Hi all!
Here's the completed assignment sheet for the 2014 MGC Cafe Project! It's long and complicated, so give it a good read to understand all of the moving pieces.
Cafe Project Assignment Sheet
Enjoy!
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
BoI and Vocab Documents
Hi everyone,
I'm attaching two documents to this post:
1. Vocab List #5
2. The Bastard of Istanbul Writing Assignment
Let me know if the links do not work.
!
I'm attaching two documents to this post:
1. Vocab List #5
2. The Bastard of Istanbul Writing Assignment
Let me know if the links do not work.
!
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
BoI Thought Provoker #2
To all those who are hungry...
In preparation for your assignment due on Monday (see the syllabus), your thought provoker for tonight asks you to do a little preliminary research into the food of the novel.
Why are we focusing on food?
First of all, because food forms an important motif in the novel: from the chapter titles to the processed American foods in the Arizona supermarket to the pretentious haute cuisine that Armanoush eats on her date to the variety of ethnic delicacies on the tables of both the Kazanci and Tchakhmakhchian households, Elif Shafak ensures that the flavors of these worlds are embedded within the prose of her work.
Second of all, because later in the year, you're going to run Middle Eastern themed cafes where your intricate knowledge of Turkish and other Mediterranean cuisine will come in handy.
Third of all, because it gives you a chance to collaborate in a completely different context and with a completely different purpose.
And finally, because eating brings people together...as you have already seen in the novel. And we're going to begin class on Monday with a FEAST! Prepared by you!
SO...tonight, your thought provoker is as follows: find at least TWO (if not more) important dishes that Shafak describes in her novel; research the dish, and find a recipe for it online. Post the recipe in the comments section below.
Make sure that you read the posts that already exist, so that we have as much variety in our "menu" as possible. Also, try to find dishes that are radically different from one another: a sweet dish and a salty one; a meat dish and a vegetarian one; a Turkish dish and an Armenian one; etc.
Good luck!
In preparation for your assignment due on Monday (see the syllabus), your thought provoker for tonight asks you to do a little preliminary research into the food of the novel.
Why are we focusing on food?
First of all, because food forms an important motif in the novel: from the chapter titles to the processed American foods in the Arizona supermarket to the pretentious haute cuisine that Armanoush eats on her date to the variety of ethnic delicacies on the tables of both the Kazanci and Tchakhmakhchian households, Elif Shafak ensures that the flavors of these worlds are embedded within the prose of her work.
Second of all, because later in the year, you're going to run Middle Eastern themed cafes where your intricate knowledge of Turkish and other Mediterranean cuisine will come in handy.
Third of all, because it gives you a chance to collaborate in a completely different context and with a completely different purpose.
And finally, because eating brings people together...as you have already seen in the novel. And we're going to begin class on Monday with a FEAST! Prepared by you!
SO...tonight, your thought provoker is as follows: find at least TWO (if not more) important dishes that Shafak describes in her novel; research the dish, and find a recipe for it online. Post the recipe in the comments section below.
Make sure that you read the posts that already exist, so that we have as much variety in our "menu" as possible. Also, try to find dishes that are radically different from one another: a sweet dish and a salty one; a meat dish and a vegetarian one; a Turkish dish and an Armenian one; etc.
Good luck!
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
BoI Thought Provoker #1
Hi all!
It's time to start thinking about the CULTURAL ALLUSIONS that Shafak uses all throughout her novel. Your job is to do a little preliminary research on five of them and offer a quick introductory explanation of who/what they are. You can also offer some brief thoughts about why Shafak might have alluded to each in the first place...as in, why THIS novel? Why THIS song?
By cultural allusions, I mean artists/paintings, authors/books, singers/songs, philosophers, etc that Shafak refers to in the novel. If there's a link you can post inside your response (or a youtube video), all the better!
Please make sure to look at the responses that have appeared already so that you don't overlap too much or at all.
Have fun!
Learn something!
(And here's something to get you started...)
It's time to start thinking about the CULTURAL ALLUSIONS that Shafak uses all throughout her novel. Your job is to do a little preliminary research on five of them and offer a quick introductory explanation of who/what they are. You can also offer some brief thoughts about why Shafak might have alluded to each in the first place...as in, why THIS novel? Why THIS song?
By cultural allusions, I mean artists/paintings, authors/books, singers/songs, philosophers, etc that Shafak refers to in the novel. If there's a link you can post inside your response (or a youtube video), all the better!
Please make sure to look at the responses that have appeared already so that you don't overlap too much or at all.
Have fun!
Learn something!
(And here's something to get you started...)
Monday, February 24, 2014
The Bastard of Istanbul Syllabus
To all Steintraubian sophomores!
The links below include the syllabus for both D-Block and E-Block readings of The Bastard of Istanbul.
D-Block Syllabus
E-Block Syllabus
And for those of you who do have time, here's a video of a TED talk that Elif Shafak, the author of The Bastard of Istanbul, gave in the UK. It's well worth your time!
The links below include the syllabus for both D-Block and E-Block readings of The Bastard of Istanbul.
D-Block Syllabus
E-Block Syllabus
And for those of you who do have time, here's a video of a TED talk that Elif Shafak, the author of The Bastard of Istanbul, gave in the UK. It's well worth your time!
Monday, January 13, 2014
Things Fall Apart Thought Provoker #2
Hello!
Now that you've finished reading Part Two of Things Fall Apart, it's time to start grappling with one of the central thematic issues of the novel.
When the missionaries begin arriving in the land of the Ibo, the tribal society is thrown into turmoil because its belief system must now compete with that of another land.
In a short response, please answer these questions: what makes Ibo society particularly vulnerable to the English colonists' religion and rhetoric? And do you think that the missionaries are saving or savaging the Ibo? Why????
And also, what's your favorite kind of gum?
Happy thinking!
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Things Fall Apart Thought Provoker #1
Hello!
Time to start moving past the obvious in our studies of Things Fall Apart.
Tonight, in addition to reading the assigned text, please answer the following question. It's based on a choice that Chinua Achebe makes in the composition of his novel: the choice to integrate many Ibo proverbs in his book.
PROMPT: Please find five proverbs scattered throughout the first 10 chapters of Things Fall Apart, and for each, explain what that proverb reveals about Ibo society (its values, its morals, its norms, its standards, etc.).
NOTE 1: Do not choose proverbs that your peers have already chosen. Make sure by looking at all of the existing responses so far.
NOTE 2: What's a proverb? Look it up!
Have fun!
Learn something!
Time to start moving past the obvious in our studies of Things Fall Apart.
Tonight, in addition to reading the assigned text, please answer the following question. It's based on a choice that Chinua Achebe makes in the composition of his novel: the choice to integrate many Ibo proverbs in his book.
PROMPT: Please find five proverbs scattered throughout the first 10 chapters of Things Fall Apart, and for each, explain what that proverb reveals about Ibo society (its values, its morals, its norms, its standards, etc.).
NOTE 1: Do not choose proverbs that your peers have already chosen. Make sure by looking at all of the existing responses so far.
NOTE 2: What's a proverb? Look it up!
Have fun!
Learn something!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)