Teaching American Civilization

megank · Post by **megank** » Tue Sep 09, 2003 9:50 pm

Hello,
I will soon begin teaching a course called "American Civilization" to third-year students at a European university. The professor with whom I will be working told me that the aim of the course is to get the students speaking English as much as possible, while perhaps learning something about American civilization/culture. His list of suggested topics included items like: values, religion, minorities, daily life, work and leisure time, holidays etc.
I was wondering if anyone who has taught classes like this before has any insights about topics that engaged/ did not engage their students, as well as techniques/ activities that encouraged students to keep talking!
Thanks

Norm Ryder · Post by **Norm Ryder** » Fri Sep 12, 2003 11:41 pm

megank
It looks as though everyone in the northern hemisphere is on vacation, so just to get things going I'm butting in, though I have next to no formal knowledge of American civilisation. It's just that I've had the time, which you may not have had, to have a look through what the net has to offer on the subject.
First of all, I assumed that you meant "North American" and specifically "US" rather than Canadian civilisation; then I searched "American culture" rather than "civilisation" (using Google).

I think the best full outline that I found was at www.art.man.ac.uk/ENGLISH/staff/pk/teac ... tline.html
It also offers a good reading list (in order of difficulty) for each unit.
Then, at www-writing.berkely.edu/TESL-EJ/ej11/r2.html there is a t review of a text, Discovering American Culture, designed for teaching ESL students (US$15.95; UK 12 pounds95 pence). It also has a teacher's manual (for about the same price!)
You'll find another course outline (for a US summer course) at www.wam.umd.edu/~ewhite/syllabus.html

Two other sites offer some useful contacts who might be generous enough to give you some pointers:
http://webct.bcc.ctc.edu:8900/public/eslon120a/
http://sun.simmons.edu/libraries/instru ... lture.html

I hope I haven't been trying to "teach you to suck eggs"; but we had to do something to provoke some people who actually know something about the subject and feel obliged to set you on a better course.

Anyway, you'll find all these sights if you simply ask Google "American + culture + course".

Happy hunting. Hope you can get a lively course together without too much stress.

Norm.

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Sat Sep 13, 2003 1:38 am

My reply would be:
Your students are most likely comparatively mature and well-educated learners. Bear in mind that students in Europe have to study a much longer history than Americans do, and what's more, they have many different national histories. Imagine teaching to German students - their history begins in ROman times, but in more recent centuries, there were various "German" states and principalities that were at odds with each other and with other nation-states, especially France.
I think you should acquaint yourself with some of these facts as Europe is these days taking a new tack on teaching history - it is now taught as "European History", of which the national histories are strands that run parallel to one another. I have here before me a textbook "Europaeisches Geschichtsbuch", written by twelve authors from twelve major countries. It was jointly published, in twelve languages, by publishers in the participating nations.
At various periods, such nation would be engulfed in a civil war, which inevitably produced refugees that made their way to the New World. For the past 70 years, there has been no European emigration worth men tioning; in fact, the reverse is now true - lots of migrants from the rest of the world is going there.
So, how does the North American continent fit into this perspective? It was, and still is, a theater beside the European one. Talking about America to some extent means talking about European history on a different continent. Europeans see many things differently from you, so be prepared for a healthy give-and-take in your discussions.

Deena Lynn · Post by **Deena Lynn** » Tue Oct 07, 2003 10:20 am

I work in an Italian University (lettore) and I teach American English. I also have to teach American civilization. There is really quite a bit of material out there for you to use, the main problem is organizing it for the accademic year. I teach 3 hours a week language and just 1 hour civilization. So I've had to organize everything so that it can all be done in no more than 30 hours... That's the BIG problem, even because you have to leave time for discussion. And believe me since most students study British English and civilization, they are really interested in the States. If you have any other questions please contact me and I'll give all the information I can.