Reading American Cultures 閱讀美國文化
一、 課程基本資料 ：
課程名稱 Course Title Reading American Cultures 閱讀美國文化
開課單位
（系所、中心、其他）Unit
社科學院
授課教師姓名及職稱與 e-mail Teacher’s Name, Title and email address
Marguerite Connor, PhD,
[email protected]課程類別
（學位班、在職進修班、推廣教育班、國際合作班、其他班別）
Course Type
學位班及推廣教育班
學分數及選課別
(必修、選修)Required or Elective
Elective/2 學分 開課期間
（開課起訖日期或開課學年度及學期）
Course Term 96 學年度第一學期
預計修課人數
（校內及校外分別招收人數）
Number of Students 50 人（一個 TA），如人數增加則申請 TA 補 助
二、教學目標 Objectives
By the end of this course, students should be able to
List major aspects of modern American culture
Read American newspapers and magazines with greater ease and understanding
Discuss American films with greater understanding 本課修畢後，學生應該可以
了解美國文化的主要層面；
閱讀美國報紙較得心應手；
更透徹地討論美國電影。
三、適合修讀對象 Target Students
Students with good basic English writing skills who want to learn more about American culture and improve their reading comprehension
有基本英語能力，對美國文化感興趣並想改進英語閱讀能力者。
四、課程內容大綱 Course Description
The purpose of this course is to introduce non-Americans to the diversity and complexity of American culture. The reasons for understanding culture are many:
it enriches one’s language ability to be able to culturally contextualize language usage;
it makes reading American newspapers, magazines and literature easier as one can grasp the background more easily;
it opens doors to intercultural communication.
In this class we will be using short readings from the text Contemporary America by Russell Duncan & Joseph Goddard (written for non-Americans and non-English speakers), newspaper and magazine articles. We will also be watching Hollywood films of contemporary American life and then having guided discussions of the cultural aspects of those films.
Introductory Material
Week 1 Course introduction
Week 2 Brief history overview of US (readings/discussion/brief lecture)
Unit 1: American Society 美國社會
Week 3 Class and Diversity (readings/discussion/brief lecture) 階級與多元性 Week 4 Film: What’s Cooking – Its Language and Issues
Week 5 Discussion of film, especially issues of class and diversity/follow-up Week 6 The American Family (readings/discussion/brief lecture) 家庭 Week 7: Film: My Big Fat Greek Wedding – Its Language and Issues Week 8: Discussion of film, especially issues of family, being American Week 9: Midterm
Week 10 Race (readings/discussion/brief lecture) 種族 Week 11 Film: Crash – Its Language and Issues Week 12 Discussion of film, especially issues of race
Week 13 Crime and Punishment (readings/discussion/brief lecture) Week 14 Discussion of Crime and Punishment in the US
Unit 2: Religion in America 宗教
