INGL 3265: THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ACROSS CULTURES

Day-by-Day Schedule

Developed by Dr. Walter Rybarkiewicz

DAY 1 (when the course is being offered, actual dates will substitute the "DAY" labels)

• First meeting--introducing the students to the course online
  Organizational meeting, which includes familiarizing the students with this site of the course online .

 DAY 2

• First MacNeil video: An English-Speaking World
  We will meet in the Audio-Visual Center (the basement of the Edificio Informatica) to view the first video. Please review the questions to the video #1.

DAY 3

• Assignment Due:
  Discussion of Video #1: An English-Speaking World
  Please be prepared for the classroom discussion of the video, following the guideline questions. Turn in your written answers using the instructor's e-mail.

DAY 4

• Assignment Due:
  Discussion of the articles on language change
  We are meeting in the Audio-Visual Center. Please, be prepared to discuss the articles "Speech Communities" and "The Reasons for Dialect Differences" from Language: Introductory Readings.

DAY 5

• Assignment Due:
  Review questions to the articles
  We will meet in the Edificio Informatica to review your work online so far. You need to turn in, using the instructor's e-mail,  your answers to the review questions at the end of each of the above articles. Substitute your own experience for William D. Howells' novel in question #6 to the first article: describe any embarrassing situation that you experienced due to speech/language differences.

DAY 6

• Second Video: Mother Tongue
  We will meet in the Audio-Visual Center to view the second video program. Please prepare the following assignment prior to coming to the class.
• Assignment Due:
  Preparatory assignment to Video #2
  Read pp.6-29 from The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language to better understand the video.  Then review the questions to the video #2.

DAY 7

• Assignment Due:
  Class discussion of Video #2: Mother Tongue
  We'll meet in the classroom to discuss the second video and your assigned readings. Please, read on up to p. 55 from The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.

Turn in your summary of the video using the instructor's e-mail.

DAY 8

• Third Video: A Muse of Fire
  We will meet  in the Audio-Visual Center to view the third video program. Please read pp. 56-75 from The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language to better understand the video.

DAY 9

• Assignment Due:
  Class discussion of Video #3: A Muse of Fire
  We'll meet in the classroom (204 MC) to discuss the third video and the Packet #2 readings. Please, read on up to p. 75.

Turn in your summary of the video using the instructor's e-mail.

DAY 10

• Assignment Due:
  The history of English--a review
  This is your self-access day: Log on to The Chronology of Events in the History of English and carefully study the contents. Relate those events that have been shown in one of the videos viewed in class so far or those you have read about in The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language to the chronology table. Be sure that you are getting a sense of the historical development (chronology) of the language.

This is also the day to take care of any late assignments!

DAY 11

• Fourth Video: The Guid Scots Tongue
  We will meet  in the Audio-Visual Center to view the fourth video program. Please read pp. 328-333 from The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language to better understand the video.

DAY 12

• Fifth Video: Black on White
  We will meet in the Audio-Visual Center to view the fifth video program. Please read pp. 92-97  to better understand the video.

DAY 13

• Assignment Due:
  Discussion and review: Videos #4 and 5
  We are meeting in the classroom to discuss the two videos, using the guideline questions.

Please come prepared to discuss all the videos seen so far and all the reading material that has been assigned up to now. Review the familiar Internet site  The Chronology of Events in the History of English.

Turn in your summaries of videos nos. 4 and 5 using the instructor's e-mail.

DAY 14

• Midterm
  As we have reached about a midpoint of our course, we will write a midterm in the Audio-Visual Center.

The midterm will be descriptive, with ten questions worth two points each, related thematically to the five videos that we have seen. Please, also review "The Chronology of Events in the History of English." The information from the readings is mandatory, as it allows to establish a relevant background to the videos and to enlarge the scope of the discussed topics.

The midterm is worth 20% of the final score in the course.

DAY 15

• Post-midterm review
  We will meet in the Audio-Visual Center in order to review the midterm and learn more about your submitted assignments.

DAY 16

• Sixth Video: Pioneers! O Pioneers!
  We will meet in the Audio-Visual Center to view the sixth video.

DAY 17

• Assignment Due:
  Discussion of Video #6: Pioneers! O Pioneers!
  We'll meet in the classroom to discuss the sixth video. Please, read pp. 306-317 and 340-342 from The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language to relate to the contents of the video.

Turn in your summary of the video.

DAY 18

• Seventh Video: The Muvver Tongue
  We will meet in the Audio-Visual Center to view the seventh video.

