British + Amer. studies

Syllabus

SYLLABUS  

TOPIC  

DATE

NAME OF PRESENTER  

WEEK 1

Intro

February 26    

WEEK 2 – warm up topics      

Most popular British sports & sports originating from Britain/ the US     xx

British football hooliganism (tragic history and improvement)      

Celebrity spotlight – a brief cameo of a US or British sport celebrity    xx

British music & musicians – focus on one particular genre    

US music & musicians – focus on one particular genre   xx

British film – a close-up on a specific genre   xx

American film – a close-up on a specific genre   xx

Celebrity spotlight – a brief cameo of a film US or British film celebrity      

WEEK 3 – Britain past and present      

Major differences between Czech and British educational system    

History of English Reformation (Henry VII vs Thomas More)    

The abolition of slavery in Britain    

British suffragist movement   xx

The rise and demise of British colonialism   xx

Charles Darwin    

Josiah Wedgwood and the birth of modern marketing    

Winston Churchill or Margaret Thatcher: pros and cons   xx

Top ten British inventors   xx  

WEEK 4 – US Past and present    

The discovery or conquest of America? Understanding Manifest Destiny   xx

Melting pot vs. the salad bowl (explain and illustrate the 2 concepts)   xx

America – The world policeman or a bully?    

Religious right vs. secular left (pro-life vs. pro-choice, family values, Darwinism vs. creationism, etc.)    

How on earth did Donald Trump get elected?   xx  

WEEK 5 – Linguistic corner    

History of the English language (mainly in terms of lexis)   xx

British regional dialects and accents (audio samples required)   xx

Major differences between British and American English   xx

Major American regional and ethnic dialects and accents (audio samples required)      

Annotation

The course is aimed at cultivating the students’ awareness of Anglo-American cultural diversity and historical background, while simultaneously boosting their competence and confidence at giving a short audiovisual presentation on a topic of their choice (see the syllabus below). The length of an individual presentation must not exceed 15 minutes (if there are 3 presentations per session, the target speaking time should be 10 minutes).

The topics for the first 4 sessions are decidedly “low-brow” and user friendly, to make up for the short period of time for preparing the presentation. The students who are about to give the presentation are asked to arrive at least 10 minutes before the class or upload their .ppt file prior to the presentation (provided there is no audio or video file appended to it).

The students are also asked to take two online quizzes