Articles (usually The New York Times)

If the article is required, it will be handed out in class. If not required, please search for the title on The New York Times web site, Google, or follow the link below. Required articles often have special questions I've made for them. If there are no questions provided, I expect a 150-word minimum summary and a 250-minimum reaction to the article.

Here is a list of the articles we will do, which will be updated as we do them:

Week One: New York Times - Equal Rights Ascending - questions were amended!
Week Two: (not required) New York Times - Why Does College Cost So Much?
Week Three: (not required) New York Times - Absorbing the Pain
Week Four: Fool.com - When Rich People Do Stupid Things HW6 questions due 3/14
Week Five: (not required) New York Times - China's Winning Schools - 7 questions attached
Week Six: no article (testing week)
Week Seven: New York Times - One Hundred Years of Multitude - 5 questions attached: HW8
Week Eight: Long weekend for tomb sweeping day: spend time with your family - no article.
Week Nine: HW10: article on autism called "children with Asperger often live in fear of teasing due on Thursday, 14 April - 150 summary and 250-word reaction (opinion).
Weeks Ten and Week Eleven: You will be away on your bike trip around Taiwan. There is a New York Times article for homework extra credit called Times of Upheaval for which you should provide the usual summary and reaction. I hope at some point you can put a reflection on your blog about your bike trip, perhaps with some photos. Good luck and enjoy!
Week Twelve: HW11 Article due Friday 5/6 250-word reaction only on 10 Natural Wonders to See Before They Disapppear
Week Thirteen: When We Hated Mom for extra credit by 5/15 - 250-word reaction only (+ 5 points)
Week Seventeen: an extra article to read and post on if interested:

D-Day Veterans Recall World War II Turning Point

Week Eighteen: article reaction (250 words) 96 year-old Dutch woman confesses to World War II-era murder due 6/17

My main reasons for offering articles are:
To give you more examples of "authentic text," which are things written in English that are meant for native speakers, not for students. This gives you a real feel for the language, and a goal to shoot for.
To introduce some non-fiction into the curriculum. We do a lot of fiction in literature class, but as a reading class it is doing you a disservice to not let you read at least some non-fiction, which will be readily apparent in your lives both at university and work. It can also be useful and quite interesting.
To support the themes that are in our books, and provide more information about them, perhaps for projects or further research.
To tie-in with other courses or subjects you are studying now, or other book themes you have done in the past, or current events that shape our world, or for insight into other culture through those events or articles.
Finally, just to have interesting discussions or writing topics. It's good at times to get away for the usual things we do.