XMU-Summer Term

The Many Faces of Success--Summer 2012

Instructor: Mr. Michael Krigline, MA Xiamen University, International Economics and Trade

www.krigline.com.cn

Click "refresh" in your browser to be sure that you load the most recent version of this page; I may change things during the term.

Syllabus:

Class 1: Introduction/expectations/ seating chart; discussion

Class 2: “Holmes & the Secret Weapon” (film w Chinese Subtitles) and discussion (canceled for Friday’s section)

Class 3: RP (Role Play Group) 1; “Make up your mind to succeed” (article)

Class 4: RP 2; Holmes Readers' Theater (we’ll talk about his methods; Who is Conan Doyle?)

Class 5: RP 3 & 4; Henry Ford and other successful people. “Ever After” preview

Class 6: “Ever After” (film w English subtitles; Study Guide is at http://www.krigline.com.cn/ever_after.htm)]

Class 7: RP 5; Discuss “Ever After”; The founders of McDonalds, Walmart and Microsoft.

Class 8: RP 6 & 7; Walt Disney; discussion

Class 9: RP 8; Tan Kah Kee and other successful people; review

Class 10: Speech Day

Class/day 1 notes for www.krigline.com.cn/xmu-summer.htm:

--I don’t know what you were expecting of this class… other than to be in a hot classroom using a foreign language. But a lot of what you get FROM this class will depend on what you put INTO this class.

--As Dr Ben-Shahar of Harvard says…

His goal is not to make students “happy” but “happier”; my goal is not to make you “successful” but “more successful”. Success, like happiness, is on a continuum.

As we look at examples/methods/articles, you need to be asking yourself how you can “improve” your mindset. “Many faces” means “many pathways.”

--reminder: If you have not seen your final exam and your term grade, you can see the marks on line (for a limited time). You can see your exam THIS WEEK ONLY at my apartment. After this week, I will shred all old exams. Likewise, if there is a mistake about your grade, you MUST talk to me about it this week. After Thursday, it will be too late.

--To be “successful” in this course…

During this short course, I know you have a lot to do for your other courses, and realize how uncomfortable our hot classrooms are. So I'll go easy on you! You don’t have to take any tests or write any papers. Half of your grade will be based on a practiced role play (groups of five), and half on a short speech (the last day of class). There is a second option that we discussed on the first day of class.

--Role plays. In groups of four to six, you will present a 4-6 minute role play about a “successful Chinese person” (includes “overseas Chinese”). Only one group can do any person (again, next week I’ll assign you to groups and pass around a topic sign up sheet). This can be a real person (like Lu Xun or Qin Shi Huang) or a fictional person (like…). You can do a talk show with or about that person, or whatever you like…

--Attendance. I’ve been told that you can miss only two days of class and still pass this course. We talked about this on the first day. If you have questions, talk to your monitor or to me. As always, if you can’t attend your class, you are welcome in a different section. You don’t need “permission” to miss or switch. But since our class is already large, please do not encourage students who are not in our class to attend. (Large classes limit how often each person can talk.)

--I’ll show two movies: Sherlock Holmes on June 20,21, and Ever After on July 4,5,6.

--Comments: Throughout the next five weeks (10 classes) we will look at successful people (mostly real, plus Sherlock Holmes and “Cinderella”) such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Basil Rathbone, Henry Ford, Da Vinci, Bill Gates, Tan Kah Kee, and the founders of McDonalds and Walmart. This is supposed to be a lecture course, so you will do a lot of listening. But as we do each of these things we will also discuss what made people successful, looking for clues to make us more successful. While there is no single “key” to success, I think you’ll see some helpful patterns.

--Returning to Dr Ben-Shahar of Harvard…

--In “happiness lecture #1” he talks about a 20-year study of successful Harvard grads. They found only two things that separated “the successful” from the “mega-successful”: (not IQ or background…)

(1) “really believed in themselves”; confident/self-motivated

(2) “they were always asking questions”; curious/learners

--So, I want this to be a class full of discovery and questions. And as we look at successful people, you need to constantly be thinking: “Would this behavior/method help me?” “How can this example help me become more successful?”

--Discussion, with notes posted at www.krigline.com.cn/success.htm

--Closing thought: If you struggled to understand me today, maybe you haven’t used English for two weeks! This shows how important it is to practice English often. Your homework (as always) is to speak in English for 15 minutes outside of class (with anyone), but that should be just the beginning. You need to listen, read and talk in English if you want to use it successfully! Yes, you have other things to do, but we all “have time for what is important.”

Class/day 3 notes/announcements:

--With your partner, describe how Holmes (& the Secret Weapon) used some of these “methods” in this movie: disguise, deception, observation, chemistry/photography, code breaking, machinery/technology.

