LAN110, LAN200 and LAN207

Hello students! I am so happy that we finally have a class website for each of you to view. I mentioned earlier on in our terms together that we would get a website and here it is! I hope you like it.

The New Course Syllabus is Finally Updated and Available for your View!Smile 

Instructor:

Occasional Professor of Slavic Languages, Department of Languages and Lingual Affairs

Head of the Department of Slavic Languages

Head of the Department of Languages and Lingual Affairs

 

Teaching Assistant: TBA

Hours of Availability: TBA

E-mail Addresses:  *USE 1 and stick with it, please.*

Date and Time of Course/Class: I will announce the course dates and times during the week starting Monday May 11, 2009

 Course Description:

DRAFT 

An Introduction to Conversational Bosnian/Serbo-Croatian and Bosnian Culture and Music Course Information Class Meetings:  Course Description: Along with learning about the cultural and musical aspects of Bosnia-Herzegovina, this course looks at the fundamentals of Serbo-Croatian/Bosnian conversational skills. This course is a speaking-reading-and-writing -intensive course with the following core objectives and, or goals:·         Introduce students to the basics of speaking Croatian·         Introduce students to basic and intermediate speaking concepts·         Introduce students to the phonetics and careful, critical reading in Croatian·         Introduce students to translations and appropriate translators·         Introduce students to the basics of writing in the Croatian language·         Introduce students to careful concepts of writing, reading and speaking in Croatian with an emphasis on phrasing, core pronunciations, etc.·         Make sure that students have the necessary language skills·         Ensure that students are able to communicate in Croatian·         Ensure that students are able to read and write in Croatian at an acceptable level·         To continue to fulfill the goals of the culture and music classes Besides the course textbook “Teach Yourself Croatian,” students will be expected to read a wide variety of online academic sources of reference. Students will be expected to complete worksheets and at least 2 longer assessments which will hone in on their writing and communication skills. Besides the written component students will be expected to submit audiorecordings of themselves speaking which will be marked. A quiz will assess student’s reading comprehension levels within the context of the course and a longer test will study the student’s ability to conjugate certain words, to read and respond to certain passage, to translate a piece of writing and to communicate thought in written form in both English and Bosnian. One of the two may or may be timed: either the quiz or the test, but not both. Both the quiz and the test will be administered via a live response with the use of WLM. Breakdown of assessments A series of audiorecordings 25 marksA series of worksheets 25 marksA series of longer assignments (4-6 pages) 30 marksQuiz 5 marksTest 15 marksTotals 100 Themes of Study1 - U Hotel - In the Hotel2 - U Kavani - In The Cafe3 - U gradu - In Town4 - Zelim Kupiti - I want to buy...5 - U Restoranu - In the Restaurant6 - Dodite k meni - Come to my place7 - Koliko imate godina? - How old are you?8- Kakav stan imate? - What kind of flat do you have?9 - Svida mi se plivanje - I like swimming10 - Na isletu - On an excursion11 - Povratne karte - Return tickets12 - Imam telefonski broj - I have the telephone number13 - Na plazi - On the beach14 - Ako pada kisa - If it rains15 - Kako se osjecate - How do you feel?16 - Poslovni ugovor - Business contract17 - u Osijeku - In Osijek18 - Tri pisma - Three letters  

LAN200 and LAN207 Combined Class

 

Course Description: This is a combined LAN200 and LAN207 class which focuses on both the cultural heritage and the music of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the surrounding area. This course uses several different types of on-line readings both academic pieces of literature as well as literature for leisure to introduce students to the fascinating and vibrant culture and heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina. With an extreme emphasis on reading and analytical writing, students will gain an in-depth understanding of the significant cultural values, mores and folkways of the peoples who live in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This course will look at the cultures and heritages of the three religious groups who have lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina for centuries and who have established themselves and their social, religious, political and historical values in this beautiful country. In association with this, the course also aims to introduce students with information about the types of media, specifically music that is available in this country and the surrounding region. Music in Bosnia and Herzegovina plays a significant role in shaping the society in more than one way. We will learn how and why this is the case in the course material that we look at, read and write about and of course, listen to. The music in Bosnia and Herzegovina shapes the way in which the people view themselves in a sense as well as the experiences that they have had in their lives. The country has lived through tough and turbulent times and these periods in the country’s history are alluded to in the music that is presented within the context of the musical genres that are available to the general public. The musical styles that are used by particular artists, singers and song writers alike, are all commentaries about the experiences that these people have went through. The idea is to share experiences amongst people through song. Not only is this one of the ideas of the music of Bosnia-Herzegovina, but so is the idea of the people, their thoughts and their feelings. Students should note that even though this course is highly media-oriented and reading-oriented there are several assignments in this course which will assess their written communication skills. Students will look at and assess the readings that talk about such topics as these and will evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these sources through assessments and analysis.

