Kompetenzerweiterung I (Wednesday Group), Homework for December 7th

In preparation of next Wednesday's session (12/07), please do the following:

-please complete the exercises (i.e. A-O) for Unit 6 and learn the vocabulary for Unit 6 (pp. 44-45). Do Review 2 for Units 5 and 6 on pp. 52-53 of your book as well. Please consult the key at the back of the book to check your work AFTER you have given the exercises a go on your own. Bring any questions you have regarding the vocabulary/these solutions with you to next Wednesday's session.

- review Units 1 and 3 and bring in any questions you might have. I would recommend doing exercises from the reviews on pp. 20-21, pp. 36-37 and pp. 265-266 from your book for extra practice. (Bear in mind that some of the vocab exercises on these pages focus on items that we have not covered yet.)

- browse the monster.com website and read at least one article that is in some way related to career advice: Monster Jobs - Job Search, Career Advice & Hiring Resources | Monster.com What strikes you interculturally speaking about the advice given (i.e. do you notice an intercultural differences between what is expected in your home country and the US/anglophone countries?)?

- identify a job/career field that interests you and watch a video on YouTube that profiles that career/provides more information about it. Bring in the name of the video and one interesting takeway from it with you to next week's class. 

Group nouns | LearnEnglish (britishcouncil.org)

Kulturraumstudien USA, Homework for December 5th

 For homework, please: 

- watch the following video, which features author Francisco Cantú, a former member of the US Border Patrol (2008-2012, i.e. the first Obama administration) and published a memoir about his experiences in 2017: How this former Border Patrol agent learned to see through the eyes of those trying to cross - YouTube

As you watch the video, take notes on any comments, information and/or sights presented therein that surprise you.

- after watching the video, read an excerpt from Cantú's book The Line Becomes a River posted under the "Week Eight Reading" folder on Ilias Inhalt. The excerpt is written in the voice of José, an undocumented immigrant to the US whom Cantú befriends in the course of the memoir's events. In this scene, José is in Mexico tending to his dying mother. (The "you" in this scene refers to Cantú, but is obviously also a stylistic choice used to pull the reader in.) As you read the excerpt, jot down notes/highlight passages that capture the complexities of José's situation. (The upload on Ilias places pg 242 as the third scan when it should be the last page you read. The other scans are in the correct order.)

- finally, do some research concerning the US visa options available to a Mexican citizen (you can look up other countries as well, but make sure you investigate Mexico). Keep notes tracking the sources and websites you use to obtain this information.

Links discussed in class:

U.S. Constitution | Constitution Annotated | Congress.gov | Library of Congress

Kompetenzerweiterung I (Monday Group), Homework for December 5th

***If you intend to take the exam with me this semester, please make sure that you are registered for it on PSSO by the deadline.***

In preparation of our next Monday session (12/05), please do the following:

Please complete the exercises (i.e. A-I) for Unit 21 and read the grammar details for Unit 21 (pp. 170-171). Please consult the key at the back of the book to check your work AFTER you have given the exercises a go on your own. Bring any questions you have regarding rules/these solutions with you to our next class session.

- read 2-3 of the essays featured here What I'm really thinking | Lifeandstyle | The Guardian and do the following: 

1) be able to pinpoint what compelled you to click on the article in the first place (of the hundreds of articles on the site, what made that person's perspective interesting enough to read?)

2) did the articles live up to your expectation (i.e. what you had in mind when you clicked)? Explain.

3) take notes regarding the paragraph organization of the article

4) bring a sketch of an essay with you to class (the key here is narrowing down the perspective of the person and how you are going to contextualize this person's experience) 

- visit this website Home (thisamericanlife.org) and do the following (most stories are about one hour in length, so schedule enough time for this):

1) decide on a story to listen to (the "archive" and "recommended" tabs at the top right-hand corner of the page can be helpful in picking from the hundreds of stories available)

2) determine if the story was well-structured (some stories are broken down into "acts" on their respective webpages) and lived up to the expectations you felt when you read the story's description. If you feel compelled to stop listening at any point, identify what specifically caused this.

3) answer the question: could any of the material in the story you listened to inspire a great "what I'm really thinking" essay? If so, how and for what kind of essay? If not, why not?

