WOC190 - Annotation Project
Working together with two groupmates, you will annotate a literary text that you think would make a good addition to the readings for this course — in other words, a text you think I should give my students to read the next time I teach this class!
By annotating this text, your goal will be to make it more understandable and relatable for a reader outside the culture it was written for. Consider: What details, or aspects of this text, would be difficult for someone who didn’t grow inside the culture to understand or relate to? Through detailed, vivid, and meaningful annotations, try to make this text “come alive” for a cultural outsider who may grasp the “dictionary meaning” of the words but not their deeper subtext, associations, implications, or feelings.
There are two ways to do this project:
Option 1: Choose a text that all or most of your group members are reading in a second language (presumably English). Research as many of the details as you can, consulting native speakers and the Internet, with the goal of better appreciating what someone who grew up in that culture would feel and imagine when they read that text. Present what you’ve learned in the form of annotations, such that another reader who is also reading the text in their second language could fully appreciate the deeper dimensions of the text.
Note: If you choose this option, you could choose a text in the English course reader that you’re interested in getting to understand better; or, you could choose a totally different text relevant to the themes of this course, with my approval.
Option 2: Choose a text that all or most of your group members are reading in your native language (presumably Chinese). Imagine someone for whom Chinese is a second language reading this text. What do you understand or feel about the details in the text that they wouldn’t be able to perceive? Annotate the text in such a way that they could more fully appreciate its deeper dimensions.
Note: If you choose this option, you could choose one of the texts in the Chinese supplemental course reader that you particularly like; or, you could choose a totally different text relevant to the themes of this course, with my approval.
At the end of the session, you will both submit your annotated text to me, and give a brief presentation to the class explaining what you did and what you learned.
Group assignments
Group 1: Dulguun, Felix, Ula
Group 2: Marianne, Henry, Kate
Group 3: Ally, Oscar, Celeste
Group 4: Carrie, Neil, Zachary
Group 5: Isaiah, Haeji, Tong Le
Group 6: Selina, Raina, Aria
Group 7: Yushi, Tony, Chunxin
Group 8: Wendy & Alison (+ Lisa as “consultant”)
