General course description:
This trip will focus on the art, literature and history of England and France. An emphasis is to explore some of the smaller town gems with their intimate cafes, castles, museums and cathedrals, from the medieval town of York in England, to Amboise in the Chateau dappled Loire Valley in France. The major cities of London and Paris are also not to be missed. Students will have the opportunity to visit some of the most important art museums in the world (Louvre, Tate, Unterlinden Museum) and explore our Christian heritage through visits to places like Autun, York and Colmar, we’ll also visit Roman sites (Reims and Bath), walled medieval towns and castles (Loire Valley and York) and historical museums (British Museum and Royal Armouries) and well as great houses and royal sites (Chenonceau, Blenheim Palace and the Tower of London). Important literary sites include Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon and Jane Austin’s Bath, as well as Kayserberg, the home of Albert Schweitzer is on the agenda.
Cultural objectives:
• Understanding some of the geographical, political and religious history in England, and France.
• A better understanding of British and French culture.
• Have a better understanding of the different locations and places we will be exploring, including architecture, culture, regional differences, and art we will encounter.
To achieve these objectives, the course assignments include the following:
Prior to the trip:
1) Study the specific towns and regions that we will be exploring, discovering the richness
of the areas of England and France we will be traveling to.
2) Do background reading on British and French Culture and History.
3) Learn some basic French.
Reading for trip:
You will be reading Bill Bryson’s “Shakespeare” the illustrated version, and writing a reflection on what you’ve read.
England and France Notebook/Oral Reports:
Over the course of this semester as a class we will be building an informative notebook that will give all of us an opportunity to learn about different places we will be going.
Each student will be given a topic that they will be doing a fifteen-minute oral presentation on. In addition to the presentation, the student will also hand out an informative, two-side, three-hole punched page that the other student can place in their notebooks. This page will have all the key information about the given topic, a picture, location (if appropriate), helpful websites to investigate, and any other interesting information. The idea is that by the end of our time together you will have an informative notebook covering a variety of places, and interesting subjects we will be encountering on our trip.
With another student, you will also be doing a broader topic (like a city, or the history of the French Medieval Church etc…). You will create two pages of information for the “notebook” to hand out to the other students on this given topic. This also will be a twenty to thirty-minute oral presentation to the class as well.
• Reports should be informative. Be concise and creative with your information on your “notebook page.” List your references so someone can look up your sources if they want to learn more about your given topic. We encourage creativity with the notebook page both in content and style.
• Focus on comparing and contrasting with American culture, if appropriate.
• Synthesize your material into one coherent presentation.
• Do not limit yourself to a simple oral presentation. Introduce the class members to some aspect of English/French culture in an interesting or creative way (e.g. video clip, slides/power point, food, use of language, skit, music, etc.).
• Reports will be graded on content, organization, quality of the presentation, and creativity.
• While on the trip, you will be teaching us again of what you taught us about your specific city or topic when we get to those locations.
During the trip:
• Keep a daily journal/sketchbook of your positive experiences, possible mistakes and misunderstandings as well as any questions and situations you find puzzling about your exploration of eastern France. We will discuss these questions as a group as well. Drawings and sketches will be encouraged in your daily journal as well!
Journals will be due to the instructors on the flight back and are required for a passing grade in this course.
Grade Breakdown:
Individual Notebook Page/Presentation 100
Team Notebook Page/Presentation 100
Journal 200
Participation/Attitude 50
Questions on Shakespeare book 50
Total points possible: 500