My experience teaching a course called "American Society and Culture"
Since November 9 th I have been teaching a class called “American Society and Culture” to about 30 English minors. Their majors are mostly in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields. Several are majoring in clinical medicine. The class meets for three and a half hours on a Saturday afternoon, from 2:00 PM to 5:30 PM. Prime napping time! Can you imagine being in a class that long? How about teaching one? These students seem to be in class all the time. I was a little concerned when the department asked me to teach this course. I am a medical doctor, not a sociologist nor anthropologist. I decided I better learn something and so got to work. I found a useful, readable book on Kindle called “What Foreigners Need to Know About America From A to Z” by Lance Johnson. It has many useful tips and I decided to incorporate them into my class. In addition, I wanted to find out what my students wa...