 

Objectives: The objectives for this course are twenty-fold:

  • For students to continue to develop their written communication skills in the Serbo-Croatian language
  • For students to continue to develop their analytical written skills both in English and in Serbo-Croatian languages
  • To learn more about the culture and heritage of Bosnian Croats
  • To learn more about the culture and heritage of Bosnian Muslims
  • To learn more about the culture and heritage of Bosnian Serbians
  • To try and read as well as translate text written in Serbo-Croatian into English and English texts into Serbo-Croatian
  • To gain a sense of understanding of how cultural and heritage values are fundamental to the way that the society in Bosnia-Herzegovina is shaped
  • To understand the differences between the groups whose fundamental values are “Western” and which are unique and have not derived from “Western” aspects.
  • To try and answer the question: “Will Peace Prevail in the Balkans?”
  • For students to be open to different types of music. A note to those who are sensitive: we may look at types of music in this course that may be in the form of video and the videos may contain disturbing scenes to some viewers. I will notify students ahead of time which videos contain content that may not be suitable for those of you who may be sensitive to the subject matter which is dealt with within the context of a song video
  • For students to develop their appreciation for folk music
  • For students to continue developing their skills in analytical writing
  • To enable students to gain a sense of understanding of how the music is a form of escape from a reality that was, particularly, the reality of 1992-1995 which was horrific to many people
  • To enable students to connect music to the broader society
  • To enable students to understand music as a form of social commentary
  • To learn more about Bosnian Croat music
  • To learn more about Bosnian Muslim music
  • To learn more about Bosnian Serbian music
  • To understand that certain types of music connects or shares a relationship to a certain group or certain groups of people living in Bosnia and Herzegovina
  Course Requirements: In order to be in this course students must:
  •  
    1. Have taken or are taking LAN110
    2. Be prepared to participate. This means, above all, that you have to complete and commit yourselves to all of the assignments stipulated.
    3. Be ready to read different and oftentimes conflicting opinions and forming your own from your own unique ideas and analysis.
    4. Have Access to the Internet

Assessments for this Course 

A series of worksheets       50%You will be asked to complete for grading a series of worksheets from your “Teach Yourself Croatian” workbooks. These worksheets are meant to help you practice your vocabulary and your ability to write in Bosnian. These worksheets will be marked as follows: You will complete them and submit them; the instructor will mark them and will return them to you to fix anything that is in need of correcting. You will then re-submit the assessments for re-marking. An average of the two marks will be assigned to you. So, let’s say that you get 70/100 for the first submission and an 85/100 for your second submission, an average of the two will become your mark: 70+85 = 155/2 = 77.5 or 78%. In the event that someone receives a perfect score on these worksheets, they will be rewarded by not having to resubmit their assignments. Students are to note that within the context of the marking, I will not be offering corrections; you will have to correct yourselves using appropriate dictionaries and other references, if applicable. The purpose of all of these worksheets is to get you to practice writing in the language of study. It will also help you to familiarize yourselves with written communication skills. A series of longer assignments (3-6 pages)    30%As per this course, you must complete a series of longer essay assessments. The following is a tentative outline of the possible essays you may have to write. These essays will speak to the cultural/musical portion of the course and will be based on either readings or films. Specific instructions for each assignment will be given in class. You should note that each essay will require you to consider the themes within the different types of works the essay asks you discuss paying extra attention to what the work tells us about a particular aspect of culture, music, etc. You should also note that you must read the readings even if you do not plan on writing an essay on them as you may be asked questions about the essays during the test. Essay 1: Adela Peeva’s “Whose is this Song?” or Everyculture.com’s “Bosnian Americans”Essay 2: To Be Announced Essay 3: To Be Announced Quiz  5%Students will be asked to write a quiz where in which they will respond, in essay format to a particular question related to the readings. Students will be notified as to which one of the readings they will be tested on; however, the question will not be supplied. The essay, however short, must be in standard format with an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. It must be typed and sent to the instructor within a particular timeframe. Keeping in mind that typed pages are not the same as hand-written pages (less over more) the “essays” should only be about one or two pages. Test   15%Students will write a conjugations test. The test will also consist of short answers; possibly fill in the blanks and essay questions as well as multiple choice. It will be administered in class or may be a “take-home.” 

