Job Discussion Forums

[Tao Burp]

[joe greene]

Last year I taught university seniors. During the first term, students who showed interest were primarily concerned with their exams, as Tao Burp points out. During the second term, few showed interest at all. Most were concerned with their 'practise' jobs and lining up permanent employment.

If I were in their shoes, I'd be doing the same thing. I wish I could help more of them land good jobs.

[Tao Burp]

Sorry I failed to mention this too:

Beginning this year, the TEM-8(Test for English Majors) or Band exam which seniors in universities take or retake each year will now include a small section on British and American Literature, and the questions are set by the standard textbook. The TEM-8 is a necessary evil for students to obtain certification before seeking employment. If they fail, they may return and retake the exam. The certification improves their employment status in their danwei.

[zhuangzi]

ENDER'S GAME

The entire Ender's series is very popular in China. We have brilliant kids who are pushed to the limit learning to cope and become all they can be despite the games of the higher ups.

Research this book. There is a dam good reason why it won all of the awards and recognition that it has.

One of the sequels takes place in China, with a character named Hanzi. These are GOOD BOOKS to get into.

As a personal friend of the author, I often send the reactions of my students to him.

Check it out. If you're in Beijing you can find it at the Wangfujing bookstore.

I highly recommend this book as an American classic with international appeal.

And I second DEATH OF A SALESMAN. Excellent choice.

Of course there's also the possiblity of Pearl Buck.

[Kurochan]

It seems that William Saroyan is someone you could introduce to your classes. It's real literature, yet the language is very easy to understand. You could try My Name Is Aram or The Human Comedy, or excerpts from them. He's someone who seems to have been really popular in the past, but isn't talked about any more.

James Thurber's short stories would be great -- you could select from a ton, like "The Day the Dam Broke" (that could provide an interesting discussion of rumor and panic, if your students were up to it), "Women Go on Forever," or "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." My favorites are "The Night the Bed Fell," and "More Alarms at Night," which are HILARIOUS if read out loud. Maybe you could try that with your classes.

Also, don't forget Langston Hughes -- some of his short, classic poems would be a good addition.

[beck's]

I had a great time last term teaching the American literature anthology that has been mentioned in a previous post. There are short exerpts from the classics and a Chinese introduction to each piece. The text begins with the Autobiography of Ben Franklin and ends with some Toni Morrison, if I can remember correctly.

My students had a very difficult time with ther reading and many of them did not do it at all. I didn't fight this. I simply explained the story to them in a short lecture of about 20 minutes. I put notes on the board for them to copy. They love copying things and it makes them comfortable and secure because that is what they are used to.

Then we debated the issues in the literature. For example when we "did" the Scarlet Letter the debate/discussion topics were: 1) Is it wise for young people to marry older people and 2) Should adultery be illegal?
With Moby Dick the debates centered around animal rights and endangered species etc. Amazing that the moderators won't print the title of a book what?

I had a seating grid with each student's name written on it. The students knew that there would be no written exam and that they would be marked only on their oral responses to the discussion questions. Written assignments are useless because they just cheat and copy, in the most unbelievably transparent ways, and I could not find a way around this.

When they got up to speak I put a colored dot by their name. At the end of the course the students with the most dots got the highest marks. I was marking for participation on the theory that if they got up to speak their English would naturally improve.

This is how I survived and managed to enjoy the course. My students did get up to speak and they did practice their oral skills which was my main objective all along. They did sometimes disagree with each other and at other times I played the devil's advocate and encouraged them to argue with me.

[Brickerage]

Dont know if this has been suggested, but have you ever considered
www.theonion.com
??
Its always a pleasure for me to teach their articles to the class, because of the fact that they usually take such simple situations and make them into full blown news articles... it works great for getting them to understand the jargon that most news articles carry with them as well as providing some great vocab... plus its always a great read for anyone that appreciates subtle humor.
Good luck
And, ok I know this is nothing close to lit. but it might be of some help