Hi everyone,
grades have been updated. Viviana, please stop by my office to pick up the extracredit activity paper and the slip of paper where I made comments about your documentaries.
You guys did a great job throughout the semester!!
Enjoy the "summer" break!

José A. 

Hi everyone,
grades have been updated. If you have any questions about the Blog task, please refer to the instructions, posted below this post.
About this week, we will begin the finals this week (Wednesday) with the presentations. Please refer to the assignment sheet for further details.
This semester I will offer an extra-credit activity. Of course this activity is optional. The objective is to help you improve one poor grade you have obtained this semester. If you do this extra-credit activity, you will be able to 1. replace one of the lowest grades you have within the Short assignments or the Listening activities. 2. raise the grade you obtained in the Proficiency Test. I will average the grades you get from the extracredit and the grade you obtained in the Proficiency Test (I know most of you received a low grade in the latter).
This is the task (PLEASE, follow the instruction down the line. You will be docked points if you don't do so)
1. You will transcribe the following recording https://www.dropbox.com/s/uh1ypej2v0i2ao0/extracredit.mp3?dl=0
2. You will type it and double-space it
3. You will bring it to class on May 25.
4. The assignment will not be accepted by email, received if sent with another person, or any other way. You will bring it to class personally and we will grade it. Since I am trying to accommodate this extra-credit activity at the time of  the final exam (presentations), you must be aware that we might have to stay longer on the 25th. If you anticipate that you can't stay longer that day, please don't take up the extra-credit assignment.

Let me know if you have any questions,
José A.

Hi everyone,
Here's the assignment for Wednesday.
1. Please finish watching the movie, here's the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8vt4d9m57jmmx83/Grand%20Island.mp4?dl=0

2. Then read "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin.

3. Make a post here on the blog; the objective is to analyze or reflect about the end of the novel in relation to the short story and the sociocultural context that surrounded both text productions. You could answer the question, how does the novel and short story relate in connection to the sociocultural context that surrounded the narratives?
You could also focus on he cinematic representation of the novel. Did it enhance or limit the literary world of the novel? How? Also, does the multimodal nature of the movie help viewers build a better understudying of Edna's spiritual and intellectual struggle?
Focus on any of these questions and write a post of at least 300 words.

4. Once you have written the post, you must read two posts of two of your classmates and react to their comments.

The grade will be assigned from 1 to 5 and will take into consideration, the quality of your posts (clarity and depth of argument, good language use, and knowledge of the subject). The main post will be worth 3 points and the replies 1 point each.

The assignment will be available until Wednesday 11:59 p.m. After this time, the blog will block, disabling possibilities to add comments.

José A.

Hello everyone,
just a little reminder about the final project because I already observed the way people are grouping. There are 24 students enrolled in this class and the plan is to have 8 groups of 3 students. For this reason, groups of 2 or 4 people will not be accepted.
Please Viviana share this in case people don´t follow the posts of the blog.
Cheers
José A.

Everyone,
the final listening assignment is already posted. Additionally, you will find the assignment sheet for the final project in the Materials section.
See you,
José A.

Hello guys and gals,

The administration has asked faculty to cancel class until 1:00 tomorrow because there is an assembly. 
I will see you again Monday. 
José A.

Everyone,

the material we will use in class on Monday is already at the copy shop in our folder. Please make sure to get a hold of it before class.
Have a great weekend!
José A.

Hi folks,
the listening assignment is already posted. I did not modify anything. For those who did not get full credit in the last assignment because they forgot about the concept of mode of communication, I left the same question. Please check the concept out.
See you soon,
José A.

Hello everyone,

I wanted to ask you that, when needed, you email me to my current institutional email jose.aldemar.alvarez@correounivalle.edu.co. I have been having issues to access my arizona.edu account.
Regards,
José A

Hello everyone,

I just heard that you are having trouble to access the assignment sheet for the song activity. The Dropbox busy syncing and the link shows as broken. Here´s the assignment sheet then:

ORAL TEXT TYPOLOGIES

Prof. José A. Álvarez Valencia

Assignment Sheet: Presentation of Song

As is the core of this class, the main purpose of this activity is to provide a context for you to improve and practice in a meaningful way language skills in one of the various discourse typologies. This activity will also focus on the pedagogical dimension since as future language teachers you might want to draw on music to motivate your students.

The task

Your task is to choose song and prepare an activity that focuses on any aspect of language (e.g. language skills ­–speaking, listening etc.– or subskill: grammar, vocabulary, spelling etc.). You can choose any song of your liking, but don’t forget your audience. Remember, the rhetorical strategies we have discussed in class.

Grading scheme

This assignment is worth 15% of the semester grade.

You will be graded on language use (grammar, pronunciation, fluency), the multimodal quality of the materials used, the pedagogical appropriateness of the activity and your ability to present an argument concerning the pedagogical principles behind the activity (credibility, clarity, preparation, timing)

Note: if you are using audio or audiovisual material (Youtube), please make sure you download it to a flash drive. Remember that the Internet connection is very slow on campus. You could use http://keepvid.com/ to download Youtube videos to your laptop; however, there are many other programs that will do this for you.

Procedure

This assignment is to be done individually. Besides the performance, you won’t have to submit any product.  You are free to distribute the time as you wish. There will be two periods to your presentation, one is the display of your song and the second will be your pedagogical activity. The pedagogical activity should not go beyond 5 minutes.  The assigned reading (Techniques for using songs in foreign language classroom) might give you ideas about what to do. Be creative!

