Welcome to the most advanced level of English 2A (hence the clever name). The aims of this course include providing students with opportunities to (a) use oral English skills obtained prior to entering the university, (b) extend that knowledge through a variety of speaking and listening activities, and (c) gain confidence in their ability to function in English both inside and outside the academic community of the university.

The Basics ...

English 2A (advanced) syllabus

As you'll soon understand, I insist on polite email when you contact me. For those of you that are new to my classes, note that you must write to me in appropriately formal language. Lest you not know exactly what I mean by a polite email in English, please take a close look at how to write a polite e-mail.

 Course requirements 

Another facet of our class is perhaps less exciting yet nonetheless important. If you've spoken to students from last year's class, you'll know that I require so-called reaction reports about some of our classes. I see that we have 10 classes plus the documentary, so there are 11 possible topics, of which you are required to respond to eight. (Thus, you do not need to respond to three.) Here you'll find two examples, one of which was done as a Word document, and the second of which was done as a blog entry. In the latter case, the student simply sent me the blog URL.

Your written reaction reports should be turned in here at this File Request (reaction reports).

Your oral reaction reports may be turned in here: Flipgrid (oral reaction reports). Note that you can certainly use your trusty smartphone to record; just scan the QR code to the right.

In-class presentations: I would like you to help present the material in our textbook, so you will be working in pairs and presenting short presentations about our respective topics. For each topic, I would like two presentations, one about the background of the issue and a second with an 'extension' of the topic. We will begin these in Session #4, so please give some consideration to your topic and group members.

 Reading The New York Times 

This section includes random — yet somehow related — links from the units in our textbook, Reading The New York Times, by Hideki Watanabe and Yoshitaka Kozuka. Note that you do NOT need to purchase the textbook; I will provide a PDF for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

First, as you'll know from class, you are required to find and read an additional article from the NY Times for each topic we cover. Your source is, of course, the the NY Times website, where you'll be able to read up to 10 articles per month for free. For each additional article, add the bibliographic information, a short description, and your comments. At least 150 words would be sufficient.

 Chapter 1 — Security Council Reform 

 Week 1 — Class Introduction; Security Council Reform (April 14) 

Let's begin with a worksheet on the United Nations.

Although the UN Security Council has a long list of successes to its credit, many have called for its reform. In an ongoing discussion, however, some have questioned whether the time is right to consider reforming the Security Council . This video is courtesy of the Council on Foreign Relations, which is perhaps best known for its journal, Foreign Affairs, "widely considered to be the most influential magazine for the analysis and debate of foreign policy and economics."

A logical question to begin with would be about the stance of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

Another interested party in this debate is the Global Policy Forum (GPF), a private "global policy watchdog" devoted to monitoring the UN and scrutinizing global policymaking. On the GPF webpage you'll find quite an archive of material dealing with this issue.

NEW  Chapter 1, Change and the Security Council 

 Week 2 — UN Peacekeeping (April 21) 

Today we will—time permitting—glance at a series of videos on UN peacekeeping operations.

 Peacekeeping Videos 

 Homework: 

 Week 3 — Discussion (April 28) 

As you likely have guessed, today we (note the plural form) will engage in a discussion of this UN conundrum. Be prepared to make a group presentation of your group's position. You may, of course, augment your presentation with PowerPoint.

On page 150 of the Weiss (2003) article we find a comment about "the downfall of the League of Nations," with which we should be familiar. In this handy clip is an introduction to the League , which unfortunately met its demise only a couple short decades after its inception. It did, however, lay the groundwork for the UN, which has endured and been much more successful.

Just for your consideration, here we have an interesting suggestion put forth by Kishore Mahbubani, a former president of the UN Security Council and currently the dean of the School of Public Policy at National Singapore Unversity. In this video, he outlines his 7-7-7 plan for the Security Council .

 Class Material & Homework: 

 Unit 4 — Rare Earth Metals 

 Week 4 — Mining Rare Earth Metals (May 9) 

Although not particularly rare, so-called rare earth metals have nonetheless become extremely important and quite valuable in today's world. In case you're wondering, the "rare" is an archaic usage that means difficult and refers to the difficulty in separating the various rare earth metals, which occur together.

Here we have an excellent article on rare earth metals from Scientific American.

The video to the right is from Al Jazeera and provides a look at the Baotou mine in northern China.

 Class Material & Homework: 

 Week 5 — China, the US, and Rare Earths (May 16) 

As you'll recall, last week we watched a news report about the Baodai rare earth mining and its various environmental problems. A rather different facility is the Mountain Pass Mine in California.

Of course, the mine itself isn't the entire story. Mountain Pass is a tiny, unincorporated town which depends on the mine for much of its livelihood.

