Evaluation and Interviews

As I said today in class, you can sign up for your individual oral interviews in January when we will discuss your work. Just write your name and surname and indicate what day and time you want to come.
If you would like me to correct all of your work, you should give me a printout of your blog posts and comments. You can leave this for me in my pigeon hole in the department in via del Santo 77, or bring it to me when you come for your interview and I will give it back to you later, either during my office hours or when you come to register your marks.

I'd also be grateful if you could take the time to complete an ANONYMOUS feedback form on the course, to help me plan for next year.

Have a good holiday, and see you in January.

Francesca

The future of political sciences

In today's lesson we talked a bit about the future of political and social sciences. It's a pity more of you didn't come as it was a unique opportunity to hear some great thinkers in your field of study!
We spent some time discussing John Trent's paper which brought up several of the issues which you yourselves raised in your comments last week - such as specialization vs fragmentation, use of technology, importance of collaboration and team work ....
Here's the abstract of his paper. I will leave a copy of the full paper in the copy shop tomorrow.

The Next Generation of Political Studies:

Relevant or Irrelevant?

John E. Trent

Abstract: This presentation is based on a multi-year analysis of studies of the discipline of political science – global, national and sectorial – undertaken within Research Committee 33 of the International Political Science Association. The first, empirical section will report on what these studies tell us about the development of political science circa 1990-2012. The second, conjectural part will use this empirical base to seek to respond to the key questions posed by this Symposium concerning the challenges posed to political research and education by globalization. Essentially, my studies have shown that with regard to teaching, political science has become increasingly effective, global, standardized and professional. As regards research output, I find the discipline has become increasingly irrelevant to public opinion and the political class, governments, public debates and the media. The main culprits are our scientific and quantitative pretentions and the ensuing unconnected specializations that characterize our heavily Westernized political science today. These criticisms are not new. To surmount these problems we need to rethink our approaches and methodologies and spread our wings to include new populations, global complexities and pluralistic communities. Proposals are made…

Soliya next semester

If any of you are interested in participating in Soliya next semester (it could contribute to an online placement but would have to be discussed first), please read the information on their website. Also, here is a talk by Shamil Idriss, CEO of Soliya on TED Talks.  You might also want to read the final reflections of the Padova Soliya participants which you will find as comments to the posts in our blog.  If you decide you might want to participate, then please send me an email at francesca.helm@unipd.it

No lesson today

As I told you last week in class, there will be no lesson today, next lesson tomorrow 18th December.

Presentation from Global Voices talk last week

Here are the slides from the talk we had on Global Voices on Thursday 6th December

 

Presentazione gv 06 dic2012(1) from Francesca Helm

Placements, cover letters ...

I've seen from a lot of your comments about the Future of Political and Social Sciences that one of the main issues you have is that of internships and career opportunities, with which you feel that the university does not help you a great deal. At the beginning of the course some of you had also asked me to do a lesson on writing good cover letters to support your applications for jobs. So this week, as well as discussing education we will also look at cover letters and brainstorm on what kind of support you would find useful.

University of Kent has an excellent university website providing advice for graduates on writing cvs, cover letters, online application forms.
iHipo This is a useful website with links to international internships and jobs, and also advice on cv and coverletter writing
Wikihow has advice on How to write a letter of Intent
Eurodesk is one of the sites recommended by the You (th)in Motion group blog, amongst the many useful resources they have found for you all.

Here are some internships which I have recently seen advertised
ILO internships
ECAS - European Citizen Action Service


Imagine you are writing a cover letter to apply for the following internship at the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.

More on Future of Political Sciences

Here are some resources so you can learn more about some of the speakers who will be at the Future of Political Sciences Conference (if you are not already familiar with them).

Jan Aart Scholte
Jan Aart Scholte is Professor in PAIS and Professorial Research Fellow in the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation (CSGR) at the University of Warwick. He is also Academic Lead of the University's Global Research Priorities in Global Governance. His main research covers globalisation, global governance, civil society in global politics, and global democracy.



