heterotopia

Today we will have a knowledge marketplace. You will be given time to trade knowledge and then time to compile your notes so that you get a full description of all “terms to investigate”.

All students can actually spread your definitions by writing on my site’s wiki. Log in here. You can edit this page: Anglo-American government

Assignment: Step 2

Look at your definitons for the “terms to investigate”. Do you see any patterns? Please describe your general impression of the US government and your general impression of the UK government. What contrasts do you see? What similarities? Write a brief description of the two systems, as you see them, focussing on similarities and differences.

Step 3

Backwash and feedback on step 2 from the teacher.

In the event of extra time

Word formation exercises

Public lecture

We’re going to a public lecture at Uppsala University. Check the link for details.

Today’s topics are the US and American society. We are going to investigate the term “the American Dream“. What does it mean and what has it meant, to whom?

We are going to watch two clips, read a poem and talk about the concept for a bit. We will use this material.

First clip: Falling down

Second clip: Wall Street

Related concepts
Self-Made Man
City upon a Hill

Discussion

Every culture has its iconic heroes. In the US the self-made man is one such iconic hero, a representative of what the US is all about, one might say. What profession constitutes the ideal in today’s society? Why do certain walks of life become invested with prestige and status?

Which walks of life ought to have prestige? For what reasons?

Each group should decide upon three professions that ought to have prestige and status and give arguments in defense of their case. Prepare to present your case to the class.

Assignment
For next class investigate two concepts in this document. Bring their explanation/defintion for next class when we will conduct a knowledge marketplace where you can exchange knowledge with other students in the class. Those who bring nothing can buy nothing.

Words

wellfare
governor
gubernatorial election
immigrant
emigrant
migratory birds
predatory birds
success
royal succession
delusions of grandeur
megalomania
opportunities
opportunistic (infection), opportunist,
prejudice, prejudices, prejudiced

How to prepare for  a seminar
From time to time, while reading, take notes about your reading experience. Be specific and quote interesting passages and don’t forget to use page references. Write a comment for each quote.

Comments might deal with:

• QUESTIONS that you ask yourself about characters and events as you read.
• MEMORIES from your own experience, provoked by the reading.
• GUESSES about how you think the story will develop, and why.
• REFLECTIONS on striking moments and ideas in the book.
• COMPARISONS between how you behave and how the characters in the novel are behaving.
• THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS about characters and events.
• COMMENTS on how the story is being told – for example, words or phrases or even whole passages which make an impression on you …
• OBSERVATIONS ON YOUR READING PROCESS, i.e. how you read.
• LANGUAGE PROBLEMS and ways of solving them

Regular seminar
We will have two regular text seminars. One for the first third and one for the second third of the book.

For this seminar you are expected to choose three quotations from the book (at least): You write them down on flashcards, in an easy to read handwriting. The quotation is followed by an interpretation and/or a justification for the excerpt. When making quotations please take note of the page where the quotation appears.

Grand seminar

This seminar is conducted after the deadline or on the day of the deadline, as the case may be. For this occasion you should hand in a list of all words and expressions you have noticed. The list should be typewritten and include your full name.

You should bring three quotes from the book. Choose quotations that deal with:

1. what you see as the purpose or message of the novel. Quotes that somehow relate to the title of the novel are of particular interest.

2. names of characters. Do they have any symbolical meaning, if so, in what respect?

Your notes for the grand seminar could be 1-2 pages, typewritten. They are handed in together with your word and phrase list.

Några koola citat:

HAMLET Efter samtalet med sin faders spöke

“Ur led är tiden: ve! att jag är den som föddes att den vrida rätt igen.”

—

POLONIUS I biblioteket

“My honorable lord, I will most humbly take my leave of you.”

HAMLET
“You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I will more willingly part withal: except my life, except my life, except my life.”

—

HAMLET (I samtal med studiekamraterna Rosencrantz och Guildenstern)

I have of late,—but wherefore I know not,—lost all my mirth, forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o’erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire,—why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?

Förklaring

—

HAMLET (Vid Yoricks grav)
Let me see.
[Takes the skull]

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know
not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your
gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,
that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?
Now get you to my lady’s chamber, and tell her, let
her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must
come; make her laugh at that.

Section 1

Dear student,

Welcome to your course in English. This is the first blog entry for this course. When we meet on Friday we will have an opportunity to discuss the plans for the coming weeks and months. Your wishes and needs are crucial for a successful and rewarding course, so start thinking about what they are right away.

