chinese food -Quiz on this article

Week 4: Food: Chinese-American food quiz. Homework: watch this video about McDonald's French Fries.
read about McDonald's

Week 5: In-depth look at McDonald's and industrial meat production

Week 6: Taiwan & America. American beef. (April 1st)

Week 7: Film: Traffic (April 8th)

Week 8: Test on Traffic (April 15th)

Week 9: Review of course content to date in preparation for Midterm Exam.

Week 10: Midterm Exam

Week 13: Introduce Final Exam project. Next topic: East Coast-West Coast hip-hip rivalry. We will return to 'music' for a couple of weeks to examine the differences in hip-hop style between the East and West coasts of America; New York City vs. Los Angeles, and the violent 'rap wars' that broke out between the two regions.


If anyone has any questions, please feel free to email me at: greg.mccann1@gmail.com

Here are the test questions for Traffic:

1. Why do you think Javier Rodgriguez Rodriguez decided to work with the American FBI (DEA)?
2. Can the War on Drugs ever be won? Explain.3. Who is Frankie Flowers?4. Why does the film end with a baseball game?5. How are the 4 main character groups (1. the people in Mexico, 2. the scenes with US government officials, 3. the teenagers, 4. the DEA\FBI people?6. In the 2nd to last scene, Monty -the black guy, played by Don Cheadle- walks into Carl's home (the big drug dealer in America who is released free by the court) and starts a fight and plants a 'bug' (secret microphone chip) under their table. Why do you think the director wanted to show us that? What does it mean?7. How about the toy caste made of cocaine? How realistic is this? Do you think drug smugglers (traffickers) really use methods like this?8. Who are the 2 big drug cartels (organizations)? and what is their relationship?9. Why did Javier Rodriguez Rodriguez let Frankie Flowers go free from the car in the 1st half of the film?10. In what ways is the US drug czar (played by Michael Douglas) situation ironic?11. Are you surprised that rich American white kids take such terrible drugs? Why or why not?12. How do you feel about the scenes shot in Mexico? How about the sepia film tone? The Spanish language? The actors?13. Overall, how would you rate this film and why do you give it that rating?It may help to go take a look at Wikipedia's page on Traffic..