Pete Teaches Science Fiction --Class #4

Next week in honor of the release of Blade Runner 2049, a sequel to Blade Runner which is based on the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K Dick, we'll skip ahead and talk about Philip K Dick. 

We plan to read "Beyond lies the wub" which is in the book.

If you prefer to read it online, it's easily available online.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28554/28554-h/28554-h.htm

It would also be nice if you read one other thing by him. On line stories are here. 

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Philip_Kindred_Dick

a list of movies is here: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick_bibliography#Film_adaptations 

Please be aware that the movies tend to slide away from the philosphical aspects of the work and more into action but that's the nature of movies. 

There are a lot of good documentaries and biographical materials available on Philip K Dick. The challenge for this class was to find one that was short ehough so that it did not take up all our class time. 

Here's some more biographical material on Philip K Dick.

This is an interesting discussion of the film adaptations of Philip K Dick

However, this is the best documentary I have seen yet on Philirp K Dick. Unfortunately, it's an hour long so we won't be watching it in class, but I definitely recommend you take a look at it if you have the time. 

Philip K Dick is a very interesting and controversial writer. 


In class, I will very quickly share some thoughts on Philip K Dick that came from Stephen Miller, a science fiction writer. Miller and his wife, Sharon Lee, are very nice people who write a space opera series set in what they call "The Liaden Universe." Their website is here: http://korval.com/  Their work is very, very different from Philip K Dick's.  

In the above documentary, "Phiiip K Dick, A Day in the Afterlife," Thomas Disch is featured prominently. He is a science fiction writer who also wrote an interesting book on science fiction called The DREAMS OUR STUFF IS MADE OF: How Science Fiction Conquered the World. Although the book is far reaching and discusses many things, Philip K Dick is often discussed in it and in many contexts

https://www.amazon.com/DREAMS-OUR-STUFF-MADE-Conquered/dp/0684859785/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1507927248&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=disch+stuff+our+dreams+are+made+of

More Christmas Specials and Movies for English Language Learners and Foreign Students

Last time on this blog, I shared a few of the more common American Christmas specials. This time, I'll add a few more, as well as a couple of the best known Christmas films. These are all iconic Christmas specials well known in the USA and I introduced them in my advanced class a couple weeks ago.

# 5 -- A Charlie Brown Christmas 

Charlie Brown is most certainly an American icon. Seems like this should be included.

# 6 -- A Christmas Story

Last month in this class, as discussed in a post a few weeks ago on movies, I showed the Thanksgiving film, "Pieces of April," spread over a few weeks. I seriously considering give this film, "A Christmas Story," the same treatment and only decided against it as I did not wish to repeat myself with the same kind of class, two months in a row. Undoubtedly a good film for foreign folks wishing to understand American culture. --or at least American culture of a few decades ago.

#7-  It's a Wonderful Life 

A true classic and a well known one. Surely it can't help for people wishing to understand our culture to check this one out, can it?

# 8 - A Miracle on 34th Street 

The story of a "real" Santa Claus in New York City. Another classic worth checking out.

#9 -- Santa Claus Conquers the Martians  

Okay, here I might be pushing it. I admit this strange and bizarre classic in "bad" movies has a special place in my heart. On the other hand, I did show it to my students in the advanced class, a group primarily composed of educated, middle class Asian housewives and they seemed to consider the brief exposure ten minutes well spent.

An Introduction to Christmas Special for "New Americans," Foreign Students, and ESL Students --Part One

Once a week, I teach an advanced ESL class where most of the students are wives of highly educated foreign workers, often from the tech industry. They generally speak English well and much of the class is cultural enrichment. 

What follows is a list of Christmas Specials that I introduced my students to this week. 

I began by explaining that Christmas is a religious holiday celebrated only by those who are at least nominally Christian and introduced the concept of separation of church and state. Nevertheless, I said, Christmas is clearly and important time of year and the separation of Church and State is not 100% (for better or worse) as evidenced by such things as "In God we Trust" on the money. 

So, with no further ado, a list of Christmas specials for ESL and Foreign Students. 

#1 --Frosty the Snowman

Although technically not a Christmas special, per se, this does tend to get shown around Christmas time. Therefore I began the class with it, perhaps to alleviate fears that I was going to push my religious beliefs or offend Muslims.   

Like many of these I began with the song on which the television special was based, and explained the vocabulary and concepts in it. Therefore I began with this song.    

 

I then followed up with the trailer for the TV show (or as close to the trailer as I could find. I am not convinced, despite the label, that this is really the TV show trailer.) 

#2 --Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer 

Again, I began with the song, explaining lyrics and vocabulary and cultural references. As an aside, and a piece of self criticism, this was not a terribly interactive lesson and was a bit lecture heavy. Not perfect, but once in a while, I feel, it's okay to do such lessons. 

 

This was followed by the trailer for the TV special. (This is not the one I used in class, but how can one not enjoy this? Especially if you are from Schenectady, home of GE, as I am. )

#3 - How the Grinch Stole Christmas 

This one I did a little differently than the others, because while the others started with songs, this one started with a book, a book by Dr. Seuss, so I began there. The I showed the trailer for the TV show. 

I explained that while I thought the word "grinch" had not been an English word, before this song they could now use it to describe an unhappy, grouchy person. I then followed this up with the song, explaining that a lot of the vocabulary is quite intense and obscure (I actually had to look up a couple words myself, "wasty" for instance, and told my students so. I do make it clear to my students that I do not understand every English word and they should not expect to be able to do so either. )

I showed this partly to explain the cultural significance of the song. I kind of feel they were more impressed than I was, but it was still fun to see the US Navy band perform this classic. 

 

This might have worked too, but probably not as well. 

And finally I introduced them to the Jim Carrey full length movie. I confess, I steered them away from it, but explained I hadn't seen it myself and perhaps I should before saying bad things about it. On the other hand, with the cartoon being such a classic, I feel this entire movie is unnecessary. Competely unnecessary.