Kulturraumstudien USA, Tips for Enriching Break

Thanks for a productive semester! Below are some tips for keeping your English and cultural knowledge active during the break:

- aim to read at least one (US) novel or work of non-fiction in English.  Good book reviews can be found on the NY Times, Guardian and Globe and Mail websites. Have a look at the books available in our book swap shelf on the fourth floor in the main wing of offices.

- watch some (US) films in English (obviously Netflix is great, but explore the cinemas in the region that offer English-language films in the original, like Odeon, Off Broadway and Filmpalette in Cologne, Brotfabrik and Neue Filmbühne in Bonn, and Black Box in Düsseldorf).

- check out the documentaries on US history and culture available on Netflix. Documentaries by PBS and part of the series called The American Experience are of a very high quality.

- keep up to date with US news by regulary watching news clips (PBS NewsHour is my favorite US news source) on YouTube or reading headlines from news outlets like the NY Times, the Guardian, or the BBC. The Atlantic and National Geographic are great resources for long reads.

- when we reconvene in March, the primary period for the 2020 elections, so keep up on who is in the lead among the Democrats, possibly by watching some of the debates and campaign speeches made.

- check out the YouTube channels of major publications like the NY Times and the Economist. Bonn-based Deutsche Welle also has excellent English-language content. Content made by YouTube influencers can also be very interesting to analyze culturally.

- the Literaturhaus Köln invites a lot of US-based authors for readings and Lit.Cologne is an annual literary Festival in Cologne that also invites many "A-list" US writers to read and lecture.

Links of interest:

ABC News (Australia) documentary "The Fight to Take Back Hawai'i": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAFdLaW02jw

Kompetenzerweiterung I, Tips for the Semester Break

 After the exam, I highly recommend that you do the following to stay immersed in English during the break: 

1) Subscribe to an English-language newspaper's/magazine daily newsletter to get a daily dose of English (even just reading the headlines is a great way to practice and add new vocab)

2) Find some podcasts you like in English, ideally in accents/voice types that are harder for you to understand

3) Read content in areas that are foreign to you (so if you like the arts/entertainment, read the business pages and vice versa)

4) Subscribe to a SAT/GRE word-of-the-day newsletter to increase your academic/advanced vocab 

5) Find a way to organize your vocab items for regular review 

6) Challenge yourself to take in more English-language TV shows, film, music, etc. (only turn on subtitles when absolutely necessary)

7) Talk in English regularly with someone from class (you don't need a native speaker to do this!)

Kompetenzerweiterung III (Wednesday Group), Homework for January 17th

 ***Our practice exam will begin at 3:45 pm sharp at our next session. Please do not be late for class.***

For homework, please: 

- complete exercises 30.2, 30.3 and 30.4 from the file "reporting what others say exercises"

- read at least one response from five different debates on the Room for Debate page and consider how you would respond to these questions: https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate

I've uploaded Philipp's essay to ILU (file name: "Philipp's essay") as a example of a great essay for you to enjoy :-).

Kompetenzerweiterung I (Tuesday Group), Homework for January 16th

In preparation of our last class session of the semester, please review Unit 23 (verbal complements) in your book and bring any final questions about the course content from this semester with you to class.

Please also read this article (click on "read the text version here" above the photo) and complete the following (you can also listen to the article using the player featured on the page): 

From the archive: How to spot a perfect fake: the world’s top art forgery detective – podcast | News | The Guardian

a) at the beginning of the podcast, you'll hear a speaker of Indian English. Identify (some of) this English variety's key phonetic features.  

b) identify at least 10 words, expressions and/or collocations featured in the podcast (consult the "How to spot an art forgery" file on Ilias)

c) answer the following question: is art forgery less egregious than other crimes? Why or why not?

If you are interested in (fine) art, I highly recommend the following YouTube channels: 

The British Museum - YouTube

The Met - YouTube

Kulturraumstudien USA, Homework for January 15th

 In advance of our last session of the semester, please: 

- have a look at either Simon Pokagon's The Red Man's Rebuke (first link) or Ida B. Wells' The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World's Columbian Exposition (second link; just to let you know in advance, there are two images of lynchings in this text) and comment on interesting features concerning 1) how these publications are constructed and 2) the language(s) used in them. (Bring in your knowledge of communication studies here: who is/are the intended audience(s) of these texts? How does the content included in them align or not align with the intended audiences' expectations of what they would read and find at the Exposition?)

The red man's rebuke (si.edu)

https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss11879.25023/?sp=1&st=gallery

978-0-226-46850-1_excerpt.pdf (uchicago.edu) (this is some background information on Ida B. Wells and her work)

Pokagon | Lapham’s Quarterly (laphamsquarterly.org) (this is some background information on Simon Pokagon)

- (especially if you are taking the exam in February) bring in any questions you have concerning the content covered this semester/expectations for the exam

Links of interest: 

Carlisle Indian Industrial School Digital Resource Center https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/

P.B.'s "An Indian story" is featured on ILU under the file name "IndianHelper_v01n15"

Kompetenzerweiterung I (Monday Group), Homework for January 15th

 In preparation of our last class session of the semester, please review Unit 23 (verbal complements) in your book and bring any final questions about the course content from this semester with you to class.

