Our English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses offer students a literacy education which acculturates them into the liberal arts academy. These small seminars, with content ranging from business ethics to visual culture, allow you to practice crucial scholarly practices and to grow in your confidence as a member of NYU Shanghai’s academic community.
In EAP, you will learn how to participate more effectively in academic culture through active speaking and listening. You will work to improve your discussion and presentation skills. You will practice collecting information in aural form, for example by conducting research interviews, and then you will use this information to achieve various academic purposes. In order to succeed, you will have to learn how to learn better--a process that requires reflection. In each EAP seminar, you will carry out an experiential learning project for which it will be essential to communicate beyond the walls of the university. It is our hope that these experiences will develop your confidence in communication and help you foster the growth of a sense of responsibility for your future learning and language development. These seminars, which range over subjects from business ethics to Shanghai’s urban environment, are meant to provide you opportunities to explore your academic interests, test your academic skills, and begin to develop your intellectual self.
EAP courses are a part of the core curriculum here at NYU Shanghai. Chinese speakers who did not attend an English medium high school are required to take 8 credits of EAP in their first two years, following a two-semester sequence from EAP 100 to EAP 101. EAP 100 must be completed in the first year; most students will complete a 4-credit EAP 100 seminar in the fall term and an EAP 101 seminar in the spring term. A small number of students taking course sequences in the sciences will be eligible to take two 2-credit EAP 100 seminar in the first year and complete EAP 101 the following year. Advisors will alert students if they are eligible for the 2-credit seminar. Students must successfully complete EAP 101 before the end of their second year and before they study away. Students who demonstrate exceptionally strong competence on all learning outcomes as they complete EAP 100 may be recommended by faculty for exemption from EAP 101. Exemptions are rare and most students should expect to complete 8 credits.
EAP-SHU 100 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Steve Iams
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments and an experiential learning project outside the walls of the university. The courses are designed to help you acquire skills that can also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Specifically, this course will explore contemporary issues in global public health through a central theme of ‘the greater good’, a concern for the collective, in issues such as climate change, food security, and population control. It is easy for such challenges to remain abstract, and to imagine teams of experts in far-away places working to address them, and this distance tends to blur the role of the individual. We will examine the tension between individual choice and collective good, between local action and global impact, which runs through a number of global public health topics and manifests across the world in different ways. Additionally, the course will ask you to view these topics with a critical eye through an interdisciplinary lens, applying insights from environmental science, public policy, business, and health. Overall, learners will consider questions such as who stands to benefit from global health policies and initiatives, what is at stake in specific global health issues, and how such issues are being explored globally and locally, just beyond the walls of the classroom in Shanghai.
EAP-SHU 100 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Marcel Daniels
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments and an experiential learning project outside the walls of the university. The courses are designed to help you acquire skills that can be also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. The pervasiveness of our ever-changing media and communication landscapes offer both innovation and complication for the content and interpretation of our messages. Using the framework of the “public sphere”, virtual realms of social life where society’s problems are open for discussion, we will consider how various digital platforms (news feeds, blogs, chat groups, social media platforms, etc.) control our worldview and influence our evolving selves. Additionally, we will examine how distinctive identities (gender, social class, race, nationality, sexuality) are formed, developed, and expressed via networks (online and in person). Across the semester, you will conduct an investigation of how the concepts of identity (personal) and community (collective) are integrated into the digitally mediated culture. After being introduced to rhetorical theories and concepts, you will be asked to apply them to the analysis and exploration of a variety of online platforms, technologies, and communities. Overall, through this course, learners will gain a better understanding of the power of mass digital communication and how to use it while navigating through various networks.
EAP-SHU 100 | 4 Credits| Instructor: John Jordan
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments and an experiential learning project outside the walls of the university. The courses are designed to help you acquire skills that can be also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Specifically, this course will investigate the world of money and the ideas and practices of the global financial system. Using a daily financial column, as well as other videos, talks, lectures, podcasts, and readings, we will examine what money is and explore current issues in the financial world. Specifically, this course will investigate the historical uses and roles of money in a macro sense; the roles technology has played and will play in the financial world; and what the roles and purposes of the financial sector are, and how we evaluate and regulate what it does and how it affects our world. Concurrent with our study of the hows and whys of finance, we will also critically address moral and ethical issues around global finance, and how it affects the people and societies of the world. Overall, through this course, learners will broaden their understanding of finance and develop the tools and skills to critically think about and evaluate money stuff in the world.
