English

This course gives an introduction to different forms of storytelling, exploring the origins and evolution of fairy tales with a focus on contemporary retellings. A variety of fairy tales are examined, ranging from ancient myths and medieval storytelling tradition to Disney’s adaptations and TV series such as ONCE UPON A TIME and GRIMM. The course introduces students to different literary genres, such as children’s literature (by looking into how children’s novels such as ALICE IN WONDERLAND and THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO have been retold) and graphic novel studies. Students learn different approaches of literary analysis, such as comparative criticism and psychoanalysis. The course includes excursions to relevant exhibitions and interactive workshops on storytelling.

This course examines how to write for an authentic audience, and first person narratives that move people`s minds and hearts. The course begins with literacy narratives, learning how they work and how writing our own can expose our own assumptions and tendencies about writing in English. Then, the course covers the genre of the Personal Statement or Statement of Purpose, not as a "template" but as a means to get to know ourselves deeply in order to communicate our best selves persuasively. It covers how to read like a writer and apply that learning to our own writing. By the end of the course, students will have written, through multiple drafts, two first person essays: a literacy narrative and a statement of purpose, following the guidelines of the graduate program of their choice. This is a writing intensive course.

Prerequisite: Writing 1 or Writing 2 or ideally, BOTH. It is assumed that you have already taken a writing class at the university level.

This course provides an introduction to the very complex phenomenon of first and second language acquisition. It explores the fundamental properties of language acquisition and discusses, compares, and evaluates significant theories of language acquisition and empirical findings. The course covers the linguistic nature of second language learner's inter-language systems and underlying cognitive mechanisms posited to explain them, as well as the various social and effective factors that affect the ultimate success of the learner. 

This ground-breaking course invites humanities, pre-med, and social science students interested in reading literature to experience the effects of ‘shared reading’: reading literary texts together, out loud, with communities such as people in care homes, schools, hospitals, prisons, or asylum seeker centers. Students learn the basics of how literary texts can "work" for readers, both in theory and in practice. The course discusses the issues in proving the positive effects of literary reading scientifically while seeing in practice when a text resonates with someone. Students take part in shared reading groups first-hand and examine under which circumstances shared reading can lead to comforting or transformative experiences.  The course connects students to other communities, and vice versa, as well as the community members to each other.