Friday, July 23, 2010

Working Mom Wednesdays: English in the Media

This is posted a bit late, but Chris (one of my co-workers) and I have finally decided our plan for this year's summer class, and 8-day course focusing on English in the Media. This is the 3rd year we have taught this class, and each year we update according to current trends in media and students' interests. (I have to say though that I have no idea how last year's class went since I was on maternity leave.)

Day One: Video Sharing and Viral Videos (You Tube)

Day Two: Social Networking Sites (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)

Day Three: Interactive Web Sites and Games (Discovery, Scholastic, etc.) - we will be sticking with the G-rated types!

Day Four: TV Shows & British Humor (not sure yet what Chris will decide to show them!)

Day Five: TV Shows & American Humor (comparing and contrasting with Brit Humor and Japanese Humor styles. For American-style humor, I am planning to focus on satire and parody. Any suggestions would be welcome in the comments!!)

Day Six: Podcasts (both audio and video podcasts)

Day Seven: Blogs

Day Eight: TV Shows: Sitcoms (I am thinking about showing Modern Family, definitely something that shows a "family" situation. I used to show Full House because Japanese people LOVE that show, but we decided to show something really current instead.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This sounds like a really fun class. I would love it if you would blog about how it goes and what assignments you give. BTW check the mail in a few days, I sent you something.
-AD

Shannon said...

This is awesome. For American humor, you should show "The Office" and "Everyone Loves Raymond." Everyone Loves Raymond seems like an odd choice, but I think it really, really demonstrates American stereotypes when it comes to husbands and wives. Plus it gets the stupid humor. Oh! You should compare the American version of The Office and The British one! I've heard they are very different!

amanda said...

I agree with Anonymous. I'd love to see more details about how this class works. How many hours a day do you meet?

Mande said...

I don't mean to brag, but all of our classes are awesome. It's just that with this summer class, I have more freedom since absolutely no one cares what I do as long as I teach something. I do use some of the same materials later in the school year for another class I teach called "Everyday English."

Anyway, I will keep you posted and let you know how it goes. Each class is 50 min long, so we have a worksheet to go along with it. It starts out broad, like "what is You Tube," then the history of it, some of the stats, then what was the intended purpose of it and what has it morphed into. Pros and cons about You tube. Then, what is a viral video. Show them some examples and have them guess (actually match) how many views each one has gotten so far and have them write their impression of each one (in 2 or 3 words). Then, we'll have them search for some viral videos on their own and choose one they like, recommend it to the class. If we have time, we'll show their recommendations to the class and have people vote on their favorites.

That's just an example of one of our classes, but the basic plan is to start out broad and then focus in on something, have them try it out, and then have them recommend or introduce something to the class.