Welcome to Methods and Practice of Communication, I (English 3B/4B), which is an integrated-skills offering in which students will engage in and with the four basic skills of language acquisition. Using the topics of food and university student life, we will explore various modes of expresssion, including oral presentations and debate. This course will focus on language useful in university contexts. This is a 15-week course offered by the Department of Economics during Autumn, 2017.

The principal focus of this course is on enhancing English that students can and hopefully will use in university contexts. In addition to some reading, writing, and listening, this course will include many speaking opportunities, in which students are expected to actively engage.

Class material will be provided by the instructor and will also be available online. Students are encouraged to bring any electronic devices they feel might be helpful, including by not limited to e-dictionaries, smart phones, and personal computers.

 Week 1 (September 26, 2017) — Summer Vacation Unit; Research Project 

Good day, everyone, and thank you for enrolling in this course. We will endeavor, as you certainly know, to expand your knowledge of skills necessary to succeed at academic conferences.

At any rate, welcome back after your summer vacation. I hope you had an enjoyable, relaxing, refreshing vacation and are ready for our second term. One point we'll be discussing today is the length of summer vacation, which varies somewhat. When I was a boy, I quite enjoyed the three months of summer vacation every year (June through August).

 Homework: 

 Week 2 (October 3, 2017) — Class Discussion of Vacation Length 

This class we will devote to becoming more familiar with ...

 Week 3 (October 10, 2017) — Summer Vacation Discussion 

A small sidelight I'd like to address today is describing objects ...

 Homework: 

 Week 4 (October 17, 2017) — Collocations 

A potentially very helpful tool, the art of corpus analysis allows us to look in detail at various things, but we will touch on two types of analyses.

 Homework & Class Material: 

 Reminder: Next week and the following week (Nov 4th) we will have no class. See you in November! 

 Week 5 (October 24, 2017) — The Halloween Unit 

Let's begin with a bit of background about that wonderful end-of-October event we joyfully dub Halloween. You realized that it is quickly approaching, didn't you? If not, mark your calendar, find your makeup kit, and prepare to enjoy ...

I think I'd like a bit of summarizing this morning, so let's have about a quarter of our members work on this history of Halloween. The second half will be split up this synopsis of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. From all groups, in a few minutes I would like a presentation of your respective part.

 Class Material: 

 Homework: 

Week #5 (October 31, 2017) —  Halloween: The Symbols Unit 

A warmup question for everyone: in your native country, what do tigers symbolize? What are some examples? Of course, one example from American culture is immediately to the left.

An interesting website on ancient symbols.

A thought-provoking article by Ann Swidler (1986) titled "Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies." As you'll recall from class, you have some homework related to this article: questions on Swidler (1986).

A symbolic sidelight: Collecting something that all countries have in common. Here is Mr. Simpson's website.

Allow me to add a bit more on symbols, good people. For an interesting read from a somewhat different perspective, here is an article by Shantha Rajan titled Role and Significance of symbols: An overview, in which the author introduces a number of Hindu symbols. As I noted, an interesting read.

I grant that it has faded a bit into memory, but five years ago we were treated to a movie based on historical symbols. I refer, of course, to The da Vinci Code, the trailer for which is to the right. In the off chance that you're not familiar with the plot, it centers on a trove of symbols dealing with the life and family (!) of Jesus Christ, who is, of course, a rather important person (symbol?) in the Christian faith.

As such things are prone to do, The da Vinci Code caused quite a number of reactions although it was ostensibly a work of fiction (although Dan Brown slyly notes that much of what underpins the work is extant). At any rate, the folks at the Discovery Channel provided an interesting documentary (some 45 minutes in length, but it is worth your time, I think).

One last thing, Gentle Students: You likely saw a more recent film that included a great deal of material about symbols. Think large, blue creatures and islands floating in the air. The title of that work is also a common thing on the Internet now — might you have an avatar? If so, what kind of avatar is it?

 Orthographic Systems 

Let us continue with our discussion of symbols by looking at systems thereof. The most obvious ones, I think, are those we use daily to non-verbally convey meaning, which means systems of writing. In our class we use the English writing system, which is quite simple, and you all are familiar with the Japanese writing system, which is far more cmoplex.

 Class Material: 

 Week 7 (November 14, 2017) — Symbolism in Media 

Good afternoon, everyone. Today we will enjoy a series of debates ...

look more closely at writing and the...

We will also delve some into ....

 Homework: 

 Week 8 (November 21, 2017) — Symbolism in Commerce  

This week we will examine a f ...

 Class Material: 

 Week 9 (November 28, 2017) — Roundtable on Symbolism Topic 

We will devote some time today to ...

Inasmuch as this is ...

 Homework over the ...

 Homework: 

 Week 10 (December 5, 2017) — The Script Unit 

Welcome back, everyone, and I hope that ...

This afternoon I would like to spend the first part of our class covering ...

OK, having finished that I would like to move on ...

 Week 11 (December 12, 2017) — Calligraphy and Handwriting Traditions 

Welcome back, everyone, and I hope that 2017 is a happy, healthy, prosperous year for you and your family.

This afternoon I would like to

 Week 12 (December 19, 2017) — Script and Modern Technology 

This afternoon I would like to spend ...

 Week 13 (January 9, 2018) — Town Meeting on Handwriting vs. Computer Skills 

Welcome back, everyone, and I hope that 2018 is a happy, healthy, prosperous year for you and your family.

This afternoon I would like to spend the first part of our class covering the article for correction from last week as well as reviewing and practicing articles. We'll select one of the worksheets from our last class.

 Week 14 (January 16, 2018) — Research Presentations (1)  

Welcome back, everyone, and I hope that 2018 is a happy, healthy, prosperous year for you and your family.

This afternoon I would like to spend the first part of our class covering the article for correction from last week as well as reviewing and practicing articles. We'll select one of the worksheets from our last class.

 Week 15 (January 23, 2018) — Research Presentations (2) 

As you have no doubt surmised, in this class you will be making your presentation.

Final grades will be determined as follows: