Languages EnglishLiterature in English

In this course, we will read the works of three of the most important dramatists in American literature.Each session will concentrate on one play.
Session 1: Eugene O’Neill:  Long day's journey into night
Session 2: Arthur Miller: The Crucible
Session 3: Tennessee Williams: Night of the Iguana

The short 15-hour course aims to provide all who are interested in literature, particularly, teachers who are interested in using literature in their language classrooms, with the chance to read, appreciate and critique the works of the selected American playwrights. 

The short 9-hour course aims to provide all who are interested in literature, particularly, teachers who are interested in using literature in their language classrooms, with the chance to read, appreciate and critique the works of 3 important American novelists.

This course explores the idea of storytelling through reading the works of some of the short story’s most prominent writers. It deals with fundamental questions like: Why do people need to tell, read, write and listen to fictional stories? By examining the aesthetics as well as the politics of storytelling, the course aims at shedding some light on the different themes generated by narration and revealing the void that lies beneath man’s sense of identity.

The course aims at examining the politicized nature of ethnic representations and how they affect social relations and the ethno-symbolic network. Investigating the links between media, society and culture, it falls into the following main themes: Silencing the Asiatic, the White/Black division, the Caribbean subaltern, the Arab and Muslim others, and the symbolic American other. Exploring forms, practices, and politics of representation, we will discuss the importance, as well as the futility, of representational ethnic struggles.

This course aims to help parents, teachers and those who are interested in children’s literature in English. Course participants learn how to interpret, select and make use of children’s literature (in different genres like picture books, sci-fi, fantasy, non-fiction) to achieve a variety of purposes, such as:

• Fostering reading for pleasure – a vital part of language acquisition
• Cultivating good reading habits for personal growth
• Identifying their children’s language learning needs and addressing them
• Designing practical follow-up activities leading to the target learners’ long-term language development

This course takes a formalist approach to the teaching of literature and will cover the following:
•    An introduction to the elements of fiction: setting, characterization, plot, theme(s), and point of view; 
•    An introduction to the characteristics of four subgenres within Fiction: Biblical parables, fairy tales, fables, and Greek myths;
•    An explication of how the five elements of fiction function in the four genres;
•    A discussion of a set of ready-made teaching materials (written by the course tutor himself) and how they can be used in the classroom

This course takes a formalist approach to the teaching of literature and will cover the following:
•    An introduction to the elements of poetry: figures of speech (metaphors, similes, personification); rhyme and rhythm; voice, speaker, and listener;
•    An introduction to three different types of poetry: narrative poems, dramatic poems, and lyric poems; 
•    An explication of how the elements of poetry function in these three types of poetry;
•    A discussion of a set of ready-made teaching materials (written by the course tutor himself) and how they can be used in the classroom. 

From classical Greek drama to contemporary theatre, the stage has always been an integral part of the human experience. The course looks at selective moments in the history of drama in which certain playwrights benefited fully from the history of the genre and yet departed so radically from that history. Exploring the content as well as the form of their dramatic works provides key insights into some of the most important societal and cultural issues of both past and present.

The course introduces some of Shakespeare’s tragedies in an attempt to crystallise unifying ideas about his thoughts on the human condition as well as analyse and debate notions like sexuality, war, fear, women, identity, the tragic hero, body, space, stage, guilt, language, and madness through Shakespeare’s literature. Tragedy works include Macbeth, Hamlet and King Lear.