Kompetenzerweiterung I (Thursday Group), Homework for December 1st

 ***Please be advised our next session will be on December 1st. We will not have a class session during Project Week.***

In preparation of our next Thursday session (12/01), please do the following:

Please complete the exercises (i.e. A-I) for Unit 21 and read the grammar details for Unit 21 (pp. 170-171). Please consult the key at the back of the book to check your work AFTER you have given the exercises a go on your own. Bring any questions you have regarding rules/these solutions with you to our next class session.

- read 2-3 of the essays featured here What I'm really thinking | Lifeandstyle | The Guardian and do the following: 

1) be able to pinpoint what compelled you to click on the article in the first place (of the hundreds of articles on the site, what made that person's perspective interesting enough to read?)

2) did the articles live up to your expectation (i.e. what you had in mind when you clicked)? Explain.

3) take notes regarding the paragraph organization of the article

4) bring a sketch of an essay with you to class (the key here is narrowing down the perspective of the person and how you are going to contextualize this person's experience) 

- visit this website Home (thisamericanlife.org) and do the following (most stories are about one hour in length, so schedule enough time for this):

1) decide on a story to listen to (the "archive" and "recommended" tabs at the top right-hand corner of the page can be helpful in picking from the hundreds of stories available)

2) determine if the story was well-structured (some stories are broken down into "acts" on their respective webpages) and lived up to the expectations you felt when you read the story's description. If you feel compelled to stop listening at any point, identify what specifically caused this.

3) answer the question: could any of the material in the story you listened to inspire a great "what I'm really thinking" essay? If so, how and for what kind of essay? If not, why not?

Kompetenzerweiterung I (Thursday Group), Homework for November 17th

***Please be advised that you will be required to wear a mask in all classes at the ITMK next week.***

In preparation of next Thursday's session (11/17), please do the following:

- complete the exercises (i.e. A-J) for Unit 17 and read the grammar details for Unit 17 (pp. 138-139). Please consult the key at the back of the book to check your work AFTER you have given the exercises a go on your own. Bring any questions you have regarding rules/these solutions with you to next Thursday's session.

- read pp. 186-187 of Unit 23 and do exercises A-D on pg. 188-189 (then self-check your answers). Bring any questions you have with you our next session. 

- read through the explanations on the "verbs commonly used in passive voice" sheet distributed in class (and uploaded to Ilias as "Grammar for CAE and CPE verbs commonly used with the passive explanation") and complete exercises 1 and 3 on the back side (also uploaded to Ilias as "Grammar for CAE and CPE verbs commonly used with the passive exercises"). 

- read a review of a film, album or book (you can find reviews on Culture | The Guardian and on the NY Times (the TH has a subscription, but you need to be logged into the VPN in order to access it)) and assess the review using the following categories: 1) word choice, 2) details/examples, 3) sentence structure, 4) paragraph structure/essay organization, 5) thesis statement (is there a main "take-away" from the review?). Bring this review with you to class (either printed out or in an electronic form). 

- watch at least one of the videos from Amoeba Records "What's in my bag?" series Amoeba - YouTube and observe/take notes on how they present their picks. Then, select 3-5 books/films/albums that you will present to your group in a similar fashion (i.e. hopefully being so convincing that your group will want to check that media out) in class next Thursday. Try to bring the physical copies of the books/films/albums if you can. 

Kompetenzerweiterung I (Wednesday Group), Homework for November 16th

***Please be advised that you will be required to wear a mask in next week's class.***

In preparation of next Wednesday's session (11/16), please do the following:

Please complete the exercises (i.e. A-I) for Unit 21 and read the grammar details for Unit 21 (pp. 170-171). Please consult the key at the back of the book to check your work AFTER you have given the exercises a go on your own. Bring any questions you have regarding rules/these solutions with you to next Wednesday's session.

- read 2-3 of the essays featured here What I'm really thinking | Lifeandstyle | The Guardian and do the following: 

1) be able to pinpoint what compelled you to click on the article in the first place (of the hundreds of articles on the site, what made that person's perspective interesting enough to read?)

2) did the articles live up to your expectation (i.e. what you had in mind when you clicked)? Explain.

