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AN13000BA and AN2300OMA: American Civilization
for 1st-year full-time BA students and 2nd-year OMA students
Spring 2018
Time & place: Monday 8:00-9:40 in Room 119
Instructor:Éva Mathey (); Room 116/1. (: 512-900 /Ext. 22152)
Office hours:Tuesday 10:00-11:00 and Wednesday 10:00-11:00 by appointment.
Description of the course
This seminar course is designed to improve first-year students’ language skills through acquainting them with some of the core topics of American civilization, including geography and regionalism, government, basic political concepts, politics and the Constitution, society, national holidays, and everyday life. Special emphasis will also be put on certain aspects of American English. Students will be graded on the strength of their class performance, their language skills, an individual short presentation, short written assignments (i.e. response papers) and in-class tests (short tests and an end-term test).
Requirements
Class attendance and participation in the discussionof the topics at hand are essential and considered as an important part of the final grade. In addition, each student will give a max. 10-minute presentation during the semester on a pre-approved topic, prepared on the basis of the instructions discussed during the first class. There will be short tests (announced in advance) and an end-term paper. Students will have to hand in some written assignments during the semester. The details of the specific assignments will be discussed during orientation.
Presentation
Each student is required to choose a presentation topic from the issues identified under the weekly discussion topics, or recommended either by the instructor or the students. Presentations should be about maximum 10 minutes in length and should be interactive (with thought-provoking questions to the class or various activities) to generate discussion. Audio-visual aids, PPT presentations, etc. are more than welcome to support your talk.
A typed handout strictly not longer thanone page should be handed in to the instructor ONE WEEK before the due date of the presentation for overview. Only handouts approved by the instructor can be presented. The handout should be only a guideline to the presentation and not a word-by-word transcript. You must not read out your presentation! The content of your talk, your performance and presentation skills as well as your LANGUAGE COMPETENCE will be evaluated. If someone does not show up when his/her presentation is due and does not notify the instructor in advance, he/she will lose all the credit points on the assignment.
Student Project Presentation
On Week 11 (April 23) students will present their team project for the whole class on a topic of their choice related to everyday life in the USA. The main aim of the project is to enhance students’ ability to work in a team, to delegate and share responsibilities and successfully deliver on them. Students are advised to apply ‘unconventional’ and creative forms and methods of presentation (songs, poems, posters, films, etc.) when preparing the project.
Short Quizzes
Students will write THREE short tests or quizzes on (1) the US map and the Facts and Figures handout, (2) the Election Glossary, (3) society. If necessary, students will write quick vocabulary and comprehension tests on each occasion based on the week-by-week assigned readings.
Written Assignments
Short take-home essay
Students will be required to write ONE short essay on contemporary topical/ contentious issues related to American life. The paper should draw on a newspapers/ magazine article selected by the instructor in advance. The paper should not only present the problem at hand and summarize the article, but should include the student’s critical reflections on the particular topic. The argumentationas well as the composition features/language of the papers will be evaluated.
Academic dishonesty or Plagiarism(failure to acknowledge and note the use of another writer’s words and ideas) is both unethical and illegal.
Plagiarized papers are unacceptable. Plagiarism will automatically result in ‘fail.’ (Please do not forget to attach the following disclaimer to your paper upon submission: “Hereby, I certify that the essay confirms to international copyright and plagiarism rules and regulations.”)
The response paper is to be typed (double-space, Times New Roman 12) and should be of about 900-950 words. Please do not forget to enclose the article to your paper! Deadline: Week 11 (April 23). Please note that the topics must be finalized and approved by the instructor by Week 7 before the consultation week.
Report
Students are required to prepare a brief report or interview (450 words) with some of their Hungarian and/or foreign peers, family members, friends, etc. to pursue information about their views and opinions about the United States. The questions may address a wide variety of issues and debated topics of American life and culture. Reports are due on Week 9 (April 9).
End-term Test
The end-term exam will be a comprehensive test on the material discussed during the semester and it will also include short essay questions. There is no excuse for absences on this occasion. Please note that there is NO re-sit for the end-term test (except for illness or other justified serious emergencies).
Evaluation
The final grade will be calculated from the grades assigned on class participation (15%), presentation (10%), project presentation (10%), short quizzes (15%), written assignments (15%) and the end-term paper (35%). More than three absences will result in a “not fulfilled” grade. Grades will be assigned according to the following conversion formulae: 0-60% = fail; 61-70% = satisfactory; 71-80% = average; 81-90% = good; 91-100% = excellent.
LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: Students are advised that the quality of their written and spoken performance will count significantly toward their final grade.
Further Rules
It is an essential part of the course requirements to attend all class meetings. If you must miss a class because of illness or emergency, please let me know, and make arrangements to complete any work missed.
Students may not miss more than three classes under any circumstances. If you do not turn up on occasions when course assignments (presentation, quizzes) are due and you fail to notify the tutor you will lose all the credit points on the particular assignment.