Please also read this article (click on "read the text version here" above the photo) and complete the following (you can also listen to the article using the player featured on the page): 

From the archive: How to spot a perfect fake: the world’s top art forgery detective – podcast | News | The Guardian

a) at the beginning of the podcast, you'll hear a speaker of Indian English. Identify (some of) this English variety's key phonetic features.  

b) identify at least 10 words, expressions and/or collocations featured in the podcast (consult the "How to spot an art forgery" file on Ilias)

c) answer the following question: is art forgery less egregious than other crimes? Why or why not?

If you are interested in (fine) art, I highly recommend the following YouTube channels: 

The British Museum - YouTube

The Met - YouTube

Kompetenzerweiterung III (Thursday Group), Homework for January 11th

 ***Our practice exam will begin at 8:00 sharp at our next session. Please do not be late for class.***

For homework, please: 

- complete exercises 30.2, 30.3 and 30.4 from the file "reporting what others say exercises"

- read at least one response from five different debates on the Room for Debate page and consider how you would respond to these questions: https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate

Kulturraumstudien USA, Homework for January 8th

***Please be advised that, due to Winter Break, our next class session will take place on Monday, January 8, 2024.***

 For homework, please: 

- get caught up on any assignments/readings you didn't have time to complete in October, November or December. 

- read two letters from US authors on the webpage "Letters of Note" and bring in details about how these letters are products of the times they were written in (use the magnifying glass to search for key terms that will take you to letters on certain topics): https://lettersofnote.com/

- watch one full episode of the documentary program Frontline on a topic area of personal interest and bring in three pieces of data you learned in the episode: https://www.youtube.com/@frontline/videos

 

Links of interest: 

John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQvc-Gkwhow

Biography of Sojourner Truth: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sojourner-truth

Biography of Harriet Tubman: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/harriet-tubman  

Origin of the term "Jim Crow" (2 links): https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/origins.htm

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/brown/discover-6.html

Kompetenzerweiterung I (Monday and Tuesday Group), Homework for First Session in January + Study Pack

For homework, please get caught up with any assignments that you did not complete in our 2023 sessions. I recommend reviewing as much as possible for the exam so that you can dedicate your time to other subjects. The study pack of links below might help you. Bring in any questions you might have to our first January session. Happy Holidays!

This study pack is meant for your personal enrichment and is in no way required. 

Future and present forms

http://www.english-grammar.at/online_exercises/tenses/t059-homes-of-the-future.htm

https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/tenses/will_going_to_future.htm

https://www.englishpractice.com/quiz/simple-present-future-tense/

Mixed tense

https://elt.oup.com/student/solutions/upperint/grammar/grammar_06_012e?cc=de&selLanguage=de

http://www.englishlessonsbrighton.co.uk/the-christmas-mess-mixed-tenses-reading-exercise/

Gerund and infinitive

https://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/gerunds_infinitives_5.htm

http://a4esl.org/q/f/z/zz97mkm.htm

https://languageavenue.com/advanced-english/advanced-grammar-exercises/gerunds-and-infinitives-1-advanced#take-the-quiz

Word formation

https://www.examenglish.com/FCE/fce_use_of_english_part3_test2.htm

http://www.focus.olsztyn.pl/en-english-word-formation-exercises.html

https://www.grammarbank.com/word-formation.html

https://quizlet.com/103833447/word-formation-exercises-verbs-nouns-adjectives-flash-cards/

Cloze tests

http://www.englishdaily626.com/cloze_passages.php?001

(you will find at the bottom of this page a list of hyperlinked numbers; all of these are CLOZE exercises you can use for practice)

Register rewrite

http://www.ltn.lv/~markir/essaywriting/inform.htm

https://www.engvid.com/english-resource/formal-informal-english/

Relative pronoun gap fill

https://www.englishgrammar101.com/module-2/pronouns/lesson-7/relative-pronouns

http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/grammar/3g14-relative-pronoun-gap-fill-exercise.php

http://www.esl-lounge.com/student/grammar/3g61-relative-pronouns-gap-fill.php


Relative clauses rewrite

https://www.englishgrammar.org/joining-sentences-relative-pronoun/

http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/relative-clause-exercises.html

Error correction

http://www.businessenglishresources.com/common-english-mistakes-english-error-correction-3a-advanced/

http://www.businessenglishresources.com/common-mistakes-in-emails/

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_55.htm

Active to passive voice

https://www.englishgrammar.org/active-passive-voice-exercise-8/

http://www.english-grammar.at/online_exercises/passive-voice/pa006-active-passive.htm