3) take notes regarding the paragraph organization of the article

4) bring a sketch of an essay with you to class (the key here is narrowing down the perspective of the person and how you are going to contextualize this person's experience) 

- visit this website Home (thisamericanlife.org) and do the following (most stories are about one hour in length, so schedule enough time for this):

1) decide on a story to listen to (the "archive" and "recommended" tabs at the top right-hand corner of the page can be helpful in picking from the hundreds of stories available)

2) determine if the story was well-structured (some stories are broken down into "acts" on their respective webpages) and lived up to the expectations you felt when you read the story's description. If you feel compelled to stop listening at any point, identify what specifically caused this.

3) answer the question: could any of the material in the story you listened to inspire a great "what I'm really thinking" essay? If so, how and for what kind of essay? If not, why not?

Kulturraumstudien USA, Homework for November 14th

For homework, please: 

- have a look at the results of the mid-term elections after November 8th. Focus on both a) an individual political issue and how it is discussed in post-election reporting on a national scale and b) one individual state's mid-term election results and how these results are discussed in post-election reporting. (For item a, you might consider what interested you in the PEW Research Center surveys.) For both of these analyses, see if you can apply the terminology introduced in our class session from November 7th. 

- read the article posted to Ilias as the file "us should break up states" and a) identify the author's thesis (i.e. main message) and b) detail whether you find it feasible or not. 

Kompetenzerweiterung I (Monday Group), Homework for November 14th

 In preparation of next Monday's session (11/14), please do the following:

- complete the exercises (i.e. A-J) for Unit 17 and read the grammar details for Unit 17 (pp. 138-139). Please consult the key at the back of the book to check your work AFTER you have given the exercises a go on your own. Bring any questions you have regarding rules/these solutions with you to next Monday's session.

- read pp. 186-187 of Unit 23 and do exercises A-D on pg. 188-189 (then self-check your answers). Bring any questions you have with you our next session. 

- read through the explanations on the "verbs commonly used in passive voice" sheet distributed in class (and uploaded to Ilias as "Grammar for CAE and CPE verbs commonly used with the passive explanation") and complete exercises 1 and 3 on the back side (also uploaded to Ilias as "Grammar for CAE and CPE verbs commonly used with the passive exercises"). 

- read a review of a film, album or book (you can find reviews on Culture | The Guardian and on the NY Times (the TH has a subscription, but you need to be logged into the VPN in order to access it)) and assess the review using the following categories: 1) word choice, 2) details/examples, 3) sentence structure, 4) paragraph structure/essay organization, 5) thesis statement (is there a main "take-away" from the review?). Bring this review with you to class (either printed out or in an electronic form). 

- watch at least one of the videos from Amoeba Records "What's in my bag?" series Amoeba - YouTube and observe/take notes on how they present their picks. Then, select 3-5 books/films/albums that you will present to your group in a similar fashion (i.e. hopefully being so convincing that your group will want to check that media out) in class next Monday. Try to bring the physical copies of the books/films/albums if you can. 

Kompetenzerweiterung I (Wednesday Group), Homework for November 9th

 In preparation of next Wednesday's session (11/9), please do the following:

- complete the exercises (i.e. A-J) for Unit 17 and read the grammar details for Unit 17 (pp. 138-139). Please consult the key at the back of the book to check your work AFTER you have given the exercises a go on your own. Bring any questions you have regarding rules/these solutions with you to next Wednesday's session.

- read pp. 186-187 of Unit 23 and do exercises A-D on pg. 188-189 (then self-check your answers). Bring any questions you have with you our next session. 

- read through the explanations on the "verbs commonly used in passive voice" sheet distributed in class (and uploaded to Ilias as "Grammar for CAE and CPE verbs commonly used with the passive explanation") and complete exercises 1 and 3 on the back side (also uploaded to Ilias as "Grammar for CAE and CPE verbs commonly used with the passive exercises"). 

- read a review of a film, album or book (you can find reviews on Culture | The Guardian and on the NY Times (the TH has a subscription, but you need to be logged into the VPN in order to access it)) and assess the review using the following categories: 1) word choice, 2) details/examples, 3) sentence structure, 4) paragraph structure/essay organization, 5) thesis statement (is there a main "take-away" from the review?). Bring this review with you to class (either printed out or in an electronic form). 

- watch at least one of the videos from Amoeba Records "What's in my bag?" series Amoeba - YouTube and observe/take notes on how they present their picks. Then, select 3-5 books/films/albums that you will present to your group in a similar fashion (i.e. hopefully being so convincing that your group will want to check that media out) in class next Wednesday. Try to bring the physical copies of the books/films/albums if you can.