There is no excuse not to come to class when the quizzes and the end-term are due.
Tardiness and early departures are not allowable. They are offensive to your fellow students and to the instructor because they disrupt class work. If you have a compelling reason for arriving late or leaving early, speak with your instructor about the problem. If you regularly cut the beginning and/or the end of class sessions, it can add up to unexcused full-class-time absences.
Classroom etiquette
During the class please DO refrain from using your electronic devices including tabs, mobile phones, etc. unless otherwise instructed by the teacher.
Please, DO NOT receive phone calls and text messages during the class!!! It is disturbing and impolite in the first degree!!!!
Readings
The basic textbooks for the course are Maryanne Datesman, JoAnn Crandall and Edward M. Kearny, American Ways. An Introduction to American Culture (New York: Longman, 2005) and Pintér Károly, Szántó Ildikó, Jancsó Daniella, Suba Ferenc and Surányi Emőke, Cultural Relations. Brit, ausztrál, Amerikai és kanadai országismereti nyelvkönyv (Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2001). The relevant parts of textbook are scanned and available electronically in the IEAS Library.
NB: Students are kindly required to make their own copy of the material and have all the texts PRINTED OUT so that they could be at hand and available for classroom purposes. The readings are available at the IEAS Library (ask our librarian Eszter Patócs for help), or will be distributed by the instructor.
Additional materials will also be distributed in class or made available digitally at the instructor’s institute homepage. Students are also encouraged to check other sources available at the Institute Library and on the internet, especially in connection with their presentation topics.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES AND TOPICS
Week 1 (February 12) Orientation and introduction to the course, sign-up for presentation topics
Week 2 (February 19) The American Context (icons and symbols of the country, the national anthem, the flag, the great seal of the USA, etc.)
Readings: Facts & Figures on the flag, anthem, capitol, mottoes available at the instructor’s homepage;
Presentation topics: the story of the US flag, national and state symbols, cultural icons
Week 3 (February 26) The Country of Extremes (American geography, cultural regions, the concept of the frontier, national parks)
Readings: Cultural Relations: pp. 138, 140-141, 143-145;the US map, Facts and Figures on population & geography trivia
Presentation topics: the national parks in the US, cultural regions in the USA: New England, the South, the West, etc.
Week 4 (March 5)Governing the Country (political institutions, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the federal government, the system of checks and balances and the separation of powers)
Readings: Cultural Relations: pp. 153-154, 159-161;American Ways: pp. 142-143.
Presentation topics: the Bill of Rights, the American presidency, why is the US Supreme Court so powerful?
QUIZ on the Facts and Figures and blind map
Week 5 (March 12) “Road to the White House” (presidential and midterm elections, the stages of presidential elections: announcement, primaries, national convention, TV debates and campaigns, election day, electoral college, inauguration)
Readings:American Ways: 144-145; Election Glossary
Presentation topics: US presidential elections 2016 in the spotlight: what went wrong?, the elephants vs. the donkeys: American political parties
Week 6 (March 19)The Nation of Immigrants (immigration to the US, the nation of immigrants, from the melting pot to the ‘boiling pot,’ some groups in close-up: Hungarians, Chinese and Hispanics)
Readings: American Ways: pp. 166-173
Presentation topics: the Statue of Liberty; the nation of immigrants: myth vs. reality
QUIZ on Government and the Election Glossary
Week 7 (March 26)The Minority Question in American Society (women; racial and ethnic minorities: Native Americans, African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans; discrimination and civil rights)
Readings: American Ways: pp. 166-173
Presentation topics: Native Americans in US culture: past and present, the Afro-American Civil Rights movement; the empowerment of the American woman
Week 8: CONSULTATION WEEK (April 2-April 6)
Week 9 (April 9)American Values and Beliefs?(freedom, individualism, volunteerism, patriotism and the American Dream????)
Readings: American Ways: pp. 28-34
Presentation topics: patriotism in popular culture, the typical??? American, the myth of the American Dream; music/ literature as social critique
QUIZ on Society + INTERVIEWS ARE DUE
Week 10 (April 16)“In God We Trust:” Religions in the US (Puritanism, religious plurality, American churches, the freedom of religion)
Readings: American Ways: pp. 52-59
Presentation topics: the Mormons, the Amish, the Christian Scientists, the Quakers; religion and material culture
Week 11 (April 23) Everyday Life in the US(education: public and private, higher education; scholarships, standardized tests; the freedom of the press, media, newspapers and magazines, radio, television, popular culture, sports: the big 4; technology and American culture; automobile nation; aviation; holidays)
Readings: American Ways: pp. 191-201, 216-225
Student Project Presentations: topicsmay include Hollywood, American pop culture, sports, holidays, car culture, American education, food, etc.
RESPONSE PAPERS ARE DUE!!! NO LATE SUBMISSION
Week 12 (April 30)holiday: no class
Week 13 (May 7)End-term Exam
Week 14 (May 14) Evaluation and Assessment