Order of presenters: At random (everybody must be ready for April 8.

Note: if you are not present at the moment you are called to present, you will miss your chance to present.

Classroom conduct: refrain from interrupting your classmates by leaving the classroom, chatting, whispering or any other distracting behavior.

Make notes and be ready to ask and respond to meaningful questions!

Hi everyone,

You can now find the assignment sheet and reading for the activity of presenting a song. They are on the Material page under: Šmídová, T.  Techniques for using songs in foreign language classroom.
and Assignment sheet for presentation of song.
This is the plan for our next meeting:
1. Finish discussion on Two and a Half Men. You need to read the handout and tell me what Speech Act is dominant in the scene that I chose.
2. We will do a short workshop on the second part of The Awakening.
3. We will discuss the reading Techniques for using songs in foreign language classroom.

See you soon,
José A.

Hello everybody,

please, for next class,
I expect you all to come prepared for class. That means, to have read and have the materials at hand.
1. Go back (or actually read) to "American Dream, American Laugh" and answer the following questions:
What are the foundations of the American Dream?
What does the author say about progress and individualism?
What does the author say about the dichotomy democracy-individualism?
What does the concept of "society as human jungle" refer to?
Why is the concept of "property" important in the American society? Does it receive the same value in Colombia?
How have the concepts of entrepreneurship and hard work turn against the American Dream?
Explain why the author says that "humor has served as a custodian and facilitator of the American Dream" (p. 24)

2. Think of Colombia in depth or talk with people, what defines our "Colombian Dream," what do we use humor for? Provide clear examples.

Next class, we will discuss these questions. We will go back to political comedy shows and sitcoms. You can watch Jon Stewart Daily Show (more Democratic oriented), The Colbert Report (more Republican oriented), or any other you know. Also do some research about sitcoms.

Have a good weekend!
José A.

Hi Guys,
you can now post your listening assignment. As I said, I don't have of problems with extending the submission time until Monday, but you can still post it tomorrow if you want to.
see you soon,
José A.

Everyone,
please read the next 10 chapters from The Awakening (11-20) for our next scheduled discussion. I decided to add one more discussion section, so we have to read ten chapters for each discussion. The new section will be on April 24. This update already reflects in our syllabus.
José A

No class on Monday!

Dear all,

I just knew that the venue of the Symposium has been changed to a hotel near campus. I thought I could attend the event and rush to class if the event was at Sala Baena, but with this change I have no option but to cancel class since I have to be at the event.
Sorry if this is too short notice!
See you on Wednesday!
José A. 

Happy Women's Day!!
I hope you girls have a great day.
You always make men's life better!

José A

Guys, this is the link to the spreadsheet where you can write down the discovery/invention you will be presenting about next week.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e1NM1azzaWtvgc2zyaCsW9DxYs7MVIajnD4tuOJGc_U/edit?usp=sharing

Hi everyone,
please read Rogers, T. (n.d.) How to structure news stories. Retrieved from                                           
          http://journalism.about.com/od/writing/a/storystructure.htm

Also watch news in English and Spanish. Bring local news for Friday. 

We will finish presentations and then work on news stories. 

Thanks for the good work!

José A.

Everyone,

your second listening assignment is due this Friday before midnight. I already looked and your first submission. You guys did a great job. Some of you, though, need to brush up a little more your understanding of some of the concepts we are introducing in class, but overall you did all well. Take into account that for each listening report I am changing one or two questions to reflect some of the contents we are discussing in class. 
José A.

Hi folks,
I just updated the link to The Awakening that was broken.
Sorry about the inconvenience.
José A

Hi everybody,

This is to let you know that I would like you to read the first 10 chapters of the novel The Awakening. We will workshop and discuss it in class in two weeks.
Cheers,
José A.

Hi guys,
the book we are going to read this semester is already posted on the materials page. Note that this book is available online for free.

We will finish presentations next class. You will have 5 minutes to give your presentation. Also get a  hand of the material I left at the copy shop.
José A

Hello guys,
post the link to the material you will use at your presentation on Monday. To post on the blog, click on ¨No comments¨ below. Make sure you make the post here on the Home page of the blog. You will have around 5 minutes to present. This is the instruction: Choose a text (documentary, news story, ad, news show etc...) and do a multimodal analysis identifying the rhetorical situation of the text. Identify the rhetorical strategies in the text, too. 
Have a great weekend!
                                José A 

Hi everyone,

For Friday, please review concepts and complete the assignment you will found in the PPT presentation. It is on the Materials page.
Here´s the link anyway: Social Semiotic Approach to Rhetorical Analysis. https://www.dropbox.com/s/wl8cgewtk6tbg73/Multimodality_PPT.pptx?dl=0


Also read the material assigned for Friday according to our syllabus. 

See you soon,
                       José A.

Hello folks,

I have added to the Blog menu a new page called ¨Materials.¨ You will find the bibliography and materials we use in class.
                                         José A

Welcome to Semester V and my class: Oral Text Typologies

Hello everyone,

I am happy to be working with you all.  This is an exciting class with interesting discussions and lots of good learning. We will focus on different oral texts and will look at them from a multimodal social semiotic perspective and a rhetorical understanding of the communicative act.

I will use the blog to communicate with you outside of class and keep you up-to-date.

José A.

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