Day 7
Mon. Apr. 12
English lesson: Check-in
Speaker summaries & Discussion: Osland & Bird (2000)
Critical incident: “Left Out of the Conversation”
Homework
➤ English Homework: Notice one new word or phrase (again!)
First, read my feedback on your previous new word or phrase.
Then, do it again: Between now and next class, notice and write down one new word or phrase (preferable a phrase -- a combination of words) that you could imagine using to communicate in the situation you identified, or about the topic you identified.
Note the context: Who said or wrote it? What was the phrase being used to refer to or describe? This time, please be a little more detailed about the context, if you weren’t last time!
Then, write a sentence using that phrase to express something meaningful to you — a sentence that you could actually imagine saying or writing in the future.
Put these things in a Word document and upload it to Box (Folder: “8-New word or phrase”).
➤ Watch Boyhood
If you haven’t yet, watch Boyhood. You can access a version of this movie with Chinese and English subtitles here on Box. (Note that the Chinese subtitles aren’t always accurate, though.)
If you can’t access the file format, try using VLC Media Player. If you’re still having trouble, let me know.
➤ Boyhood writing exercise
For your next paper (due Friday April 23rd) I’ll ask you to pick something the characters in Boyhood do (an action or behavior) that you find particularly mysterious, perplexing, or hard to relate to, and research that behavior in the context of American culture.
To start developing ideas for this paper, please do the following brief writing exercise (about 1 page double spaced, total):
1) Write a paragraph describing something you observe the characters doing that you find particular mysterious, perplexing, or hard to relate to. Describe this vividly: do it in a way that someone who hasn’t read the movie could clearly imagine what you’re describing.
2) In a second paragraph, raise a question about it — why do you find it mysterious, perplexing, or hard to relate to? Explain your question as clearly as you can.
Upload your writing to Box (folder: “9-Boyhood short writing exercise”). Be ready to (briefly) share your observation and question verbally with us next class.
➤ Speakers: Xiaoyu, Rachael, Steven
In 2-3 minutes, describe the behavior you observe that you find mysterious, perplexing, or hard to relate to, and explain what question you have. When you describe the behavior, try to do so in such a way that we can vividly picture it, so that we can talk about it intelligently afterward.
➤ Revisit Osland & Bird
Review this article again, this time focusing on logic and the flow of ideas. Come ready to share with us one place in the article where the authors do each of the following:
1) explain the ideas that they are responding to (the “they say” part). (Another way to think about this is: What motivated them to write this article? What is the problem they are trying to address, the “bug” in the existing software that they are trying to fix?)
2) explain their own ideas (the “I Say” part)
3) comment on their own ideas (“metacommentary”)
➤ Rank explanations for critical incident
Here are the possible explanations we came up with for the Westerners’ behavior in our story about Chen Jun being “left out of the conversation.”
The Westerners didn’t want to slow down the pace of the conversation because it would’ve been less fun
Jokes are just hard to translate
They were making fun of Chen Jun
They thought Chen didn’t want to talk, and they were respecting his desires
They forgot that Chen Jun was there
They intended to involve Chen Jun in the conversation but got carried away in the excitement of their conversation
They were not aware that a non-native speaker like Chen Jun could have trouble following fast speech
They wanted to respect Chen Jun as an equal partner in the conversation and didn’t explain things because they didn’t want him to feel “talked down to”
Please rank these explanations according to:
1) How likely you think the explanation is true. (Which seem most likely? Which seem least likely?)
2) How generous the explanation is to the Westerners. (Which explanations portray the Westerners in the most positive light? Which ones portray them in the most negative light?)
3) How strongly is the explanation related to the cultures of the participants? (Which explanations might be rooted in the culturally inherited habits or mindsets of the people here? Which explanations seem to you to have less connection to culture, or no connection at all?)
Finally, please think about this question: What can this exercise teach us about culture and intercultural communication? Has it led you to any insights or new understandings? Be ready to share your thoughts on this next class.