EAP-SHU 100 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Paul Meloccaro
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments, and an experiential learning project outside the walls of the university. This course is designed to help you acquire skills that can be also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Specifically, this course will explore the techniques of the positive psychology movement. When asked what they want most in life, a majority of people answer, “To be happy.” But what, exactly, is happiness: a mood, a predisposition, a judgement? Is contentment a condition we can actively bring about through specific habits and practices? Yes, claim the advocates of positive psychology, with ample research to support their conclusions. In this class, we will try out some of their recommended strategies and document the results. We will also examine the growing body of criticism that questions the presuppositions of this relatively young discipline. Is a sense of well-being really something that can or should be deliberately engineered? Are there more meaningful and fulfilling long-term goals than feeling cheerful and satisfied? What are some of the unintended consequences of treating happiness as an end-state, character virtue, or public policy objective, and whose interests are being served when we blame our distress and alienation on our own private personality flaws? Let’s take a close look at the “science behind the smile” and see what we can learn from its successes and shortcomings.
EAP-SHU 100 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Sarah Warfield
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments, and an experiential learning project outside the walls of the university. This course is designed to help you acquire skills that can be also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Specifically, this course will explore the relationship between humans and non-human species from a sociological viewpoint. Topics include: the history of animal-human relations; the moral status of animals; how gender, class, and race-ethnicity impact our dealings with animals; zoos and shelters; the relationship between violence toward animals and toward people; animal rights movements; animal therapy; and the question of whether animals are part of society. In order to contextualize these ideas, students will engage in a research project that involves interviewing an expert on one of these topics. Through this experience outside the walls of the university, you will consider further these questions surrounding animals and humans.
EAP-SHU 100 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Meng Zhang
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments, and an experimental learning project outside the walls of the university. This course is designed to help you acquire skills that can be also transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Specifically, this EAP 100 course will take you on a cruise through the universe. It will introduce you to a brief history of astronomy through basic knowledge about the universe and the galaxies as well as help you to navigate theories, technologies, and issues related to space exploration. In addition to the scientific perspectives, this course invites you to explore a range of literature, poetry, movies, and philosophical texts in which the great minds of space and time unfold. Through the study and in-depth discussion of multimedia academic English resources, you will engage in reflective and critical thinking on the exploration of space for sustainable development of human resources. You will be asked to work on a rich array of academic tasks created around the topics pertinent to the field of astronomical research. The aim throughout is to present a comprehensive but also accessible and provocative analysis on the aspects covered. Moreover, you will be offered an opportunity to find and communicate with astronomical professionals, fans, and communities outside NYU Shanghai. Collectively, this course helps you cultivate an interest in space as well as skills of inquiry into the issues that are multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary.
EAP-SHU 100 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Catherine Journeaux
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high- level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English- speaking university. Specifically, this course will investigate food; its production, consumption and the challenges of feeding a growing global population. The course will be divided into 5 content modules addressing key concepts of food sustainability, food security, food loss and waste, food politics and the implications for a sustainable food future. During the semester, you will also complete an Experiential Learning Project (ELP). This project will require you to research and interview local groups whose mission focuses on food sustainability. Although not directly assessed, information gathered during the ELP will be used to increase your understanding of course content and support your final course presentation.
EAP-SHU 100 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Kelly Donovan
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments, and an experiential learning project outside the walls of the university. This course is designed to help you acquire skills that can be also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Specifically, through game-play and observation assignments, we will consider how games can operate as tools of propaganda or social-critique and how these social issues affect the players. Contrary to public opinion, it is not just “all fun and games.” Whether table-top, deck-building, MMORPG, mobile or on the playground in the school-yard, most games tell a narrative story. That narrative is a product of a real-world society. The beliefs, values, stereotypes, politics, and histories of each play out in the “Magic Circle” and are often used to drive the narrative of the story. You will be asked to think critically about the narratives created in some of your favorite games and others you’ve never played before. Designed with novice players in mind and structured as a game, you must complete each level of the course project to beat the final boss. Are you ready to play?
