American Culture-General Introduction.ppt

American Culture General Introduction What is culture? Why should we study culture? What’s the relationship between culture and language? Watch the following video and think about which cultural elements are embodied in this work. Cultural Elements in the Song Chinese language/ calligraphy Architecture Entertainment of Chinese people Costume Chinese Opera Folk arts Music and narration People--pop stars Terms with “Culture” Cultural identity Culture shock Culture diversity Culture industry the Cultural Revolution /wiki/Culture#Cultural_studies Conclusion Culture– the total pattern of beliefs, customers, institutions, objects and techniques that characterize the life of human community. “Culture consists of all the shared products of human society” (Robertson, 1981). Language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it. Americans in Your Mind “Theyre always thinking about enjoying themselves.” “They spend too much time at work. They dont know how to play. ” “--American women are shameless sirens. --No, theyre prudes. ” “--The children here are wonderful, outgoing and natural. --Natural as little beasts. They have no manners, no respect for their elders. ” Case Analysis Watch the following clips of the TV series “The Big Bang Theory”, then consider what the identities American notably feature with and why they think and behave like that. American Identity Individualism and Privacy Equality and Democracy Informality Achievement, Action, Work, and Materialism Directness and Assertiveness Cooperation and Fair Play Course Description This course is designed to help you: raise your awareness of culture; get familiarized with the general information on the U.S.A.; develop your abilities to use English language appropriately in cross-cultural communication; and develop your analytical abilities on current world issues. Course Assessment Total credit: 100 Final Exam: 60 (60%) Regular Grade: 40 (40%) Attendance: 10 Five Tests: 10 Group Work: 10 Cla