Section outline

  • Généralités

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  • Black History Month

    • Martin Luther King Jr My Pilgrimage to Non-Violence Fichier
      Students must
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    • Martin Luther King Jr. "I Have A Dream" speech URL
      Students must
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      Task:

      listen to the speeches and take notes. Even if you think you have a good memory, it's good to take notes: remember, you're not only listening to have an idea of the content but in order to work on your language skills. Thus, please do the following:

      1) Listen more than once if necessary. DO NOT USE  THE SUBTITLES at first.

      2) If you have problems understanding, go back and listen again to a probelamtic part (with no subtitles). If you really don't understand, listen again with the subtitles on. Then turn them off and listen to it again.

      3) While listening take notes of ideas and vocabulary. Write down not only the expressions you haven't been acquainted with, but those that are not part of your active vocabulary, even if you have no difficulty understanding.

      4) Write 5 vocabulary items into our googledoc.

      5) Prepare for the inclass discussion. What is it about? What is your reaction to the video? How has the situation changed since then, to the best pf your knowledge?

      6) Structure of the speech and rhetorical devices: What, in your opinion, makes it one of the best American speeches? 

    • Malcolm X "The Bullet or the Ballot" URL
      Students must
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      If you have time, please watch the whole speech. If not, just the first 15 min. Please proceed with the task in the same way as in the case of "I Have A Dream". 

    • I Have A Dream text Fichier
      Students must
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    • Malcolm X Bullet or the Ballot text Fichier
      Students must
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    • Black Lives Matter, Czech Edition URL
      Students must
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  • American Prisons

  • Women's History Month

    • Why Women's History Month Matters URL
      Students must
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      Task:

      listen to the Ted Talk and take notes. Even if you think you have a good memory, it's good to take notes: remember, you're not only listening to have an idea of the content but in order to work on your language skills. Thus, please do the following:

      1) Listen more than once if necessary. DO NOT USE  THE SUBTITLES at first.

      2) If you have problems understanding, go back and listen to the problematic part again (with no subtitles). If you still don't catch the meaning/a particular word or phrase, listen again with the subtitles on. Then turn them off and listen to it again.

      3) While listening take notes of ideas and vocabulary. Write down not only the expressions you haven't been acquainted with, but those that are not part of your active vocabulary, even if you have no difficulty understanding.

      4) Write 5 vocabulary items into our googledoc.

      5) Prepare for the inclass discussion. What is it about? What is your reaction to the video? How does it relate to your experience? Do you think the situation in the USA/Great Britain/in other English speaking countries differs from the one where you live?

    • Feminism, In Our Times, BBC URL
      Students must
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      If you have time/are interested in the issue, listen to the BBC podcast, where among others, Germaine Greer is speaking. A famous British feminist and an academic, who recently caused a scandal and was accused of transphobia. Enjoy;)

  • Idleness

  • Hispanic Heritage Month

  • Walls: Divided Societies

  • Presidential Election 2020 in the USA

  • Canada, eh

  • Current Affairs

    • Economy: Biden stimulus Fichier
      Students must
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      Please read the text, and prepare for discussion. Work with vocabulary as usual.

      Heather Long, Alyssa Fowers and Andrew Van Dam

    • Solutions to child poverty in the United States URL
      Students must
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      Please read the text, prepare for discussion. Proceed with the text and vocabulary as usual

    • Further materials URL
      Students must
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      Should you be interested in the former crisis - the Great Recession - quoted in the article, try watching the film. 

    • Further reading URL
      Students must
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      Should you be interested in learning about the man who had quite accurately forecast the 2007-2009 crisis before it took place, take a look at the article, or perhaps Mike Davis's books. 

  • Brexit

  • Your subject proposals and presentations

    • Presentations: task description Devoir
      Students must
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      1) Choose a topic of interest to you concerning any of English-speaking countries. (Do not hesitate to choose any of the topics available on moodle, WHICH WE HAVEN'T DISCUSSED YET).

      2) Do some research relying on ENGLISH LANGUAGE sources. 

      3) Prepare a presentation (15 min) (Try not to exceed the time limit as we have 3 presentations per session and we need time for discussion - at least 30 min, preferably 45 min)

      4) Write a short description of your presentation/an abstract ( around 250-300 words). It is supposed to be a summary of the main points covered in your presentation, NOT an essay. 

      Also include a glossary/vocabulary file - key words for your topic, also you might include general English phrases used for academic purposes - verbs you rarely use in writing/speaking etc. Indicate the sources you have used.

      5) Choose whether you want to speak on zoom during our session or you prefer to pre-record it and send it to me 2 days before your presentation is scheduled. In that case I will send the file to the whole group. We will start watching it at the beginning of the class (naturally your audience is free to do it beforehand, but if there is no time you can start when our class begins, and we will connect 15 min later - or 30/45 if more people choose to record their presentations.) 

      6) You can prepare a PPT presentation, but it is NOT required. You can record an audio/video file, as you prefer. 

      7) It is crucial that you SPEAK, not read. It doesn't have to be word perfect, it's supposed to be an opportunity to practice. 

      I am looking forward to your presentations and the follow-up discussions!

      Upload the abstracts here.