Chinese Language/Chinese Civilization/Studying in China

Tour de France

This presentation introduces students to professional cycling's most prestigious event, the mid-summer 2000+ mile bicycle race which winds its way through France and finishes with panache on the Champs-Elysees. The race, which is both a team and individual sport, is considered to be the most grueling of sports, as the cyclists try to outwit, outrace and simply outlast their competitors day after day across chilly mountain tops and sweltering plains. The presenter, who attended several stages from the 2001 Tour, will share his personal photos, French newspaper clippings, and excerpts from French TV The presentation may be given in English and/or French, as best fits the backgrounds of the students.

1) Introduction to the Greek Language: Beyond Alpha Beta

2) Challenging Women in Greek Myth: Slides, Stories, and Explication

3) Reading Ethnicity in Aeschylean Tragedy: A Discussion of the Suppliant Maidens

Italian Language/Italian Civilization

1) Introduction to Japanese Language

2) Japanese life (video showing with comments, question and answer session)

1. Introduction to Russian Language/Russian language presentations: A practice language lesson

(Astound and Amaze your Friends -- Learn that Funky Alphabet)

2. Avant-garde Russian Art (slide show and brief comments)

A slide show of art, once censored, now accepted in the Soviet Union, of the great avant-garde artists of the early 20^th century such as Wasily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Kasimir Malevich and others.

3. Russian life (slide show, comments, question and answer session)

A session to describe one American's experiences in Russia, and to try to answer whatever questions American students may have about the former Soviet Union and present-day Russia.

4. Russian perceptions of America and Americans (accompanied by the visiting Russian instructor, if and when feasible)

How do Russians think about America, how do they react when they live in America, what do they find weird, unexpected, unusual?

5. Geography of the Soviet Union/Russia

6. The Origins of the Slavs and the Russians

1. Mexican-American culture/ Hispanics in the US

2. "Environmental challenges in Latin America." This presentation focuses on the current environmental challenges of Latin American countries, including the debate between a conservation mentality and a development mentality, with both sides being presented. There would also be discussion about ecotourism, an innovative approach that reconciles the two tensions. Further, the uniqueness and importance of the ecosystems in Latin America will be raised, so students can understand what is being destroyed.