A recent development was China's loss in a WTO-mediated trade dispute over rare earth exports.

In this story from June, 2019, we learn about how young people have been suing governments to force them to take action on such environmental issues as climate change.

 Homework: 

 Week 7 — Stakeholder Discussion (May 23) 

Today we'll be presenting the respective perspectives of some of the stakeholders in this issue of rare earths.

 Week 8 — An Inconvenient Truth (May 27) 

Today we'll be watching the 2005 documentary titled "An Inconvenient Truth", which is an important film for several reasons.

 Unit 7 —Top-Rated Schools in Shanghai 

 Week 8 — Shanghai Schools (June 10) 

According to results from PISA, schools in Shanghai perform exceedingly well in comparison with nearly all schools worldwide. In this unit, we'll explore some about schools in China and why they do so well. In addition, we'll also look at the other end of the spectrum and specifically examine Montsorri schooling as well as a phenomenon that has gained some popularity in the US: home schooling.

Let's begin with this clip to the right about how Shanghai schools outperform all other schools — quite an accomplishment.

Here we have a longer clip about strong scholastic performers and successful reformers. We won't watch this in class, but feel free to do so on your own time.

Of course, schools vary in many ways. This clip to the right is the first in a very good series about Chinese schools in general.

 Some additional links: 

 Week 9 — Extracurricular Schools Elsewhere (June 17) 

While cram schools have a firm foothold in some Asian countries, they have been gaining in popularity in the US, too.

Something that has been noted often is that Asian immigrants and their children tend to do very well academically. Of course, that begs the question of why they do well. Here you'll find some thoughts about why they excel as well as a cautionary note about stereotypes.

You might not be familiar with the 'tiger mom' reference in the previous article. If so, here is the original article that claims that Chinese mothers are superior. I'll allow you to draw your own conclusions after reading the article.

One alternative method of education is the Montessori system. In this system, children enjoy a great deal of freedom to explore and learn as they want and at their own pace.

A second method worthy of consideration is called home schooling, which means, of course, that children are schooled at home by their parents. In the clip to the right, you'll learn about one such family in the United States. As noted in the video, some two million children receive education in this way, which is not a trivial number. In Japan, good people, can students be homeschooled? If so, how many are educated in that way?

 Some additional links and resources: 

 Week 10 — Debate on Extracurricular Education (June 24) 

As you likely have guessed, we (note the plural form) will engage in a discussion of education styles today. Be prepared to make a group presentation of your group's position. You may, of course, augment your presentation with PowerPoint.

 Unit 10 — Fukushima Nuclear Disaster 

 Week 11 — Fukushima Nuclear Disaster (July 1) 

In the article in your textbook, in line 24 we find mention of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAIA). Notice that on the righthand side of this webpage you'll find 'Fukushima Status Reports'.

The IAEA is a remarkable organization, with some of its myriad roles explained in the video to the right (which is courtesy of the IAEA).

 Week 12 — The Future of Nuclear Power (July 8) 

In line 28 we read about the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979.

Here we have an interesting attempt to mitigate the problem of groundwater flow in the area of the Fukushima reactors: a very long (1km) wall of ice.

However, that plan has, as of June, 2014, hit a snag: the temperature of the pipes is not low enough to freeze the giant wall.

As you'll recall from class, we encountered the acronym NIMBY, which means, of course, Not in my backyard. This is often used in relation to environmental issues in which a potential solution to a problem is sidetracked by the issue of where to locate that solution. Nuclear power is fine in a theoretical sense, but would you want a nuclear power plant beside (or in) your backyard? I didn't think so. At any rate, in the clip to the right you'll see a person expressing concern about proximity to a nuclear power plant.

Whereas Japan is now mostly free of nuclear power and thus (overly) dependent on oil, gas, and renewable sources of electricity, France gets some 80% of its electricity from nuclear power. The French have an excellent safety record, have pioneered nuclear reprocessing technology, and also have the cleanest air of any industrialized country. Might we emulate the French?

 Alternate Sources of Energy  

Here for your reading pleasure is a report that envisions what the future will look like with respect to energy sources.

Lots of information from Renewable Energy World

Solar Energy:

Hydropower:

Wind Power:

Wave Power:

Ocean Current Power

Bioenergy:

Methane hydrates:

Footstep Energy

Traffic Wind Energy

A new source...

 Week 14 —Presentations & Discussion (July 21) 

Writing

As you know from class, I require polite email. Recall, too, that if you send me a file, the filename has a certain form.

Here's an example of the report style that you should use.

Extra Material

As you know from class, we will spend our time on the nuclear energy unit and the related issue of sustainable energy.