 

 Grade Policies:

Your grades for this course will be accounted for in the following ways:

Assignments:

3 Assignments and 1 Quest for the First Turnaround Term – A description of each assignment is available below under the “Assignments for this Course” heading.

 *****You can drop this course within 2 weeks of enrollment, after that, you will receive a mark of “0” for every assignment that you do not attend to completing. You will also receive a “0” as the final mark in this course.***** Note that this course has been reorganized therefore due dates are flexible and room for negotiation is available at differing periods of time unless deemed unreasonable by either the course instructor(s), teaching assistant(s) or the departmental heads of office. Academic Honesty:Cite using MLA Style; familiarize yourselves with this citing style as soon as possible.

A word to the student – You are responsible for submitting your own work with your own original ideas. There is to be no borrowing or copying of other people’s work. In this class, this should not be a problem, however, when in doubt, please cite the places where in which you have found your information that may pertain to your answering of a question on an assignment. I may screen your assignments, most specifically the short essay using the website www.turnitin.com in order to check for plagiarism and academic dishonestly. Please familiarize yourselves with any or all of the following types of citing rules: MLA, APA, Chicago – Turabian Style.

The following website can help you. Read them closely.

For MLA style go to: www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citmla.htm , owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/, extend.unb.ca/wss/mlatext.htm, library.concordia.ca/help/howto/citations.html, dept.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/stylesheet/mla-cit.htmFor APA style go to: library.concordia.ca/help/howto/apa.php, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/For Chicago – Turabian Style: library.osu.edu/sites/guides/chicagogd.php, www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html

Pick one and familiarize yourself with it. For language courses, I suggest you use the MLA style of citations, but I do not mind if you use APA or Chicago or whichever one floats your boat. I am familiar with many styles for citing.
If you invent your own style for citations be sure to give it a name and I do not care if you do invent your own style for citations, just as long as you actually cite appropriately and provide a reference for the sources that you use when or if at all required. Please note that if you do invent your own way of citing, you should tell me the rules as all citation types have certain rules and one of them is not: “You can do whatever you wish.” You have to give credit where it is due. If you do not I will give you a “0” if I find you plagiarized or otherwise.

 E-mailing the Instructor:

You may e-mail the instructor only for any of the following reasons provided:

  1. If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this course.
  2. If you will be absent from the course for a period of time.* (This could be any period of time from 1 day to 1 week or more.)
  3. If you missed an assignment.
  4. If you did not receive an assignment.
  5. If you require help on any given assessments.* (This includes, tests, assignments such as worksheets, etc.)
  6. All e-mails should begin with the course code LAN200/207 and a brief subject line that states the purpose of your e-mail. For example:  “LAN200/207: I have a question about the assignment.”
  7. Please allow for a maximum of 1 work week or 5 days for your question to be answered.
      The Instructor E-mailing You:

The instructor will only e-mail students to answer any questions pertaining to the course, the assignments, tests and quizzes given out in this course and other course-related issues. The Instructor will also e-mail the students information about upcoming assignments. The instructor will also e-mail assignments to students. The instructor will also e-mail students their grades and reports.

 Assignments for this Course:

The assignments for this course consist of the following:

 

3 Assignments and 1 Quest*

 

Assignment 1 – PowerPoint Presentation Response Paper

Students will write a response essay answering a series of questions based on a PowerPoint Presentation relevant to the course. The assignment will be short approximate 2 to 4 pages in length and should use MLA style appropriately. This assignment requires that you have access to PowerPoint. % Worth = ~10-15%

 

Assignment 2 – Summary and Review of Readings

Students will be expected to read two articles and summarize them according to a list of instructions given thereafter and in the same assignment in 700 to 1000 words. %Worth = ~10-15%

 

1 Quest – Students will be expected to submit a test for marking. The test will focus on LAN100 material for the most part; it will serve as a refresher of the things you learned from before. %Worth = ~10-15%

 

Assignment 3 – Comparison of Media Assignment

Students will be expected to write an essay of 4 to 8 pages in which they compare North American media with those of the countries which this course focuses on. Further details about this assessment have been given to students. Note that this is a mandatory assignment. It will work like a final assignment for this term; therefore, expect it to be worth more points in this case. %Worth = ~30%

 

I hope that we have a wonderful term together as we learn about the culture and heritage of the peoples who live in Bosnia and Herzegovina!

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, comments or concerns in regards to the content, context or next steps for this course.

-Instructor

LAN200/207 – An Introduction to Serbo-Croatian Culture, Heritage and Music