Extra Credit Options for GEO 105

* IF YOU WANT TO DO ONE OF THESE OPTIONS, YOU MUST SIGN UP WITH YOUR TA BY THE END OF THE SECOND WEEK OF CLASS *

You may chose to do ONE of the following options. :

Option 1 The English Language Institute

Note: The ELI only allows native English speakers to do this. Non-native English speakers sould choose option 2.

1. Sign up to get a speaking partner at the english language institute.

2. Meet with your partner as agreed upon. This should be more or less one hour per week for a total of at least 7 hours during the quarter.

3. Write an essay of at least 3 doubled spaced pages on your experience with you language partner. Turn in your essay by 12 noon on Friday of dead week.

Questions you might want to address in your essay include:

What are the conditions (e.g. level of economic development, main religions, literacy rates, urbanization rates, political system, status of women, languages spoken) in your partner’s country?

Did your language partner seem to like an “average” person from his/her country, or did he/she seem to be different from the norm?

What things did your partner tell you that you found surprising?

What were you partner’s impressions of America? (If your partner only tells you positive things, you might ask them specifically what they don’t like about America).

What did you tell your partner about America that your partner seemed to find surprising?

If you partner was from a region covered in class, did anything from class help you understand your partner’s background?

You do not need to address all of these questions. Use your imagination.

The final paragraph of the essay should be on your opinion of the value of the exercise. Did you learn much from this exercise? Was the project a waste of your time? Would you recommend that other students do the exercies. Please be honest. Your grade will not depend on your opinion.

Grading:

If you meet with your partner for at least 7 hours during the term, write a minimally accaptible essay and turn the essay in on time, you will have your final grade increased by 2 percentage points (e.g. an 89 would become a 91).

Up to 1.5 additional percent will be added based on the quality of thought in your essay.

Up to 1.5 additional point will be added based on the quality of the writing in your essay. Students who would like help with writing should talk to their TA or the instructor for advice on improving English writing skills.

Option 2 Comparative current events

1. Select one of the country pairs below:

Israel and Egypt

The Congo and South Africa

India and Pakistan

China and Taiwan

Vietnam and Indonesia

2. Each week find at least one article from The Economist Magazine, The New York Times or The Washington Post on each of the countries you selected. You must find at least one article over the course of the quarter from each of these publications. All are available in the library. The New York Times and Washington Post are also available on-line. If you use the on-line editions to find the article, you still must go to the library and find the article in the print version. That may sound stupid, but one of the goals of this exercise is to expose you to these publications by having you at least thumb through them.

If you would like to use other QUALITY weekly or daily news sources in addition, you may. However, you need to clear the sources first with your instructor. Quality foreign language publications are fine. Examples of sources that will not be allowed are Newsweek and Time.

3. Photocopy, print, or somehow summarize each of the articles so that you can refer back to them later.

4. Each week submit the title, author and source (including page numer) of the articles you chose for the previous week to your TA.

5. After 7 weeks of collecting articles, write an essay of at least 3 double spaced pages discussing the articles you found. You must also turn in a bibliography citing all the articles you used. Turn in your essay by 12 noon on Friday of dead week.

Questions you might want to address in your essay:

Was there a focus to the articles you found?

Did the articles reveal any connection between your two countries?

Was the United States involved in any of the issues discusssed in the articles?

Did anything from class help you understand what was discussed in the articles?

Did the articles seem to condradict anything you learned from class?

Did the articles ever contradict each other?

Do you have any personal thoughts on the issues brought up in the articles?

You do not need to address all of these questions. Use your imagination.

The final paragraph of the essay should be on your opinion of the value of the exercise. Did you learn much about the countries? Did you discover any new publications you were not aware of before? Was the project a waste of your time? Please be honest. Your grade will not depend on your opinion.

Grading:

If you turn in your sources each week to the TA, use all three publications at least once, have a total of 14 articles, write a minimally accaptible essay with an attached bibliography and turn it in on time, you will have your final grade increased by 2 percentage points (e.g. an 89 would become a 91).

Up to 1.5 additional percent will be added based on the quality of thought in your essay.

Up to 1.5 additional point will be added based on the quality of the writing in your essay. Students who would like help with writing should talk to their TA or the instructor for advice on improving English writing skills.