Lynn Mario de Souza
A Brazilian educator who has worked in many educational projects, including Learning to Read the world through Other Eyes (TOE). Based on postcolonial and poststructuralist theories, TOE focuses on indigenous knowledge systems as epistemologies (or ways of knowing) that offer different ontological choices (or choices related to the ways we see reality and being) to those of the so-called ‘Western’ mainstream cultures.  

Derrick Cogburn
Derrick Cogburn is Associate Professor of International Relations at the School of International Service at American University. In addition, he is Senior Scientist and Chief Research Director at the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University.
He has written a lot about globally disrtributed learning collaborative learning and is director of COTELCO,
The Center for Research on Collaboratories and Technology Enhanced Learning Communities. He has also set up the Institute for Disability and Public Policy in Thailand.

Saskia Sassen

Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University
Co-Chair Committee on Global Thought, Columbia UniversitySaskia Sassen's research and writing focuses on globalization (including social, economic and political dimensions), immigration, global cities (including cities and terrorism), the new technologies, and changes within the liberal state that result from current transnational conditions.

 Or if you'd prefer to read here is an interview on the same topic.

The Future of Political and Social Sciencees

Next week is supposed to be dedicated to the improvement of university teaching and I'd like to open a discussion with you on this topic, also in view of the event which will be taking place in the Department on the 14th and 15th December, the Future of Political and Social Sciences, which is part of a broader project: Next Generation Global Studies. I'd like you to consider how you think this university could help you to become critical, creative and responsible global citizens and political scientists. What and how would you like to learn? What is the role of foreign languages in this process? New technologies? Global networks?

Here are a couple of videos to get you thinking, please comment with your thoughts on this topic and try to start a dialogue about this which we can continue in class. You could also think about making a short collective statement  - in the form of a document, a video, a powerpoint... the possibilties are endless - which could be presented at some point during the event.  

This week's lessons and assignments

First of all congratulations on your presentations today - it was really interesting listening to and watching your presentations about speeches, I certainly learnt from you all and I'm sure you learnt from each other too.
On the language work page I have put the file from Monday with the transformation exercises we did on the active and passive, as well as the other texts we looked at for participants and processes.
You have two possibilities for your assignments for next week:
- post on your blog, (you could focus on how participants and processes are portrayed in a text on your topic if you want) and comment on another blog
- post a comment to my blog post about the Future of Political and Social Sciences and a post to another student blog.
- post on your blog, (you could focus on how participants and processes are portrayed in a text on your topic if you want) and comment on my blog post about the Future of Political and Social Sciences.

This week's classes

On Monday I had you do a written test without the support of Internet, dictionaries etc. since I need to assess your free writing in English as well as the more planned writing you are doing in your blogs. I hope to give you some feedback next week.
Then we started looking at how you can dissect a text by looking at participants and processes. Here is the powerpoint presentation that I used.

Participants and processes from Francesca Helm

Then we looked at this text about Conditions in the Niger Delta, but when we looked at it you were not aware that it came directly from Shell's website. If you analyse the text and look at just the participants and the processes involved, this is the picture you get and it makes it quite clear who are the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys'.

PARTICIPANTS	PROCESSES
Shell companies/SPDC/its operations	Operate, produce, reactivate, pay, is, have, launched, build trust, give, works with communities, builds trust, gives control over development
Local people/Communities/most of the 30 million people living there/The rapidly growing population/Only very few/civil unrest	Demand, remain, is putting pressure on resources, have access, have become increasingly frustrated,
Heavily-armed and well-organised Gangs/militant groups/	Shut down operations kidnapped staff, sabotaged pipelines, have emerged, are financed by theft, cause massive pollution, damage wellheads and other facilities
Security	Has deteriorated, has improved
The Niger  Delta/Nigeria	Is, is, is,
The government	(is paid tax), declared an amnesty
Crude oil theft and illegal refining	Finance operations of militant groups, cause major environmental problems