Do/take/make/have:

http://www.tinyteflteacher.co.uk/learning-english/FCE/practice-make-do.html

https://learningapps.org/192576

http://www.english-grammar.at/online_exercises/general-vocabulary/gv002-make-and-do.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/learnit/learnitv2.shtml

Kompetenzerweiterung III (Thursday Group), Homework for December 21st

For homework, please: 

- visit the following website and read an English-language article from at least three different countries' pages (see drop down menu in the upper left-hand corner of the homepage) and take notes on that quality of the writing for each article. Also, jot down some notes concerning what types of English-language articles are available on the respective websites you draw your articles from: https://theconversation.com/europe

- revisit the file "PhilosophyPastPapers", pick a question and sketch a quick outline for an essay in response to it.

- bring in an excellent piece of writing (500-1000 words) for your partner to read in class in our last session of the year (either printed out or as a file).

Kompetenzerweiterung III (Wednesday Group), Homework for December 20th

 For homework, please: 

- visit the following website and read an English-language article from at least three different countries' pages (see drop down menu in the upper left-hand corner of the homepage) and take notes on that quality of the writing for each article. Also, jot down some notes concerning what types of English-language articles are available on the respective websites you draw your articles from: https://theconversation.com/europe

- revisit the file "PhilosophyPastPapers", pick a question and sketch a quick outline for an essay in response to it.

- bring in an excellent piece of writing (500-1000 words) for your partner to read in class in our last session of the year (either printed out or as a file).

Kompetenzerweiterung I (Tuesday Group), Homework for December 19th

For homework, please: 

- bring in at least 10 laugh-out-loud jokes and practice delivering them (i.e. saying them out loud). We'll be having a dad joke/pun festival in groups in our next session :-). 

- review Units 17 (clauses) and 21 (noun phrases) in your book and complete exercises 3.3 and 3.4 in the scanned file "nouns agreement and articles exercises", exercise 6 from the file "place name exercise", and exercise C from the file "relative clauses quick check"

- learn the topic vocabulary and word formation vocabulary from Unit 22 (quality and the arts) and complete exercises A-D and K-M from your book. 

- as always, I recommend doing supplementary exercises from the review pages in your book, the extra exercises in the back, and targeted exercises you seek out from links featured on the blog and other grammar sites you find on the Web.

Kulturraumstudien USA, Homework for December 18th

For homework, please find a feminist/womanist text from the US, listen/read/watch it, and be able to define in our next session what makes this work a feminist/womanist text. 

(Example: "A Room of One's Own" is considered a classic feminist text by British/English writer Virgnia Woolf. We see echoes of her work (i.e. intertextuality) in Beyoncé's Super Bowl performance (slide 23 in the December 11 slides) when Beyoncé sings "best revenge is your paper," referring to cash. (Woolf writes, "That is why I have laid so much stress on money and a room of one's own.") Music videos, individual performances, song lyrics, ad campaigns, political cartoons, and photographs are examples of texts you might have a look at for this assignment.)

Links of interest: 

https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution

Kompetenzerweiterung I (Monday Group), Homework for December 18th

 For homework, please: 

- bring in at least 10 laugh-out-loud jokes and practice delivering them (i.e. saying them out loud). We'll be having a dad joke/pun festival in groups in our next session :-). 

- review Units 17 (clauses) and 21 (noun phrases) in your book and complete exercises 3.3 and 3.4 in the scanned file "nouns agreement and articles exercises", exercise 6 from the file "place name exercise", and exercise C from the file "relative clauses quick check"

- learn the topic vocabulary and word formation vocabulary from Unit 22 (quality and the arts) and complete exercises A-D and K-M from your book. 

- as always, I recommend doing supplementary exercises from the review pages in your book, the extra exercises in the back, and targeted exercises you seek out from links featured on the blog and other grammar sites you find on the Web.

Kompetenzerweiterung III (Thursday Group), Homework for December 14th

 For homework, please: 

- access the opinion pages on the Guardian's website (https://www.theguardian.com/uk/commentisfree) or another English language newspaper/periodical's opinions. Read two articles, one of which has a thesis you fundamentally disagree with and another article that you consider to be extremely well written (whether you agree with its thesis or not). Take concrete, specific notes on both articles in the following five areas: 1) word choice, 2) sentence structure, 3) organization, 4) thesis statement, 5) examples/data/details

- discover a new English language news outlet this week and read at least one article from it. Bring the name of this news outlet and the title of the article with you to class.

