Friday, October 5, 2012

Travel and Tourism Videos

     Most of these videos are posted on YouTube under the Paradigmaclast label.  I will add others as needed.  I use them in as a textbook of sorts for my Travel and Tourism class at Hsing Wu University.  They are subtitled as an aid to improving their English reading and listening abilities.  Just click the link for the video you want to see.

Lesson 1: What is Tourism?
Lesson 3: Transportation
Lesson 4: Attractions
Lesson 6: Lodging
Lesson 7: Food and Drink
Lesson 12: A Five-star Hotel
Lesson 14: African Safari
Lesson 16: Sports Tourism

Other Videos:



Saturday, May 5, 2012

Advertising & Marketing Syllabus: 2012-2013

(Plans and schedules have changed.  I have no Advertising and Marketing course for 2012-2013.)
Advertising and Marketing Syllabus for 2012-2013
  1. Introducing the Course and Forming Teams
  2. Fit for Competitive Advantage
  3. Ideas that Create Value
  4. Sell the Benefit!
  5. Know Your Target Consumer
  6. Core Competency and Competitive Advantage
  7. Brand Personality and Packaging
  8. Product Placement
  9. Review of Projects
  10. Mid-term Exam project due
  11. Creating Your Web Site
  12. Selecting Your Models and Spokesmen
  13. Celebrity Endorsements
  14. In-person Models and Spokesmen
  15. Hidden Advertisements
  16. Guerilla Marketing
  17. Cause-related Advertising
  18. Remembering Your Target Consumer
  19. Review of Projects
  20. Final Exam project due

About the course:
     Advertising and Marketing English is a project-based, cooperative-learning course in English as it is used in advertising, marketing, and public relations.  Students will organize into teams representing businesses with new products or services to market.  Their products or services they market must be things that are possible. (For example, time machines and electronic conversation translation devices will not be allowed.)  Exams will be project based and will be graded on how well the teams show that they have absorbed the lessons.
Expectations for the students:
     Students will be expected to attend class regularly and arrive on time, participate in class, respect others in the classroom, and in other ways respect established norms of classroom behavior.  Students will be expected to develop skills in problem-solving and rational thought.
Textbook:
The J-Gram, a teacher-generated site: http://the-jgram.blogspot.com/p/advertising-marketing.html
Additional Materials:
PowerPoint presentations, related video clips, and student-generated materials.
Grading scale
Participation: 30%
Mid-term Exam Project: 30%
Final Exam Project: 40%

Friday, May 4, 2012

English Conversation Syllabus Autumn 2012


Conversation English Syllabus
  1. Introducing English Conversation
  2. Is She Late for Class?
  3. Eileen between Classes
  4. Daydreaming
  5. Two Tiny Countries
  6. Three Amusing Stories
  7. Amy Rents a Car
  8. Asking Directions
  9. Review of Projects
  10. Mid-term project due
  11. Discussion of projects
  12. The Other Side of Asking Directions
  13. A Nineteen-state Vacation, Part 1
  14. A Nineteen-state Vacation, Part 2
  15. The Thing in Scape Ore Swamp
  16. Key Deer and the School
  17. Did You Correctly Remember It?
  18. Waste Products are Wasted
  19. Review of Projects
  20. Final Exam project due

About the course:
     Conversation English is a project-based, cooperative-learning course in English as it is used in daily life and in serious discussions.  Lessons will be scaffolded from basic conversations and activities up to student-generated how-to classes and persuasive communication. 
Expectations for the students:
     Students will be expected to attend class regularly and arrive on time, participate in class, respect others in the classroom, and in other ways respect established norms of classroom behavior.  Students will be expected to develop skills in problem-solving and rational thought.
Textbook:
Quantum Leap in Conversation and Reading; written by Gerald Wayne and Faith Yeh, New Wun Ching Developmental Publishing Co., Ltd.
Additional Materials:
The J-gram (http://the-jgram.blogspot.com/p/conversation.html) PowerPoint presentations, related video clips, and student-generated materials.
Grading scale
Participation: 30%
Mid-term Exam Project: 30%
Final Exam Project: 40%

Conversation Class Previous Material


     The textbook required for this course is Quantum Leap in Conversation, Reading, and Grammar (Second Edition).  It's available from New Wun Ching Developmental Publishing Co., Ltd.
     (Phone: 2244-8188; ask for Jason Jiang)  The last time I checked, the cost of a single volume is NT$330, but the publisher may allow a reduced cost for group orders.