DAY 19

• Assignment Due:
  Discussion of Video #7: The Muvver Tongue
  We'll meet in the classroom to discuss the seventh video. Please, read pp. 74-75, 98-105, 324-327, and 350-357 to relate to the contents of the video.

Turn in your summary of the video.

DAY 20

• A wrap-up discussion of the Video #7
  We will meet in the Audio-Visual Center to wrap-up the discussion of Video #7.

DAY 21

• Eighth Video: The Loaded Weapon
  We will meet in the room #3 in the Audio-Visual Center to discuss the eighth video.
• Assignment Due:
  Irish language and issues, from viewing Video #8
  Go independently or in a group to the Sala de Sonido e Imagen in the Library and view the eighth video. Read pp. 336-339 from The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language  to deepen your understanding. Write in your journal on the following two topics: (1) the characteristics of Irish and the language conflict in Ireland, (2) the historical roots and development of the conflict in Ireland.

Turn in the assignment using the instructor's e-mail.

Come to the class prepared to discuss these issues!

DAY 22

• Assignment Due:
  Self-access day--Video #9: Next Year's Words
  Go to the Sala de Sonido e Imagen in the Library and view the ninth and last video: "Next Years's Words: A Look into the Future." Read pp. 106-115 and 358-363.

After you've seen the video and understood the contents, write an essay of at least 3 pages (typed, double-spaced) discussing the following topic:

Latin, now considered "dead," was once a universal language. Today, it is broken into French, Italian, Spanish and other so-called Romance languages. Does a similar fate await English? What does the future hold for today's most influential global language?  Your essay should contain a well-informed discussion of those factors which historically have favored a split of a language into dialects and integrative factors which have been known to counteract the former.   

Please bring your essay to share the contents in class and finally to hand it in.

DAY 23

• Assignment Due:
  Essay about Video #9
  Your essay is due!

• Reading and discussing the contents of your essays.
  We will meet in the classroom to read and discuss the contents of your essays, to be turned in at the end of the class.

DAY 24

• Workshop: effective oral presentations--part 1
  The class will meet in the Academic Research Laboratory computer  room in the Library to participate in the first part of the workshop on "How to Deliver an Effective Oral Presentation of Your Researched Topic."

We will view and discuss the Internet site  Oral Communication.  Through the illustrations and examples provided there, you will learn more about effective oral presentations.

DAY 25

• Assignment Due:
  Establishing an oral presentation topic
   Go to the Academic Research Laboratory computer room in the Library to participate in the second part of the workshop on oral presentations. Decide on the topic of your final oral presentation and give it a provisional title. Use your instructor's e-mail to signal and briefly describe your topic. Include a short explanation why you are choosing this particular one, why you find it interesting and worthy of sharing with the audience--your classmates.
• Workshop: effective oral presentations--part 2
  Part 2 of the workshop on "How to Deliver an Effective Oral Presentation of Your Researched Topic." We will continue to work with the Internet site  Oral Communication. At the end of the session, you will have some more time to search on your own for the sites relevant to the topic you have chosen for your final oral presentation.

DAYS 26 and 27

• Short oral presentations and the final review of the reading materials
  We will review all the reading materials in the course during these two meetings. Each of you will be assigned a part of the material to make a short exposition.  A discussion will follow.

DAY 25 and on

• Final oral presentations 
  These are the days of your final oral presentations--a preview of your final work, a monograph on a topic of your choice under the umbrella theme The English Language across Cultures.

All the presentations are scheduled in the Audio-Visual Center. The room is equipped with the computer, VCR, and an overhead projector. Should you decide to use this equipment, make sure in advance that it works and that it is compatible with your own floppy, CD, or USB!  

• Course Survey 
  Please take some time and tell us about your experience in the course.  Go to the Assessment and Evaluation Component for this course on the College Blackboard platform, select "Course Survey" from the menu on the left and follow the instructions.  We do appreciate the students giving us their opinions about the course.  It will help improve it and make it even more student-friendly when the course is offered again.

THE DATE OF THE EXAM (from the final exams schedule)

• Assignment Due:
  Final Project: A Monograph
  The final project must be more extensive and must show your knowledge of the concepts about variation in English that you have learned in this course. It is worth 20% of your grade. It should be about ten pages long (if typed double-spaced) and should include references at the end or as footnotes. Quotes should be made according to either the MLA or APA style. No credit will be given to plagiarized material, so, please, make sure that all the words you have used are yours, except for those clearly marked as quotations. The project is the developed, written treatment of the topic you have already shown to the class and discussed during your second oral presentation. It is due by the time and the date of the final exam, or at any earlier time, if you have it ready, in the instructor's mail box in the English Department's office.

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