--Answer:

A. disguise (book seller, jail-bird, scientist)
B. deception (German agents, trick M into taking out his blood, disguises, open trap door)
C. observation (describing Ms. Tobel w/o seeing her; knew her visitor wasn’t an electrician; heard the bookcase while blindfolded; found clue after the real note was gone)
D. chemistry/photography (to see the markings left by the pencil; “glowing” paint drops)
E. code breaking
F. machinery/technology (way to track M’s car)
--Lots of announcements!

--“Free Talk” is every Tuesday from 6:20 to 6:50 in 4-116.
--Please check the roster sheet today. Be sure you are listed in the correct class (i.e., the one you will normally attend). Also find out which Role Play group you are in, and who is your leader. Leaders should also write down everyone’s phone number. Remember that group #2 will perform THIS WEEK! Other group leaders should check the schedule on line. “I didn’t know it was today” is NOT a valid excuse for not being ready! You will have to come up with something before the class is over!

--Class 1 will notice that, due to the excessive size of your class, each RP group has six members. Meanwhile, class 3’s groups have only four members. IF some of you in class 1 would like to perform as “group 6 or 7” during a visit to class 3 (which doesn’t have those groups), that would be fine. Please tell me ASAP so I can rearrange the groups. (groups 6-7 perform in the 8th class) (Group leaders can not change to a different group.)

--THIS WEEK, leaders should put your topic on the sign-up sheet; only one group can present each “successful Chinese person,” so if a different group already chose your person, you have to choose someone else.
--Regarding your summer grade: I passed around a sign up sheet that said this:

I do not want my summer grade to be the same as my spring grade. Instead, I want half of my summer grade to be my marks for the group role play, and the other half to be from Speech Day (during the last week). On Speech Day I will present a speech I’ve written myself (not copied from the Internet) about a successful Chinese person, and I will also give a copy of my speech or an outline of the speech to Mr. Krigline. I realize that my Summer grade may be lower than my Spring grade if I choose this option, just as it may be higher.

--If you did not earn a grade in the Spring term, you MUST participate in Speech Day; you do not need to add your name here. If you wish to give a speech on Speech Day, and yet keep your spring grade, do not put your name here. (You are welcome to do this, but we’ll decide that later.)

--Over the weekend, I found a Readers’ Theater for a Holmes story, and I thought you would enjoy that more than just listening to one. So, would the following people stand or get a script! (You can see who you play on the chart, and yes, the “boyfriend’s part” has been assigned to a woman! To save money, actors with minor parts will share a script.)
--Holmes’ part is the longest, so I will read/act that part in all three classes LATER THIS WEEK. If others really want to switch with someone, that is OK with me (and if you will be absent from our next class, please get someone to do your part!).
--Actors: please at least get familiar with your parts, even if you don’t have time to read the whole play. If you want to bring “props”, that is OK too!

Class 4 notes:

As you watch today’s Readers’ Theater and hear information about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, try to fill in these blanks. Those marked with an asterisk (*) are vocabulary terms.

Holmes’ successful methods: first, as the client talks, listen for things that don’t sound normal (like the nocturnal *whistle and speckled *band); then examine the scene carefully, looking for things that are out of place or otherwise unusual (such as the indoor ventilator, the useless bed-pull cord, and the bed that had been *clamped to the floor); he also did research to learn the background (such as learning about Helen’s mother’s will), which helped him guess at *motives (i.e., the effect this crime would have on someone’s inheritance). Holmes did not quickly jump to conclusions (e.g., about what “band” meant) and didn’t overlook small facts that seem insignificant (like having a saucer of milk but no cat). He used imagination to think of possible methods to do the crime—something that incorporates all of the facts--and then tested that theory (in this play, he spent the night in Helen’s bedroom). He was brave, but not foolish/stupid (in the bedroom, Holmes had a cane handy, and he asked Watson to come along, and to bring his revolver/gun and matches).

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s success as an author is related to many factors. He overcame adversity as a child, growing up as the son of an alcoholic. He had a broad knowledge in many fields, including his education as a medical doctor. His fictional characters were believable because many were based on real people, such as Prof. Bell (his medical instructor, who demonstrated the “scientific methods” used by Holmes) and himself (who, like Dr. Watson, had served as a military doctor abroad). Doyle also had many interests, including sports like cricket and golf, and working to defend people wrongly accused of crime. He was also very patriotic, and was knighted for a book that explained Britain’s unpopular war in South Africa. He also responded to the desires of his fans—though not always willingly! Finally, Sir Arthur did not “rest” on his success, but was always working on the next project, which resulted in many popular books and novels.

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