EAP-SHU 100 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Julie Horne
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments, and an experiential learning project outside the walls of the university. This course is designed to help you acquire skills that can be also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Specifically, this course will explore the ways in which human creativity and innovation affect science, organizations, and society at large. The reasons humans create and innovate will be at the center of the course, as well as the consequences and impacts of creation and innovation. For many organizations, a key challenge is bringing in ”the new” and managing the process of improvement. They need to know whether ideas change incrementally or whether they are prone to more radical improvements, as well as whether or not the generation of new ideas is the result of internal and external influences. Overall, students will consider questions such as the nature and importance of innovation, the processes by which this takes place in the scientific world, and how individuals and organizations cope with change and new demands.
EAP-SHU 100 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Katherine Tosi
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments and an experiential learning project outside the walls of the university. The courses are designed to help you acquire skills that can be also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. We will inquire into the multidimensional aspects of sustainable development, focusing on the tools, metrics and practical pathways the world is currently exploring. In addition, we will investigate various success indicators for sustainable development. (Un)Sustainability views sustainable development solutions in the context of a range of subfields in addition to sustainability itself, including climate change and political action, and will afford learners the opportunity to carry out a team-based project in relation to the issues posed by this rich interdisciplinary terrain. This course encourages you to consider your role as a responsible 21st century global citizen and promotes analytical and reflective thinking on this role as it relates to global sustainability, including the United Nations¿ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set in 2015. The SDG¿s are a collection of 17 global goals covering social and economic development issues including poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender, equality, water, sanitation, energy, urbanization, environment and social justice. Through active participation in educational programs and experiential learning, students will increase their knowledge and understanding of the societal issues that EAP 100 strives to address. Therefore, this course includes a 4-5 hour integrated volunteering experience within the local non-profit community and 2-hours of attendance at an NYUSH student club community engagement event. EAP 100 works closely with the Shanghai Service Corp and NYUSH student clubs to provide a variety of charities and community groups to join. The Service Corps provides needed support to nonprofit agencies serving the environment, at-risk youth, and underserved communities for youth and the elderly. Student clubs and organizations are driven by student leaders pursuing personal and professional passions, polishing transferable skills, and promoting learning, diversity, and community.
EAP-SHU 100S | 2 Credits| Instructor: Meng Zhang
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments, and an experiential learning project outside the walls of the university. This course is designed to help you acquire skills that can be also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education.
EAP-SHU 101 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Marcel Daniels
This 101-level English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you continue to develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. At the 101 level students are encouraged to gain control over facilitation of group discussions as well as the other academic communicative skills introduced at the 100-level. These academic skills can also be transferred to future professional and personal endeavors. As in the 100-level course, the thematic, content-based EAP seminar, aims to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. What is a crime? This course will analyze the qualities of and relationship between criminality, discipline, and forgiveness through an assortment of cultural lenses. A wide range of human behavior across history has crossed the line between acceptable and intolerable and back as related to a variety of factors. By recognizing that the concept of illegal behavior shifts, expands, and retracts with time and across societies, students will explore how individuals, communities, and institutions perceive and react to various offenses and offenders. In this seminar-centered course, students will select relevant case studies to extend the discourse by examining reactions to crime and criminal behavior across select historical and social timelines for contrast, comparison, and critique. Across the semester, students will conduct investigations of how we, as a society, judge, punish, and forgive select categories of crimes and criminals. This course also includes analyses of contemporary issues regarding criminal justice reform, recidivism, and crime-related public policy. The ethics and implementation of punishment, forgiveness, restitution and reconciliation will be reviewed and contextualized to offer students a complete picture of the function and flaws of observed justice.
