Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures

Li-Chun Caroline Lee-Thompson

Course Description and Objectives: This survey course is designed to introduce students to important elements of Chinese cultural traditions. Students are expected to complete the course with an increased awareness of the history and culture of China in pre-modern times and to have gained insight into traditional processes which continue to influence Chinese culture today. Major topics will be emphasized: (a) history; (b) religion, philosophy and thought; (c) art [painting & calligraphy]; (d) literature; and (e) folk arts. This course provides opportunities (i.e., lectures, films, discussions, presentations, field trips, response papers, and essays) to further promote students' multiple perspectives, cross cultural understanding, appreciation of Chinese culture as well as their own culture, and critical thinking skills, which are the major elements of a liberal arts education.

Fred Yaniga

As the title suggests, this class will explore German Culture through Film. We will watch and discuss films beginning with the earliest groundbreaking German cinema productions of the 1920s (Caligari, Nosferatu, etc) and work our way all the way through contemporary international successes (Good Bye Lenin, Bella Martha, etc.). Our goal in the course will be two-fold: to "read" these films as cultural, historical, political and social texts while exploring some of the basic filmic techniques which help the film deliver its message. Students will participate in and lead discussions, give individual and small group presentations as well as produce written critiques on individual films and synthesized ideas. As this course is offered in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, it is important to remember that a hybrid approach to learning about these films will be the most productive. Students should feel welcome to bring knowledge gained in other areas such as History, Philosophy, Religion, Sociology, Psychology and Foreign Languages to the discussion. We will even enter the realm of the hard sciences such as Chemistry, Physics and Biology with several films. Bringing different knowledge sets together often opens avenues of interpretation and understanding which narrow perspectives cannot access, and as we study these films and their contexts all students are encouraged to liberally apply their own knowledge set while remaining open to learning to view film from interesting and new perspectives as well.

Sylvie Vanbaelen

Learning another language affords you a unique insight into the system of thought, culture, values and perspectives of another people. It also gives you a great opportunity to become more aware of your own language, culture and views on life and to compare them with the views of others. Taking courses in French will help you develop your critical and analytical skills, and your creativity. You will learn to communicate in a language spoken on five continents by very diverse populations and develop an appreciation for French and francophone cultures and people. All of these aspects contribute to the foundation of a Liberal Arts Education.

Fred Yaniga

As you gain proficiency in a foreign language you truly begin to unlock mysteries of a people and a culture to which non-speakers will never gain access. Slowly but surely you are leaving the realm of the "outsider" and becoming a more intimate participant in the German language and culture. By the time you finish GR 204 you will have sharpened your skills not only in speaking and grammar, but you will also have amassed a solid body of knowledge about German speaking peoples and the countries in which they live. By May of this year you will be considered an advanced learner of German! And as such you will become an important ambassador moving between these two languages and cultures. As you apply what you have learned you will be facilitating communication and understanding between peoples, sharing knowledge and accumulating more as you move along. A strong Liberal Arts education provides us good tools for the journey and sends us confidently onward. Be open to the possibilities and opportunities which your newly-gained skills will bring you!

Eloise Sureau

Learning another language is one of the best ways to become acquainted with other people, to discover new horizons, meet new challenges, learn about oneself, become a better person and a citizen of the world. This course, dedicated to French culture, with everything that the word "culture" implies, aims at showing a different way to do the things people take for granted, and show that that same thing can be done differently in different societies. Or, on the contrary, we may find that what the Americans do everyday without thinking about it, the French do not, because it is not perceived as being appropriate. The course will thus have to deal with some taboos, since what is taboo in one society is not necessarily seen as one in another. The course aims to encourage people to get a closer look at their own lives and learn about themselves, through the study of the way others behave, to not be part of a country, but part of the world; and that is what a liberal arts education is all about.

Sylvie Vanbaelen

Communicating effectively is at the center of a Liberal Arts education. In this course, we will work on developing the tools necessary for effective communication in French: fluency, grammatical accuracy, richness of vocabulary, and accurate pronunciation. You will also refine your listening skills, an essential component of communication. The course is based on films thereby providing you with a unique window into the culture of a society and its people; cultural competence being an inherent part of successful communication.

Larry Riggs

As a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences course, and particularly as one that may be used to fulfill the LAS foreign-language requirement, this course must make a strong contribution to your liberal arts education. It will do so by challenging you to develop and refine both habits of mind and concrete skills that will be valuable to you personally and professionally. Most obviously, this course will provide opportunities for you to improve your appreciation of another culture and your skill in using an additional language. In the process, it will also require of you greater awareness of your own culture and language. You will learn, among other things, that communication always entails choices among options and awareness of your purpose in communicating and of your audience. You will view several French films and write commentaries on them and will look closely at several types of writing in French and write an original composition of each type. You will have opportunities to reflect on and rewrite each piece of writing produced for the course. The course will encourage you to be conscious of yourself as an active user of both linguistic and cultural materials and therefore as a participant in the construction of your/our community and world.

