Fall 2012
This semester's curriculum is titled "Identity in America". This is a broad and complex topic and one that is immanently relevant to the students who are all immigrants to New York City. We have been able to explore identity issues from a number of different perspectives reflective of our makeup. Our class is mixed gender, ranging is age from the teens to 30s, and, of course, multiethnic/multilingual. The countries represented this semester are China, from urban and rural areas in the mainland and including Hong Kong and Taiwan, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, The Dominican Republic and Iran. Students have been living in New York for anywhere from a handful of months to several years. Prior to coming to New York, one student lived in Missouri, another lived in Seattle and Pittsburgh and yet another lived in Alaska! Some are full time students; others are working, parenting, taking care of siblings and keeping up the house. It is important to recognize the wealth and diversity of experience each learner can bring to the collective group as we wrestle with personal identity and its place in the beautiful mess that is America. Equally important for our purposes is our shared goal: All students are committed to improving their academic English in preparation for college level studies.
We are reading two texts, one historical novel and one non-fiction collection as well as a variety of support materials that focus explicitly on grammar, vocabulary building, and writing.
The non-fiction collection is an introduction to sociology with embedded support lessons and study skills called Academic Encounters: Life in Society (Cambridge University Press). Some topics addressed are gender issues, the media, crime, group behavior and the nature vs. nurture debate. This text has provided us with the academic framework (the questions to answer (and ask), the vocabulary to use, the evidence that is relevant) to tackle similar issues in an accompanying novel and students' own lives as recent immigrants to New York City. Academic Encounters has also been a great way to introduce academic lectures (besides my own!) into the curriculum and develop note-taking strategies.
The novel we are reading is Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. This novel is a love story, a modernized Romeo and Juliet, set in Seattle during World War II. The innocent love in question is between a Chinese-American boy and a Japanese-American girl whose family is sent to an internment camp. I had used this novel in a previous curriculum titled "Conflicted Loyalties" because it brings up a host of compelling questions about identity and loyalty during times of war. Some issues discussed are race, nationalism/patriotism, coming of age, the generation gap/inter-generational communication issues and expectations, friendship and fairness. We compared this novel to the film Snow Falling on Cedars based on the novel of the same name by David Guterson.
The final piece of this semester's curriculum is a visual literacy component provided by CALTA 21 (Cultures and Literacies through Art for the 21st Century). In fact, our class is one of the premier pilot groups for this innovative curriculum which asks learners to talk and write about art to broaden their thinking and increase their vocabulary and descriptive language. The themes of the pieces chosen relate to various identity issues and so are a natural fit. For more information about the CALTA 21 mission, click here.
The picture posted on this page was taken at the QCC Art Gallery. Students had a chance to apply their visual learning strategies to a wonderful exhibition called "Three Generations".
I am always pleased to dialogue with students current and former and discuss pedagogical approaches with colleagues and am best reached at [email protected].
Thank you for your interest,
Zach Kelly
Instructor
CLIP at QCC
We are reading two texts, one historical novel and one non-fiction collection as well as a variety of support materials that focus explicitly on grammar, vocabulary building, and writing.
The non-fiction collection is an introduction to sociology with embedded support lessons and study skills called Academic Encounters: Life in Society (Cambridge University Press). Some topics addressed are gender issues, the media, crime, group behavior and the nature vs. nurture debate. This text has provided us with the academic framework (the questions to answer (and ask), the vocabulary to use, the evidence that is relevant) to tackle similar issues in an accompanying novel and students' own lives as recent immigrants to New York City. Academic Encounters has also been a great way to introduce academic lectures (besides my own!) into the curriculum and develop note-taking strategies.
The novel we are reading is Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. This novel is a love story, a modernized Romeo and Juliet, set in Seattle during World War II. The innocent love in question is between a Chinese-American boy and a Japanese-American girl whose family is sent to an internment camp. I had used this novel in a previous curriculum titled "Conflicted Loyalties" because it brings up a host of compelling questions about identity and loyalty during times of war. Some issues discussed are race, nationalism/patriotism, coming of age, the generation gap/inter-generational communication issues and expectations, friendship and fairness. We compared this novel to the film Snow Falling on Cedars based on the novel of the same name by David Guterson.
The final piece of this semester's curriculum is a visual literacy component provided by CALTA 21 (Cultures and Literacies through Art for the 21st Century). In fact, our class is one of the premier pilot groups for this innovative curriculum which asks learners to talk and write about art to broaden their thinking and increase their vocabulary and descriptive language. The themes of the pieces chosen relate to various identity issues and so are a natural fit. For more information about the CALTA 21 mission, click here.
The picture posted on this page was taken at the QCC Art Gallery. Students had a chance to apply their visual learning strategies to a wonderful exhibition called "Three Generations".
I am always pleased to dialogue with students current and former and discuss pedagogical approaches with colleagues and am best reached at [email protected].
Thank you for your interest,
Zach Kelly
Instructor
CLIP at QCC