Anglo-Saxon Humour

In our last session we spoke about Cultural/Literary competence. We stated that humour was a good example of how this competence functions. Within that matter I promised to post a "Letter from the Queen of England to the people of the USA". Click on the next hiper-link and you'll be able to read/download the file. Notice how culture plays a crucial role in understanding and enjoying the text.

Click here ---> Letter from Queen Elizabeth II to the People of the USA, on the Financial Crisis

Research Paper (introductory information)

As you were told in the first week of the term, we will be researching on and analysing a couple of novellas (i.e., long short stories or short novels): "The Stone Cipher" by Tony Pi and "By the Waters of the Ganga" by Stephen Gaskel. Both stories were published in 2007 and their authors are almost unknown, therefore the WWW (a.k.a., the internet) won't be of much help, I am afraid.
Start reading/researching as soon as possible and get ready to write your papers. Please, take into consideration all corrections in previous papers and homework, and specially those pieces of advice (available to download) we shared with you on this matter in the past.
The best of lucks to you in this new task.
DD

First Activity!

Just before we start a new blog... let us work on our first activity.
In just one paragraph, give a personal definition of POETRY. You can make it as short/long as you want inasmuch as you keep it as ONE paragraph. Pay close attention to the use of language and try to make your text as effective as possible. Remember the deadline is Saturday (April 4th) by midnight. Let us the rest of Easter to check the blog and give some feed back to our mates (as a group or to separate individuals, or both!), AT LEAST ONCE.
Thanks for participating, see you after Easter, enjoy yourselves and... READ!

New Class! 2009-I

Despite not being scheduled officially, we have opened a new class this term! You might have felt quite disappointed at failing last semester, but try to take it as a negative experience which led to learning. If you did learn the lesson, you must make well now. At the beginning of new term we are all in the highest spirits. Let us keep them high all through the course and hope for the best results. Please, if you notice there are obstacles you find particularly difficult to manage, let us know as soon as possible. Your success is YOURS, but your failure is OURS.
Best wishes!

Test II (description)

Dear Sirs & Madammes,

It seems we are finally having our second test on Friday 20th, that is, in a week's time. We have discussed about its format and agreed to structure 4 parts as follows:

I.- Literary Terms - Prose. You will be asked to provide the definition of a few terms and then you'll have to exemplify those terms by taking extracts from a given text by a British author.
II.- Answer questions about the contents we have studied in this second part of the term. Your answers must be brief but analytical and you must provide examples, where possible, referring to the texts we have studied in class.
III.- Short Stories. You will be given extracts from some of the short stories we have read and analysed in the course. You will be expected to remember and provide some basic elements of the story.
IV.- You will be expected to discuss briefly on the relevance of one of the excerpts in part III. This excerpt will be selected by your teachers.

As you can see, nothing you can't deal with. Tests and their results are never a matter of luck so: get ready. See you on Friday!

Homework: Short Stories.

Before Friday Jan 30th... participate in this virtual forum and prepare for class discussion...

Class 001
We just read, studied and analised D.H. Lawrence's "The Horse Dealer's Daughter", R. Kipling's "Cupid's Arrows" and J. Joyce's "The Boarding House". They are very different certainly, but you are expected to determine ONE crucial, relevant similarity shared by the three of them and briefly state why it is specially important from your personal viewpoint.

Class 002 A/B
We just read, studied and analised D.H. Lawrence's "The Horse Dealer's Daughter", R. Kipling's "Cupid's Arrows" and D. Lessing's "The Other Garden". even though it is evident that they are all quite different, you are asked to determine a crucial, relevant similarity shared by the three of them and briefly state why it is particularly important from your perspective.

Official Regulations on Make-up Tests

From NORMATIVA DEL REGLAMENTO DE EVALUACIÓN ESTUDIANTIL DE LAUNIVERSIDAD PEDAGÓGICA EXPERIMENTAL LIBERTADOR. CAPÍTULO III De la Valoración del Aprendizaje y Comunicación de los Resultados
(Art. 8)
1.- La Evaluación Remedial es una actividad evaluativa cuyo propósito es brindar la oportunidad al estudiante de revisar y mejorar la calificación en aquellas unidades, contenidos o bloques de objetivos donde no alcance el nivel mínimo aprobatorio, el cual corresponde al 65% de la valoración respectiva de acuerdo con lo dispuesto en el artículo 12 del Reglamento General de Evaluación Estudiantil.
2.- Para que un estudiante tenga derecho a solicitar la Evaluación Remedial deberá alcanzar entre el 40% y el 64% de valoración en la actividad de evaluación correspondiente a la unidad, contenido o bloque de objetivos correspondiente. Quedan exceptuadas las estrategias de evaluación de las fases y de las actividades de extensión acreditables, y aquellas estrategias que impliquen condiciones de ejecución especial tales como: talleres, trabajos de campo, prácticas de laboratorio, pasantías, seminarios, proyectos o trabajos de investigación, así como aquellas que por razones económicas o logísticas limiten o impidan la ejecución de la referida actividad evaluativa.
3.- El resultado de la actividad de Evaluación Remedial sustituirá a la anterior para el cálculo de la calificación final del curso respectivo.
4.- La Evaluación de Superación es una actividad evaluativa cuyo propósito es brindar la oportunidad al estudiante de revisar y mejorar aquellas unidades, contenidos o bloques de objetivos donde alcance el nivel mínimo aprobatorio, el cual corresponde al 65% de la valoración respectiva, así como elevar la calificación obtenida.

African Poetry

(All sections) We have studied a few African poems in class during these last weeks (i.e., "These too are our elders" by J Mapanje, "The Casualties" by C Achebe, "When tomorrow is too long" by T Ojaide, and "How can I sing" by O Ofeimun). Re-read Jack Mapanje's poem and try to express the old man's position within the context portrayed in the poem. You must submit your text BEFORE Sunday.

This Term Papers...

At long last... We have finally decided your paper will deal with one author, Oscar Wilde, and two works, "The Importance of Being Earnest" (Drama - Comedy) and The Picture of Dorian Grey (Prose - Novel). You can download both works from this blog and start reading as soon as possible. You can re-read general instructions and recommendations on writing papers. Further instructions and more specific questions will be posted soon so that you can make concrete questions and actually start writing. And... will you, please, tell your friends about this post?
Thanks, beforehand!

Being updated depends on you!

You are gradually getting to know better what's required from you as a participant in our Literature courses. Please, check the downloadable information (in the column on the right) and decide what you need to revise.
Notice, we have also added an Excel file (Check your own record...) for you to fill in and keep your own performance under permanent surveillance, in case you want to know how you are doing at any point of the course. It's your choice; so, there is no need to ask the professor in turn! Keep going!

ps

Notice, please, that -since course programmes are official documents- the information in the programme has been published in Spanish. Hence, there is no mistake involved.

Welcome

We are trying to keep pace with technology. Let us hope we will not be left behind so quickly.
To begin with, the basic introductory information must be made available and placed at the reach of your hands. Then, the first things you will find in this blog are: Course Programme, Calendar, Syllabus, and Evaluation Plan for the current term. Make comments and suggestions as soon as you can, please.