This course is designed to reinforce the reading, writing, speaking and presenting skills already acquired by third-year students through the study of a subject both essential to our bodies and dear to our hearts: food. The content-focus of this class will include a variety of topics such as food as a symbol of culture, food in the media and in literature, and new trends in the production and consumption of food in modern society. Required readings and short videos will be assigned and posted to Blackboard every week, which students should come to class prepared to discuss. In this course, students will have the opportunity to explore and document their individual relationships with food, write critical reviews of food businesses, research and write summaries of various food-related texts, and work collaboratively to devise, script and film their own original 10-minute food programme. ELTU3415 will help students to become more fully aware of food, its provenance and production, history and fads, and to understand how their own food choices are made and the impact those choices can have on society. Additionally, by strengthening their English proficiency through digital and online mediums, students will be encouraged to perceive their everyday media practices as a rich field of English language production and contribute to global discourses on food.
Advisory: This interdisciplinary course is appropriate for upper-level students from various faculties who are seeking to enhance their critical reading and writing skills while engaging in media technologies to increase English proficiency.