Finally we watched this video

You can read the tapescript here. A listening comprehension exercise, but also an exercise in critically analysing language. It was produced by the actor/activists, the Yes Men, who engage in what they define as 'identity correction'. They very cleverly adopt the language that multinationals use and the methods they employ to engage with the media to present themselves in a positive light. The Yes Men manage to create very negative publicity for these companies by obliging them to deny that what the Yes Men have said is true, so in this case Shell was obliged to say (in not so many words) that they were NOT sorry for what they have done!

Thursday 6th December - Global Voices

On Thursday 6th December, at 16.30 in aula P, there will be a talk with Italian representatives from Global Voices. This will be a great opportunity for you to get to know more about this international blogging project and also about blog writing in general. Davide Galati from Global Voices Italy will be here, and Bernardo Parrella who will join us via Skype from New York. We will also discuss the possibility of doing a work placement with Global Voices if any of you are interested.  

Global Studies, conference and winter school

Here's some information about two events which may be of interest to you.
First of all, as Angela mentioned in a comment to a previous post, there will be a 2-day event in December, the future of Political and Social Sciences, organized by our department and with some excellent international speakers. I highly recommend this event which is open to all of you.
In February 2013, there will be a 5-day winter school on the Spaces and Times of Globalization, again with a very interesting group of international professors. There are only 25 places available, and some of these will go to international students, so apart from the round table on the first day, you will not be guaranteed a place. However if you are interested in applying to participate, here is a link with some information for applicants.

Lessons on speeches

Hi there
I'm very sorry, before leaving for Grenoble I didn't manage to post the slides from the lesson and the language work we did on Monday and Tuesday. Here is the powerpoint from the lesson.

Political speeches bush_obama from Francesca Helm

If you want to read and listen to the speeches,
here's a link to Bush's speech to congress 20/09/2011
Obama, A New Beginning 4/06/2009
 What we looked at in particular was the part of Obama's speech which regarded the Palestine-Israel issue, and an issue which we will look at more during lessons as we look at CDA and accusations of bias in the media.
For next week I asked you to look for and analyse a speech which somehow relates to the topic of your blog, and try to analyse it looking out for the aims of the speech, the audience, how the speech is organized and how it seeks to accomplish the aim, lexical choice, rhetorical devices ... there's plenty for you to look for. In your groups you can either each choose one speech or each look at one or two aspects of the same speech. Up to you!

Francesca

This week's lessons

This week, aside from having updates on your blogging activity,  we did some vocabulary exercises looking at words expressing attitude and opinion (IELTS Language Practice p.220 and p.222) and I asked you to use some of these expressions as you comment on each other's blogs and also as you write your blog posts for this week.
We also began looking at Critical Discourse Analysis, which we will explore further in the weeks to come. Here is the ppt from Tuesday's lesson.

Introduction cda pid2012 from Francesca Helm

You also should start reading the photocopies I left for you about making speeches.

Congratulations

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to say that I was impressed with your group blogs, how you have managed to organize yourselves, set up and post on your blogs and then also present them to the class. Keep up the good work, and remember this week to also post AT LEAST one comment on another group's blog.

Francesca

Monday 5th November cancelled

Hi everyone,
Due to unforeseen problems I have to cancel Monday's lesson, I will explain on Tuesday. Be prepared to present your blogs on Tuesday! Apologies, and I will make up the lesson of course!
Francesca

Group Blog Project

Aims of blog project:

• to read, listen and write in English on a topic of interest to you and also related to your studies.
• to develop online literacies, such as evaluating websites, selecting sources, re-presenting and paraphrasing information, writing for an audience, developing critical thinking skills

For this project you will have to create a blog in groups of max. 4 people.
Choose a topic that you are interested in, and also relates somehow to your studies. It could be a particular area or country, it could be an area of European policy, it could be a cause you feel strongly about and want to write about and even campaign for, such as public goods (like water...), racism, poverty, media, it could be an aspect of life in Italy or Europe, or how Italy or another country is viewed by the international press (here's an Italian version).
If you're interested in political blogs, here's an interesting summary of different kinds of political blogs
Make sure that it is a topic all group member have some interest in, or a topic which each group member could focus on from different perspectives.
At least one person in your group should feel comfortable with using technology and be able to resolve technical issues.

