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.