Without going into specifics I can tell you that the main learning objective of this course is to improve your English, both written and spoken. The learning objectives for this course and the assessment criteria can be found here. I have written a tool to help me keep track of the assessment, you can find it here. This document also includes the sketch or plan for the content of last year’s course. It can serve as preliminary plan. I will return with an updated one after we have had time to discuss the course. I have refrained from writing a complete course plan in advance. This is due to the importance of your contributions and ideas. We are all stakeholders in this course and it is a “project” for which we all share an amount of responsibility.

I will update this website as often as possible. Please notice that all posts directed toward you are tagged “Engelska C”, and that you are able to subscribe to this website using RSS.

Presentation
So who am I? My name is Daniel Wernegren and I am a trained and certified teacher. I have a Masters degree with a major in English and I have spent a decade teaching English, primarily in upper secondary school, but also at university. I have a background in marketing communication and I used to work at a Swedish-American IT company. If you want to read something I have written you can read this.

Assignments
To further your command of the English language it is necessary to practise it. You should use it as much as possible. One natural way of doing this is by reading. There are two mandatory novels for this course. They will be assessed using a reading journal, more details to come… The books are at any event available at our library. The first one we are likely to read is The Collector by John Fowles. The second one will be One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey.

We will of course read a lot of short stories, poetry and at least some important parts from some plays. The novels, however, I expect that you will read at home. It is advisable to get cracking on the first one as soon as possible. Ideally, it has been completed before we return from the Christmas break.

Today’s slideshow

For Friday

Hand in 300-400 words under the heading “My English History”, where you describe your experience of learning and using English and give me a self-estimate on your strengths and weaknesses in English. Also give me an estimate of your level of English on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is poor and 10 is native level of English.

Words from day one
implicitly, criterion, criteria, seminary, seminar, seminal, objective. We also discussed the etymology of O.K.

Uppgift: Dödsruna
Läs om Shakespeares liv på wikipedia. Skriv därefter hans dödsruna (för en förebild se följande exempel). Försök begränsa till 150-300 ord.

Hamlets monolog
Läs Hamlets monolog.

Download (PDF, 262.63KB)

Fundera på vad den betyder eller kan tänkas handla om.
1. Vad betyder Hamlets monolog för dig?
2. Varför, tror du, att denna monolog har blivit en klassiker?
3. Finns det något språkligt i den du fastnar för? Känner du igen något talesätt i svenska från monologen?

Sonetter
Shakespeare skrev flera kända sonetter t. ex. den här.

Här är en av mina favoriter:

Sonnett 147
Min kärlek är en feber, hvilken längtar
Till allt, som underhåller sjukan just,
Och efter hvad förbjudet är den trängtar,
Ledd af en vacklande och sjuklig lust.

Min kärleks läkare, förståndet, vredt,
Att jag ej följt dess föreskrift mot nöden,
Har lemnat mig; förtviflad nu jag sett,
Hvad läkarn spådde, att begär är döden.

Obotlig är jag, se’n jag mist förståndet,
Och rasande som någon vara kan,
Det sanna rör mig ej, – jag löper från det,
I tal och tankar lik en galen man:

Jag sagt dig vara skön och klar som vatten, -
Du, svart som helfvetet och mörk som natten!

En rolig del av muntlig framställning är drama. De som vill kan vara med och sätta upp ett drama. Tänk på att ta med er lakan för att spela er roll.

Manus finner ni här. Tänk på att det kan vara kul att sätta dramatisk, gärna klassisk musik till inspelningen. Smink och ketchup kan också behövas.

Övriga elever
Diskutera i grupper om fyra elever vad som kännetecknar ett bra tal och en god talare. Ni har alla olika erfarenheter från idrott och skola, och kanske från teve och politiken! Sammanställ sedan era slutsatser. Det kan vara bra att utforma dem som råd eller tips för talaren. Resultatet av era diskussioner kan postas som en kommentar nedan.

Eller jobba med wikiHeterotopia, eller annan pjäs.

—

Om ni vill veta mer kan ni läsa mer på Hemlins hemsida. Den är bra. Hittar ni något särskilt givande på Hemlins sida (sidor) kan ni gärna posta de tipsen separat.

länk

Vi är i skrivsalen mellan 12.35 och 13.35.

/Daniel