Senzoku Gakuen Bridge Program

Academic Culture Seminar

Maiko Hata

Phone/fax: 408-642-9209 Email: Maihata@aol.com

Course Description:

During the next ten weeks, this course will help you understand the North American academic culture and how to interact properly with American peers and instructors. Also, this course will help you learn skills and strategies necessary to function in everyday American life. Throughout the course, we will learn to be autonomous learners and develop a deeper sense of responsibility for our own learning.

Office Hours:

Office hours will be Tuesday and Thursday, 4:30 to 5:00, and by appointment.

Web Site:

It is required once a week to check the “official” web site for this seminar. It has links to sites where you can study English and TOEFL skills by yourself, a syllabus, assignment for this seminar, and so on. The address is:

http://members.aol.com/Maihata/BridgeHome.html

Course materials:

Handouts will be distributed as needed. It is strongly encouraged to keep all the handouts and notes from this seminar in one folder or a binder so that you can refer back to the information whenever needed after you leave the Bridge Program. Some of the handouts are adopted from the below resources:

The Japan - United States Educational Commission (1996). ‘97 Pre - Departure Orientation Handbook. Alc; Tokyo, Japan.

Jacobs, I. and Shatswell, E. (1996). International Students’ Guide to the U.S.A. Princeton Review Publishing, L.L.C. ; New York.

Madden, C. and Rohlck, T. (1997). Discussion and interaction in the academic community. The University of Michigan Press; Michigan.

Harrington, D. & LeBeau, C. (1996). Speaking of Speech. McMillan Language House, Tokyo, Japan.

Steer, J. (1995). Strategies for academic communication. Heinle & Heinle; Boston.

Curriculum Design project for Shanghai Tandem Software (1997). Shangrila Group.

Wecksler, S. (1995). Study Skills for Academic Success. Heinle & Heinle; Boston.

Cole, B. & Toki, M. http://geocities.datacellar.net/Yosemite/Meadows/5468//

Syllabus (tentative)

1st week

• Getting to know each other
• Academic vocabulary
• Campus resources
• Speech act: greeting

2nd week

• Banking
• Choosing a major
• Getting familiar with course catalogue
• Speech act: non-verbal communication

3rd week

• Transferring units from Senzoku College
• Making an academic schedule
• Speech act: apologizing

4th week

• Academic culture 1: assignments, grading, communicating with instructors
• Speech act: polite requests & refusals

5th week

• Cultural differences between USA and Japan
• Social life
• Safety
• Speech act: compliments

6th week

• Managing your money, working on campus: social security number, tax
• Group work
• Speech act: non-verbal communication 2

7th week

• Renting and utilities
• Presentation skill
• Speech act: invitations

8th week

• Getting help: more campus resource, going to see a doctor
• Time management and note taking skill
• Speech act: complaining

9th week

• American topics: educational system, brief history, etc.
• Test taking skill
• Speech act: discussing

10th week

• Topic: T. B. D.
• Speech act: T. B. D.

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