ALTERNATIVELY you could choose to FOLLOW and comment regularly on an English language blog on a topic of interest to you, or contribute to a blog such as Italia dall'estero

Each group member should post at least one entry a week. Your posts can be a personal commentary or reflection on the topic, a summary of information from other sources (with links to these), applications of what we do in class to the topic you are writing about.
Your posts can contain links to other websites, embedded videos and photos.
Make sure you do not use images with copyright. If you want to include a picture on your blog, this is a good site http://compfight.com/ but remember to select Creative Commons Licence.
Here's some advice on writing blog posts:
http://technorati.com/social-media/article/10-steps-for-writing-a-new/



Every week one group member will give a 2-3 minute presentation to the class on the group's blog
Every week each group member should post at least one comment on another group's blog.

Your blogs should be up and running by next week: 29th October.
ONE member of each group should send a comment to this post with a short description of the blog, the URL of the blog and names of group members.

Exploring the blogosphere

According to wikipedia the blogoshpere is "...the collective term encompassing all weblogs or blogs as a community or social network. Many weblogs are densely interconnected; bloggers read others' blogs, link to them, reference them in their own writing, and post comments on each others' blogs. Because of this, the interconnected blogs have grown their own culture." 

Here's a short, recent report on the blogosphere

Purpose: To search the Internet for blogs that interest you in order to become aware of how large and varied the blogosphere is and to get ideas for your own blogs. To start analyzing some of the characteristics of blogs as a genre.

Task: Search for blogs that might interest you by going toTechnorati and searching for a word, e.g. “politics”, in blog posts, in tags or in their blog directory (please choose blogs in English).Read some of the blogs. Choose one that interests you. Come back to our course blog and write a comment to this post about one of the blogs you have found. Give us the url and explain what you like about the blog and why you would recommend others visiting it.
Start considering how blogs are written and how links are used in blogs. What kind of language is used (formal, informal, vulgar, elegant)? How do bloggers make use of links in their posts? At the end of your post, write a few sentences about your initial observations of the styles used on the blogoshpere.

N.B. Be concise ;-)

Respond: Read the comments of the other students and go visit at least one of the blogs they have suggested. 

Deadline: Tomorrow :-)

On the topic of stereotypes...

Ok, it's not in English, but it's on the topic of stereotypes!
Would be very curious to hear your views on this.

http://video.repubblica.it/mondo/norvegia-la-pubblicita-prende-in-giro-gli-italiani-mammoni/107853/106233

Feedback on last week's homework

WOW, I'm really impressed with the work you did last week using Hofstede's dimensions to help you write advice for Erasmus students coming to Padova. Most of you fulfilled the task, that is you did exactly what you were asked (sometimes students don't read instructions carefully!) and showed insight, reflection and many were also quite witty - not easy in a foreign language, so well done!! I enjoyed reading your work :-)

I haven't put comments to each of yours as there are so many of you, but what I have done is:
- made a corrections page where I pasted some of your sentences and corrected them, you should ALL look at this page
- listed common mistakes and put some links on the Language Work page under the date 16th October.

What you ALL need to do now, is look over your post and correct the 'common' mistakes you made. You can do this by copying and pasting it into a reply to your post, correct the mistakes and then send it. Don't delete your original comment, keep it as a record (then you can present both versions in your portfolios at the end of the course).