- read the file "supporting and opposing views" on ILU and complete exercises 24.1, 24.3, and 24.4 from the "supporting and opposing views exercises" file

Kompetenzerweiterung III (Wednesday Group), Homework for December 13th

 For homework, please: 

- access the opinion pages on the Guardian's website (https://www.theguardian.com/uk/commentisfree) or another English language newspaper/periodical's opinion pages. Read two articles, one of which has a thesis you fundamentally disagree with and another article that you consider to be extremely well written (whether you agree with its thesis or not). Take concrete, specific notes on both articles in the following five areas: 1) word choice, 2) sentence structure, 3) organization, 4) thesis statement, 5) examples/data/details

- discover a new English language news outlet this week and read at least one article from it. Bring the name of this news outlet and the title of the article with you to class.

- read the file "supporting and opposing views" on ILU and complete exercises 24.1, 24.3, and 24.4 from the "supporting and opposing views exercises" file

Kompetenzerweiterung I (Tuesday Group), Homework for December 12th

***In our next session, we will have our third in-class essay from 16:15-17:15. Please come to class with paper and writing utensils.***

In advance of our next session on 12/12, please:

- review units 5 and 7 on future time and passives and causatives, respectively, and learn the topic vocab and word formation words for unit 8. (It is recommended that you complete the review on pp. 68-69 as well.) Complete exercises A-D and L-O in Unit 8 and bring in any questions you might have to class.

 - have a look at the following video Hydrogen cars: a greener future for London? - BBC London - YouTube and answer the following question: are hydrogen cars (part of) the future? (Bonus challenge: can you catch any collocations in the speech featured in the video?) 

- read the word formation suffixes scan (file name: "word formation suffixes") and complete exercises 2 and 3 from the file "word formation suffixes exercises". Bring your answers with you to class.

- the following exercises are recommended for reviewing passive voice:
https://www.esl-lounge.com/student/grammar/3g20-passive-active-exercise.php
https://www.english-grammar.at/online_exercises/passive-voice/pa002-incident-in-the-sky.htm
https://www.english-grammar.at/online_exercises/passive-voice/pa006-active-passive.htm
https://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-23159.php

Kulturraumstudien USA, Homework for December 11th

***If you signed up for the excursion on December 8th (Friday), please be at the venue by 10:00 am as our tour will begin at 10:15 sharp.***

In advance of next week's session, please: 

- read as much as you can from Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau (read at least the last two slides from today's presentation): https://www.gutenberg.org/files/71/71-h/71-h.htm  Identify at least one statement in the text that surprises and/or interests you (bear in mind that this text inspired a number of leaders in more recent history such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi).

Links of interest:

Unknown | Sojourner Truth, "I Sell the Shadow to Support the Substance" | The Metropolitan Museum of Art (metmuseum.org)

1491s sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdy5XSdCkz0

https://medium.com/@micheleanderson/der-spiegel-journalist-messed-with-the-wrong-small-town-d92f3e0e01a7

 

 

Kompetenzwerweiterung I (Monday Group), Homework for December 11th

***For those students who received essays back on December 4th, please make your hand-written corrections/additions to your essay and place them in my letterbox at the Institute by Thursday, December 7th at 11:30 am (electronic submissions will NOT be accepted). My letterbox is located in the wing of the Institute with the women's restrooms (to the the right when you come up the stairs on the side with the elevator).***

In advance of our next session on 12/11, please:

- review units 5 and 7 on future time and passives and causatives, respectively, and learn the topic vocab and word formation words for unit 8. (It is recommended that you complete the review on pp. 68-69 as well.) Complete exercises A-D and L-O in Unit 8 and bring in any questions you might have to class.

 - have a look at the following video Hydrogen cars: a greener future for London? - BBC London - YouTube and answer the following question: are hydrogen cars (part of) the future? (Bonus challenge: can you catch any collocations in the speech featured in the video?) 

- read the word formation suffixes scan (file name: "word formation suffixes") and complete exercises 2 and 3 from the file "word formation suffixes exercises". Bring your answers with you to class.

- the following exercises are recommended for reviewing passive voice:
https://www.esl-lounge.com/student/grammar/3g20-passive-active-exercise.php
https://www.english-grammar.at/online_exercises/passive-voice/pa002-incident-in-the-sky.htm
https://www.english-grammar.at/online_exercises/passive-voice/pa006-active-passive.htm
https://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-23159.php

Kompetenzerweiterung III (Thursday Group), Homework for December 7th

 ***Due to Project Week, our next class session will be on December 7th.***

TEILLEISTUNG EXAMS WILL TAKE PLACE ON ZOOM DURING PROJECT WEEK. PLEASE BE ON TIME FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT.

For homework, please:

- watch/read at least five other materials in preparation of debating your prepared debate question during your Teilleistung exam

- watch this video Co-housing for London's ageing population - BBC London - YouTube and be ready to debate the question “Is co-housing/co-living the future?” in our next session

- read the article "Cohousing" (schedule enough time for it, please, as it is 9 pages long) and provide your personal answer to the question in its title after reading it