Classes

Sophomore Seminar: Introductions to British Children's Literature and British Women's Literature

In the first semester this class examines British children’s literature from its beginnings in the late 1600s to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). We look at ten classic children’s books: this introduces students to literary study, as well as to the historical development of ideas about childhood and education. In the second semester the class examines British women’s literature from its beginnings to Pride and Prejudice (1813). We look at a series of plays, poems and novels: this leads students into more advanced literary study, and introduces them to some “feminist” thinking about the disadvantages women experienced (and often overcame!) in the past.

STUDENTS: To download texts for this class click HERE.

Junior Seminar: British Musical Theatre from Shakespeare to Mamma Mia!

This class examines the entire history of British musical theatre, from its beginnings in the age of Shakespeare to the international mega-hits of the late 1900s. We study one work each week, learning about the story, listening to samples of the music, and considering how the music is used to assist the storytelling. Most of the operas and musicals we study were very successful when they first appeared, so the course also provides a valuable insight into the progress of popular taste in Britain. One week in each semester is devoted to women's contributions to this kind of theatre.

STUDENTS: To download texts for this class click HERE.

Senior Seminar: British Painting, 1480-1920

This class examines 440 years of painting in Britain, from the 1480s to the 1910s, or from the end of the Medieval period to the rise of Modern Art. We study 10-20 pictures each week and learn about British painting in relation to European painting, and about the artistic and social influences that made British art develop as it did. The course tries to combine older approaches to art history, based on the analysis of style and technique, with newer approaches, based on the social and ideological function of images.

Skills in English. Stories in Song: Tim Rice’s Musicals

In this class we develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills through a close study of three well-known musicals written by Tim Rice: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Heathcliff. We will also be thinking about such questions as what makes a good song, how songs work in a theatrical context, and how stories can be communicated through songs. Students will be able to develop their knowledge of the Bible and English literature, too.

STUDENTS: To download texts for this class click HERE.

An Introduction to English Culture

This class introduces you to several key aspects of English culture and history and gives you a framework in which to compare them with Japanese culture. It begins by looking at other countries' views of England over the last 700 years, and considering England's historical relationship with Japan. It then looks at a number of topics―food, religion, humour, music, painting, sport, nursery rhymes―and considers how these things evolved in England, and what that evolution tells us about England and the English. The course ends with a discussion of how England developed the influential idea of “Cultural Studies.”

STUDENTS: To download handouts for this class click HERE.

An Introduction to English Poetry

For this class, the textbook is The Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language (1861), a collection of around 300 short poems written between the early 1500s and the mid-1800s. It is the most famous and successful anthology of English poetry ever published. Each week we discuss the language and ideas of two or three poems. The ideas, we find, are usually timeless and universal: ideas about love, death, happiness, loss, growing up, the countryside, and other fundamental elements of human experience. There will be a vote to decide which poems are studied in this class.

STUDENTS: To download a shortened version of The Golden Treasury click HERE.