Travel and Tourism Course in 2010


Travel and Tourism English Syllabus for Autumn 2010
     This post is now only for reference.  As of September 2012, I'm teaching another course in Travel and Tourism, and I have another syllabus for that course.
     As the travel and tourism industry focuses on people as individuals, this course necessarily involves oral communication.  Students will be required to give regular oral presentations on given topics.  This course also aims to acquaint students with aspects of the hospitality and tourism industries.

Student scores will be calculated as follows: 
Participation (including punctuality and attendance): 30% 
Mid-term exam: 30%
Final Exam: 40%.

     If a student arrives for class only a few minutes before the end of a class period, that student will be recorded as absent for that class period; unless the student can offer a valid reason for tardiness.  Attendance will usually be reported to the school each Tuesday.  For that reason, if a student is absent with good reason, it is the student's responsibility to inform the teacher no later than the Monday following the class.   

     The textbook for this course is/was Tourism, Book 1: Oxford English for Careers, written by R. Walker and K. Harding; published by the Oxford University Press. I have been informed--two weeks after school started--that this book is either out of stock or out of print.  Through the efforts of another Hsing Wu College instructor, Marion, I'm told that another book is coming soon.  When it arrives, I can begin making specific lesson plans.

     I have also discovered that very few of the students in either of the Travel and Tourism English classes actually speak English.  This has led to the need for some changes in class goals.  Current goals are as follows:
1.  That the students will learn to understand spoken and written English well enough to achieve the other major goal of this course.  The first half of the class each week will be spent watching English-language videos of various lengths subtitled in English.  From time to time, I will test their comprehension of these videos.
2.  That the students will organize into teams acting as travel agencies.  Students who are able to speak English will lead the teams.  The teams' projects will be to describe in detail how they would organize tours of less-traveled areas such a Iran and Yap, Micronesia

     The teaching and learning strategy for this course, Travel and Tourism English, is project based, cooperative learning.  Project based means "learning by doing in realistic situations."  Cooperative learning means that students learn from both the teacher and from one another, and the teacher may even learn from the students.  Students will form small teams acting as tourist agencies.  These teams will design vacations to places other than the well-worn tourist resorts or tourist traps.  Think of it as somewhat like virtual reality; it's a game with a purpose.

Travel and Tourism Syllabus


  1. Welcome to On the Go
  2. Just Arrived
  3. Just Arrived
  4. On Campus
  5. On Campus
  6. Make Yourself at Home
  7. Make Yourself at Home
  8. Out and About in LA
  9. Review
  10. Mid-term project due
  11. Discussion of projects
  12. Dining Out
  13. Dining Out
  14. Surf's Up
  15. Surf's Up
  16. Getting Around Town
  17. Getting Around Town
  18. The Grand Hotel
  19. Review
  20. Final Exam project due
Videos:
     The following videos can be found on YouTube by using the key word Paradigmaclast.  I have downloaded MP4's of the videos and hope they will play on Hsing Wu University's equipment in building #3.
Lesson 1: What is Tourism?  
Lesson 2: Planning YourVacation  
Lesson 6; (Tourism) Lodging
Lesson 12: A Five-star Hotel 
Lesson 13: Mediterranean Beaches  
Lesson 15a: New York City (Part 1 of 2)
Lesson 15b: New York City (Part 2 of 2)
Lesson 16: Sports Tourism


About the course:
     Travel and Tourism English is a project-based, cooperative-learning course in English as it is used to plan vacations and as it is used while on vacation.  Lessons will be a combination of scaffolded lectures and student activities in groups and as individuals.  As projects, students will plan vacations in places other than well-worn vacation spots; and, via role playing and other methods, they will generate and represent authentic travel situations.
Expectations for the students:
     Students will be expected to attend class regularly and arrive on time, participate in class, respect others in the classroom, and in other ways respect established norms of classroom behavior.  Questions are encouraged.  Students are encouraged to help one another in cooperative learning. 
Textbook:
On the Go: English Skills for Global Communication; written by Steven Gershen, Chris Mares, and Richard Walker; Pearson Communication; c/o Ernest Huang 0912-278109, cwhuang@tunghua.com.tw 
Additional Materials:
The J-gram  http://the-jgram.blogspot.com/p/travel-and-tourism.html PowerPoint presentations, related video clips, and Internet research.
Grading scale
Participation: 40%
Mid-term Exam Project: 25%
Final Exam Project: 35%