Francesca

Homework this week

This week can you ALL finish listening to Adichie's single story on TED. As I said in class, there is a transcript for those of you who want to read while listening.

For homework this week you have a choice :-)
Either send a comment to my post about the Mapping Stereotypes project, answering some of the questions that I posed at the end of the post.
OR
Write your own 'single story' you have or had about a place or people, or that you have experienced from other people towards you. Where did this single story originate?

The danger of a single story

What is a story teller?
What kind of stories did you use to read? 
Do you remember any of them in particular?
What is raffia? A roommate?
What do the followng verbs mean? to patronize, to pity, to assume

Read these comprehension questions before you watch the video, and then try to answer them:
What was Adichie’s single story about books when she was a child?
How did this change?
What was her single story about Fide, their domestic helper?
How did that change?
What was her university room mate’s single story about Africa?
What is the origin of this single story about Africa that permeates the US, according to Adichie?
When did she begin to identify herself as African?
What did the American professor say about her novel?
What was Adichie’s single story about Mexicans? Where did it originate?
“nkali” is an igbo word which relates to power. How does "nkali" relate to a single story?
Why does she imply the American student seem to think that all Nigerian men are physical abusers?
What is the problem with stereotypes?
What are the consequences of a single story?
How does she suggest we can reject the single story?

Access to blog

Hi everyone,
Today at the end of the lesson somebody told me they had to open a gmail account to be able to post a comment - my intention with this blog was to avoid all the problems with registration etc. we were having with Moodle and I didn't want you to have to set up accounts. I'm afraid it may have been a problem with the settings which I have now changed - so now, PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL (francesca.helm@unipd.it) IF YOU CANNOT POST A COMMENT, explaining what the problem is and I will try to resolve it.
Francesca

Mapping stereotypes

Stereotypes

What is a stereotype? A stereotype can be defined as "a standardized mental picture that is held in common by members of a group and that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment" (Merriam Webster). Another definition is "cognitive representations of another group that influence one's feeling about the group (Gudykunst and Kim). It is argued that stereotyping is a natural and universal information processing strategy that helps us make sense of a complex world. The problem with stereotyping is that they are often used to ascribe characteristics to entire groups of people and lead to ethnocentrism, prejudice and discrimination.
National stereotypes have been mapped in a project by Bulgarian artist YankoTvetskov who has created satirical maps of Europe and the world based on common national stereotypes in his Mapping Stereotypes project.

Read an interview with the artist who created these maps, YankoTvetskov and write your reflections on his project and the maps. Do you find them humorous? Offensive? Controversial? Do they serve to reinforce stereotypes or can they help us to challenge them?

Word Associations

Could you take two minutes to do this Word Associations questionnaire. Don't think about it, just do it quickly.

You can read more about Hofstede's dimensions on this website, and you can also look at how Italy rates, and how it compares with other countries.
Explore the website and read more about Hofstede's dimensions. Compare Italy with one or two other countries. For homework: prepare a report about Italy for Erasmus students from another European country coming to Padova University. Base your report and the advice you give on Hofstede's dimensions, the differences you find and your experience and knowledge of Italy.
Post your report as a comment to this post.

On Monday 8th October we are going to have a lesson held by prof. C.D. Inge van Oeveren, lecturer and adviser on Intercultural Communications at the School of Economics & Management, University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam. She is going to talk about:

Intercultural Communication

Verbal communication, direct and indirect ways of communicating

Non verbal Communication

Time

Stereotyping

To prepare for the lesson could you please read this short text about Hofstede’s dimensions of culture:

Intercultural communication and dialogue is a topic we shall carry on reading about and discussing for the next few weeks.

Welcome to our course blog

This is the course blog for the English course in the Master's degree in International Politics and Diplomacy at the University of Padova. This is where you will find messages and materials related to what we do in class, and also where students will post written work in the form of comments to posts, links and in various other ways which we will explore as the course progresses.