John Mullen- Teaching blog

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Comment construire sa bibliographie de mémoire universitaire ?

Comment construire sa bibliographie de mémoire universitaire ?

Pour ceux qui, comme moi, sont occupés à écrire des mémoires ou articles universitaires : un rappel des règles pour la bibliographie.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Charles Bremner - Times Online - WBLG: The battle for Sunday in France

Charles Bremner - Times Online - WBLG: The battle for Sunday in France

Thanks to Jean Sabiron for recommending this article on Sunday in France, seen in The Times.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Climbers may be barred from Uluru - Australasia, World - The Independent

Climbers may be barred from Uluru - Australasia, World - The Independent

In the British press : a debate in Australia concerning aboriginal sacred sites, and tourists.

Contestation sociale WCML | Galleries > Image galleries

WCML | Galleries > Image galleries

If you follow the above link, you can see a collection of banners and symbols from the history of the British Trade Union movement.

Tom Lehrer - a song about nuclear war

Today a little American culture - an anti-war song from the comic singer Tom Lehrer, from forty or so years ago. Here are the lyrics :

This is the song that some of the boys sang as they went bravely off to World War III:

So long, mom,

I'm off to drop the bomb,

So don't wait up for me.

But while you swelter

Down there in your shelter

You can see me

On your TV.

While we're attacking frontally

Watch Brinkally and Huntally

Describing contrapuntally

The cities we have lost.

No need for you to miss a minute of the agonizing holocaust. Yeah!

Little Johnny Jones, he was a US pilot,

And no shrinking violet was he.

He was mighty proud when World War III was declared.

He wasn't scared, no siree!

And this is what he said on

His way to Armageddon:

So long, mom,

I'm off to drop the bomb,

So don't wait up for me.

But though I may roam,

I'll come back to my home

Although it may be

A pile of debris.

Remember, mommy,

I'm off to get a commie,

So send me a salami

And try to smile somehow.

I'll look for you when the war is over,

An hour and a half from now!

Monday, July 06, 2009

YouTube - Are You Being Served? No Sale 1/3

YouTube - Are You Being Served? No Sale 1/3

This youtube video is an extract from a nineteen seventies British comedy "Are you being served". It seems rather old-fashioned these days, but you can practise your English with it.

Gerd Bayer (2009) Heavy Metal Music in Britain

Gerd Bayer (2009) Heavy Metal Music in Britain

A new book has just been published by researchers studying the history of British popular music. Click on the link above.

BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | Plinth 'statues' for July chosen

BBC NEWS | UK | England | London | Plinth 'statues' for July chosen

A Trafalgar Square à Londres, un projet particulier d'Art Contemporain. Pendant 100 jours, plus de 2 000 personnes vont être la statue sur le socle pendant une heure chacun. Ils ont le droit de faire ce qu'ils veulent, tant que ce n'est pas illégal. Suivez le lien pour le rapport de la BBC.

BBC - Radio 4 - Podcast

BBC - Radio 4 - Podcast

Quand on apprend une langue, la grammaire en particulier nécessite un travail concentré et rigoureux. Mais pour le vocabulaire, et la compréhension orale, c'est la quantité qui compte. Ainsi, les podcast de la radio de la BBC sont un outil précieux pour les étudiants. Téléchargez en MP3 une émission d'une vingtaine de minutes - comique, scientifique, historique ou d'actualité, et écoutez trois ou quatre fois. Suivez le lien ci-dessus.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Pour les étudiants en linguistique

Pour les étudiants avancés de la grammaire anglaise, je vous signale ce livre, que vient de publier un groupe d'universitaires, dont mon ami Raphaël Salkie.

Vient de paraître

Modality in English

Theory and description

Raphael Salkie, Pierre Busuttil, Johan van der Auwera (eds.)

Collection : Topics in English Linguistics 58

Editors : Elisabeth Closs Traugott and Bernd Kortmann

2009 - Mouton de Gruyter

Berlin – New York

ISBN 978-3-11-019634-4

ISSN 1434-3452

Contents :

1. Introduction
Raphael Salkie, Pierre Busuttil and Johan van der Auwera

9. Towards a typology of modality in language
Paul Larreya

31. ‘Not-yet-factual at time t’: a neglected modal concept
Renaat Declerck

55. Semantic ascent, deixis, intersubjectivity and modality
Keith Mitchell

79. Degrees of modality
Raphael Salkie

105. Another look at modals and subjectivity
Jelena Timotijevic

123. For a topological representation of the modal system of English
Alain Deschamps and Lionel Dufaye

145. Epistemic might in the interrogative
Gilbert Ghio

159. MAY in concessive contexts
Jean-Claude Souesme

177. When may means must: deontic modality in English statute construction
Ross Charnock

199. Legal English and the ‘modal revolution’
Christopher Williams

211. Posteriority in expressions with must and have to: a case of interplay between syntax, semantics and pragmatics
An Verhulst

223. Using the adjectives surprised/surprising to express epistemic modality
Christiane Rocq-Migette

237. Commitment and subjectivity in the discourse of a judicial inquiry
Juana I. Marin-Arrese

269. Hearsay adverbs and modality
Agnès Celle

295. When Yes means No, and other hidden modalities
Claude Rivière

315. Modality and the history of English adhortatives
Manfred Krug

349. On the “great modal shift” sustained by come to VP
Philippe Bourdin

377. Author index
380. Subject index

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Queen to request £7m more from the Civil List - Home News, UK - The Independent

Queen to request £7m more from the Civil List - Home News, UK - The Independent

The Queen is asking for a pay rise...

The Big Question: How do Britain's sharia courts work, and are they a good thing? - Home News, UK - The Independent

The Big Question: How do Britain's sharia courts work, and are they a good thing? - Home News, UK - The Independent

In Britain, muslims or Jews may, if they wish, take their disputes (divorce etc.) to tribunals organized by their religious authorities. This article from a Britosh daily newspaper looks at this practice.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Basic Paragraph Construction for ESL Classes and Learners

Basic Paragraph Construction for ESL Classes and Learners

I am in the process of correcting the last few scripts from the exam retakes. It seems quite a few students have difficulties using paragraphs - they sometimes make one paragraph lats more than a page. If you follow the link above, you will see some guidelines on using paragraphs in English.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Histoire pour tous -visite virtuelle au British museum

Histoire pour tous

Faites un petit tour en ligne au British Museum à Londres.
Sur place aussi, l'entrée est gratuite...

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Leading article: The music will be his legacy - Leading Articles, Opinion - The Independent

Leading article: The music will be his legacy - Leading Articles, Opinion - The Independent

The daily British newspaper The Independent speaks of Michael Jackson's sad demise.

Friday, June 26, 2009

The weapon Britain hoped would defeat the Nazis... - This Britain, UK - The Independent

The weapon Britain hoped would defeat the Nazis... - This Britain, UK - The Independent

In today's newspaper, a newly discovered piece of history about the second world war.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

La rentrée 2009

On prépare déjà la rentrée. En premier semestre 2009-2010, je vais enseigner les cours suivants à Créteil.

L1 Cours magistral (en français) "Identités et conflits sociaux et ethniques en Grande Bretagne 1918-2008"
L1 Projet professionnel (en français)

L2 British Civilization : Britain since 1900
L2 Computer and Internet skills for British civilization study (TICE)
L2 Phonetics
L2 Literary Translation (thème littéraire)