This English course focuses on reading and discussion; its main objective consists in cultivating students’ sophisticated and critical thinking on cultural topics. To achieve this goal, the course is to be run in a bilingual rather than all-English way. While the materials to be worked on are English, the course is divided into two parts: the Mandarin part is meant to introduce and elaborate on cultural concepts, and the English part is to engage students in comparatively intellectual discussions by using those concepts. Therefore, students who expect and demand concentrated training on skills, such as listening and real-life conversation, are not recommended to take this course. The materials pertain to various genres, including poetry, fiction, critical essay, and film. The issues to be explored include (1) language and identity, (2) environmentalism, (3) business and capitalism, and (4) colonialism and the Holocaust. Students are required to commit themselves to (1) close reading in order to acquire a deeper understanding of the text, and (2) continuous collaboration through teamwork and group discussion in order to test and substantiate their grasp of the issue concerned.

This course is designed to introduce NTU students to university-level English. We will begin by learning about what Jane Aaron calls “features of academic writing.” If it can be arranged, we will also visit the Main Library to learn more about academic resources available here at NTU. But we will also ask how, and why, these skills and resources could be useful for us. We will accordingly read and discuss a series of texts (including newspaper articles, a guided tour, a documentary film, and two short talks) that are mostly centered on specific sites and personas in Taipei and elsewhere in Taiwan. Students will have a chance to apply the skills they have learned through two quizzes, two midterms and, near the end of this course, through a group presentation. Students are expected to attend regularly, to read with care and curiosity, and to bring an open mind to course assignments and class discussions. We will reflect on our previously held commonsense ideas and test them against our course readings.