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Eloise Sureau

Learning another language is one of the best ways to become acquainted with other people, to discover new horizons, meet new challenges, learn about oneself, become a better person and a citizen of the world. This course, dedicated to French culture, with everything that the word "culture" implies, aims at showing a different way to do the things people take for granted, and show that that same thing can be done differently in different societies. Or, on the contrary, we may find that what the Americans do everyday without thinking about it, the French do not, because it is not perceived as being appropriate. The course will thus have to deal with some taboos, since what is taboo in one society is not necessarily seen as one in another. The course aims to encourage people to get a closer look at their own lives and learn about themselves, through the study of the way others behave, to not be part of a country, but part of the world; and that is what a liberal arts education is all about.

Larry Riggs

As a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences course, this one must make a strong contribution to your liberal arts education. As a senior-level course on French literature and culture, it must provide opportunities for you to refine your skill in using the French language, in interpreting literary texts, and in comparing French culture with your own. As a course concentrating on the origins of what we call "modernity," it should challenge you to achieve some transformative learning: to become aware of assumptions about modernity that constrain your thinking. Becoming aware of such assumptions and thinking about their origins and effects will encourage you to become more reflective-conscious and critical-and less reflexive-automatic and unconscious-in your thinking. This is a type of learning that liberal arts students-and their professors-should be involved in all the time. The course will challenge you to develop and refine both habits of mind and concrete skills that will be valuable to you personally and professionally. Most obviously, this course will provide opportunities for you to improve your appreciation of another culture and your skill in using an additional language. In the process, it will also require of you greater awareness of your own culture and language. You will learn, among other things, that communication always entails choices among options and awareness of purposes or motives and requires thinking about an audience. You will read literary texts of several types and write commentaries on them, and you will incorporate broad cultural information in those commentaries. You will have opportunities to reflect on and rewrite each piece of writing produced for the course. The course will encourage you to be conscious of yourself as an active user of both linguistic and cultural materials and therefore as a participant in the construction of your/our community and world.

Ulf Goebel

Language, the essence of the liberal arts, is all we have to talk to each other and ourselves. There are languages of all kinds, the spoken languages of the world, both dead and living, and the languages of the arts, of dance and music in particular, but everywhere also the body language we all use, and for those who cannot hear, the spatial sign language of the deaf. But spoken language is the enduring fortune of all who can hear and speak. At the heart of any spoken language - written, printed, and read on the page or on the computer screen, as most now are - is its poetry. For a language that we do not know, we must rely on translation, which in poetry particularly is at best a poor substitute for the original. In learning a new language, even for beginners in this course, the goal should be the eventual full appreciation of its poetry. With this in mind, our endeavor will be to help the students gain entry into contemporary German in its various cultural and historical settings, to broaden their own cultural and historical perspective, and to encourage them to persevere in making the language their own.

Ulf Goebel

Language, the subject of the old trivium of the artes liberales, grammar, rhetoric and logic, is all we have to think with, to talk to each other and ourselves. There are languages of all kinds, the spoken languages of the world, both dead and living, and the languages of the arts, of dance and music in particular, but the body language we all use as well, and for those who cannot hear, the spatial sign language of the deaf. At the heart of any spoken language - written, printed, and read on the page or on the computer screen, as most now are - is its poetry. For a language that we do not know, we must rely on translation, which in poetry particularly is at best a poor substitute for the original. In learning a new language, even for beginners in this course, the goal should be the eventual full appreciation of its poetry. Our endeavor in this second semester will be to continue using every means to practice the language, speaking and writing it in and outside of class, working on basic grammar, rhetoric and logic, helping the students gain further entry into contemporary German in its various cultural and historical settings.

Fred Yaniga

Learning a language essentially means learning to communicate within a new medium. Writing itself is a unique and separate form of communication, and therefore this course, German for Written Communication, presents us with a double challenge: to develop and practice clear and concise writing techniques while sharpening skills in German grammar, syntax and vocabulary usage. While realizing that this is no simple task, we also understand that our efforts will be doubly rewarded. Not only will we refine our skills in the German language, but we will simultaneously refine our writing skills in general. These skills are not only timeless and universal but also central to a liberal arts education. From Martin Luther posting his 95 Theses on the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg to a high-powered CEO penning a sensitive letter or drafting an important contract, the written word is central to human interaction, historical documentation and every day communication (email, note-taking, text messaging). Often, the distance between mind and pen can seem immeasurable; but as we say in German: "Übung macht den Meister" (Practice makes perfect), and in this course we will strive to shorten that distance and find ways to make that trip between mind and paper more satisfying for both writer and reader.

Fred Yaniga

Learning a language essentially means learning to communicate within a new medium. Writing itself is a unique and separate form of communication, and therefore this course, German for Written Communication, presents us with a double challenge: to develop and practice clear and concise writing techniques while sharpening skills in German grammar, syntax and vocabulary usage. While realizing that this is no simple task, we also understand that our efforts will be doubly rewarded. Not only will we refine our skills in the German language, but we will simultaneously refine our writing skills in general. And these skills are both timeless and universal. From Martin Luther posting his 95 Theses on the doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg or translating the Bible from Latin into German to a high-powered CEO penning a sensitive email or drafting an important contract, the written word is central to human interaction, historical documentation and every day communication (email, note-taking, text messaging). Often, the distance between mind and pen can seem immeasurable; but as we say in German: "Übung macht den Meister" (Practice makes perfect), and in this course we will strive to shorten that distance and find ways to make that trip between mind and paper more satisfying for both writer and reader.