John Mullen, Université de Rouen - Teaching blog
Links and comments for university students of English, and of British Studies and British history. Study links connected with my classes, and general links on current affairs etc. There are sometimes indications as to what group might be particularly interested (L2 for Licence 2nd year, for example)
Saturday, April 10, 2021
Friday, April 09, 2021
James Cook video lectures: chapter 8
You will find here chapter 8, which takes us up to the end of Cook's first expedition. The two other expeditions, however, will only get three chapters each, and these videos will be followed by more general considerations about Cook, the world that produced him and the world he produced.
Thursday, April 08, 2021
Vous avez dit "décolonial"? 14 avril 17h30-19h
Deux collègues de l'Université de Lille, Cédric Courtois (LEA / CECILLE EA 4074) et Fiona McCann (LLCE / CECILLE EA 4074) feront une présentation notamment à destination des étudiants sur la thématique suivante :
"Au-delà des polémiques : qu'est-ce que le post-colonialisme ? Qu'est-ce qu'une approche décoloniale?"
Deux étudiants ayant suivi des cours sur ces thématiques interviendront rapidement.
Après quoi nous aurons un échange avec les personnes présentes.
Je me permettrai en préambule de rappeler dans quel contexte politique s'inscrivent les polémiques récentes en France, où "post-colonialisme" et "décolonial(isme)" ont souvent été régulièrement entendus. Oliver Esteves
Voici le lien Zoom pour cet événement : https://univ-lille-fr.zoom.us/j/93042790478
Wednesday, April 07, 2021
The miners' strike and elitism
In our class on the BBC I mentioned a poem which referred to the elite thinking that high culture was not appropriate for working class people. But I said it might be Auden. In fact the poem is by Sassoon, and here it is :
The Case for the Miners
Something goes wrong with my synthetic brain
When I defend the Strikers and explain
My reasons for not blackguarding the Miners.
" What do you know? " exclaim my fellow-diners
(Peeling their plovers' eggs or lifting glasses
Of mellowed Chateau Rentier from the table),
" What do you know about the working classes?"
I strive to hold my own; but I'm unable
To state the case succinctly. Indistinctly
I mumble about World-Emancipation,
Standards of Living, Nationalization
Of Industry; until they get me tangled
In superficial details; goad me on
To unconvincing vagueness. When we've wrangled
From soup to savoury, my temper's gone.
"Why should a miner earn six pounds a week?
Leisure! They'd only spend it in a bar!
Standard of life! You'll never teach them Greek,
Or make them more contented than they are!"
That's how my port-flushed friends discuss the Strike.
And that's the reason why I shout and splutter.
And that's the reason why I'd almost like
To see them hawking matches in the gutter.
by Siegfried Sassoon
Monday, April 05, 2021
The Expeditions of James Cook. Video chapter 7.
You will find here the seventh chapter in the series. Cook and his crew arrive in New Holland, today known as Australia:
Empires before Cook
Friday, April 02, 2021
Thursday, April 01, 2021
James Cook , Université de Rouen
Although of course it will be an oral exam, if any one of you wants to do, in writing, a practice question ("leçon"), I will happily comment on it. Here is the subject:
Friends and enemies in James Cook's journals and voyages
James cook video chapter six agrégation
You will find here video chapter six, which covers episodes and questions arising from Cook's first time in New Zealand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM-2nSfyQ78
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Listening to a New Zealand accent
Will a DNA based diet help you fit your jeans?
3 min 23 seconds
Tips for long distance parenting : 3 min 25
secs
100 years of women at the BBC - free online conference
If you can make it, I recommend you attend (virtually).
Tuesday, March 30, 2021
Britain , COVID and greed
British comedian Mark Steel on recent news about COVID in the UK
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/covid-greed-pandemic-nhs-capitalism-b1822543.html
Saturday, March 27, 2021
James Cook. Video chapter five
This chapters covers first encounters in New Zealand, and questions arising.
Friday, March 26, 2021
BBC agrégation orals
This recording of a class given elsewhere will be useful for my students in Rouen. It is material we have already covered in class, but which needs listening to more than once.
Monday, March 22, 2021
Video chapter 4 James Cook and his Expeditions
You will find here on YouTube the fourth chapter on "Les voyages de James Cook" It takes us up to where he leaves Tahiti with Tupaia, en route for New Zealand (unknowingly).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1UkZiJ6qvE
Thursday, March 18, 2021
Recording
If you missed the class on Wednesday at three, or if you need to hear it again, here is a recording
Wednesday, March 17, 2021
listening agrégation
Here are the two pieces we listened to as practice for the agrégation interne compréhension orale. Of course we only listened to the first few minutes. I recommend that you listen to the whole programme. If yo understand less than 90%, listen three times.
https://www.wnyc.org/story/return-nyc-stage-performances/
https://www.wnyc.org/story/after-paris-global-approaches-to-climate-change-updated/