Week 11

In this week we closed the topic of humor with an example of a classic American joke (who's on first?) and with some smaple clips from two very popular sitcoms that Katie brought to class.

Then we moved to speeches as another genre of oral texts. We discussed the different types and purposes of speeches and its main characteristics. Speeches are usually example of public speaking, they are planned and are related to the special social event in which they are produced. For example, a commencement address occurs in a graduation act at college; while a political speech might occur in the context of an election campaign. Some speeches have the aim of being inspirational, others are intended to thank people, but most have a persuasive purpose. Some may have more than one purpose.

In class we studied and discussed two speeches that are considered exemplary in English rhetoric: Steve Jobs’ commencement address at Stratford University and Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream speech”. Here’s the video of the “I have a dream” speech.

                              
Next week, we will took a more analitic view of speeches and close this topic. After that, we will start our next genre, movies.

See you next class.

Week 10

Another week gone by. This week we finished the activities and contents related to humor and stand up comedy. here's the last clip we watched in class about euphemisms:





On Wednesday and Friday we continued with your class presentations and finally on Friday we started a new topic on telephone fraud, which we will finish on Monday. On Monday, Katie will be back to visit our classroom and she will bring an activity to review and close the subject of American humor. 

On course management, here is the update of the entries recorded in the extensive listening form. With this list you can keep track of which and how many videos you have already done. I'd like to highlight that by this date you should have, on average, around 12 to 14 entries on record. This is not always the case. 

Finally, I have already updated the options for the speech assignment. You can check the updated guidelines here. 

Week 8 & 9

Week 8 we basically had the presentations from the first and second round of “The music of one generation”. I was very pleased to see the diversity of songs selected and the effort put by each presenter to do a great job.

Week 9 was a holiday, Easter, so we did not have class. This is a good time for some of you to catch up with the extensive listening activities. It is also a good time to remind you that along the semester you have to reflect on three of thesuggested topics, record and upload your reflection as a podcast and send it to me. Very few people have started this and from those who have already submitted a reflection, most have just done the first. We are in the middle of the semester. Don’t wait till the last weeks.

Week 7

This was a short week and so will be the next. We started working with the topic of humor, discussing the main characteristics of humor in the USA and the different genres that are available.  Our first activity, after reading an discussing the article from the group of readings, was watching and discussing Ellen Degeneres monologue on "let's be honest". Here it is for those who miss class or just those who would like to watch it again. 





This monologue is part f a variety show hosted by Ellen. During the show, there are different sections (varieties) such as a musical performance, interviews, brief sketches. The monologue itself shares many characteristics with stand-up comedy routines. Some people might object the term monologue because this genre is unlike the monologue in a theater play (which is longer, dramatic and scripted) while the former is more spontaneous and humorous.

Next week, the second round of presentations on the music of a generation. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and the holiday tomorrow.   

Week 6

 On Monday, we finished the topic of advertising by watching a campaign that supported the rights of the LGBT community. What was curious is that the campaign was launched by Burger King, a company whose ads had traditionally been linked to chauvinism and manliness. We discuss the impact and implications of such a campaign. Then Katie showed us some traditional stereotypes that ads usually exploited: how gender roles are identified and transmitted since childhood in toys ads; how white skin and light hair is construed as ideal beauty and contrasted to dark skin and how husbands are displayed as useless and wives still portrayed in the traditional role of the house maker.

Wednesday and Friday we only had time for your first presentations. I am glad to see that most of you incorporated the things we discussed in class. I am sure each time we all see the improvements.

Next Monday, we will not have class because of the Colloquium the School of Language Studies will be celebrating. Wednesday, we will listen to the last presenters. Two classes were not enough for all to present. I think we will need to plan three classes (or two and a half) for presentation 2.

If you started working on the extensive listening, you should have already completed 4 forms. Click here to see the record on who has started and what has been done. This record contains the information up to Friday March 13th.

Have a nice weekend and see you on Wednesday.