EAP-SHU 101 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Kelly Donovan
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. This course will be a discussion-based seminar. As such, you will be required to read and prepare for class in advance—with the intention to actively listen and participate in group and class discussions. You should be prepared to think critically about the topics by applying, critiquing, analyzing, and synthesizing information. In addition, you will be conducting a project outside of class that is designed to foster engagement with the larger Shanghai community. The course is designed to help you acquire skills that can be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Specifically, in this course, we shall examine a relatively new area of scientific inquiry: friendship. Neglected in favor of studies of familial relationships and sexual relationships, scientists are now looking to better define and explore the science of friendship. During the recent global pandemic and social distancing efforts, the psychological and physical effects of loneliness—perhaps the opposite of friendship—have been felt worldwide further highlighting the importance of understanding the connection between friendship and our overall well-being. Technology such as WeChat, Zoom, and FaceTime has allowed us to stay connected, but has also altered the definition and structure of friendship. This course will be truly interdisciplinary in nature examining friendship through the lenses of biology, sociology, and psychology, as well as looking at the impact of technology on how we define and perform friendship. You will be asked to take the role of a scientist examining your personal connections and the environment around you to collect data, explore the elements that determine who you are friends with and why, and, hopefully, to create stronger, more rewarding social bonds.
EAP-SHU 101 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Steve Iams
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments and an experiential learning project outside the walls of the university. The courses are designed to help you acquire skills that can also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Students in this course will examine the categories and boundaries humans create to define, understand, identify with, and separate one another. Specifically, the course invites student inquiries into different types of borders and boundaries, what purpose each serves, and how these borders are crossed. The exploration of physical and geographical borders will include topics such as migration, displacement, and refugee resettlement. From a metaphorical perspective, seminar discussions of linguistic, social, and cultural ‘borderlands’, and how these categories intersect, will offer students a chance to critically engage with contemporary issues and questions. An overarching aim is to interrogate the use of borders and similar metaphors in understanding human relationships. Through independent research and an interview project, students will explore a topic related to the course theme, coming to understand how borders function within and beyond the walls of NYU-Shanghai.
EAP-SHU 101 | 4 Credits| Instructor: John Jordan
This 101-level English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you continue to develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. At the 101 level students are encouraged to gain control over facilitation of group discussions as well as the other academic communicative skills introduced at the 100-level. These academic skills can also be transferred to future professional and personal endeavors. As in the 100-level course, the thematic, content-based EAP seminar, aims to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Specifically, this course is designed to give students an appreciation of the rise of online video and its implications (both positive and negative) on society at large. Through a mixture of prepared academic lectures and readings, plus a healthy dose of online video media students will watch and analyze, the course will examine the characteristics and features of this media that make it different from other video and also explain its ability to speak to so many people in different ways. Furthermore, the course will use design theories and practical advice from actual online videographers to help students gain an elementary understanding of the successful production techniques necessary for this media. Students will hopefully walk away from the course with the necessary skills to be successful at NYU and both a critical eye of online video and ideas and some practices on how to best communicate in this media.
EAP-SHU 101 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Catherine Journeaux
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments and an experiential learning project outside the walls of the university. The courses are designed to help you acquire skills that can be also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Specifically, this course will investigate Artificial Intelligence (AI); its origins, types and applications together with its current and future impact on humanity. The course will be divided into 5 modules addressing education, work, health, the media and the future implications of a digitized planet. Students will also conduct research into the specific ways in which AI is changing the nature of society and the associated ethical implications.
EAP-SHU 101 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Julie Horne
This 101-level English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you continue to develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. At the 101 level students are encouraged to gain control over facilitation of group discussions as well as the other academic communicative skills introduced at the 100-level. These academic skills can also be transferred to future professional and personal endeavors. Specifically, this course is designed to help students develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills needed to be successful in university and beyond. The skills acquired can be transferred to students’ academic, personal and professional lives. EAP seminars are thematic in nature and content-based, enabling learners to cultivate knowledge and interest in areas that cross disciplines, an important aspect of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Pair and small group discussions occur throughout and the course culminates in a self- directed project linked to the central theme. The overarching theme of this EAP seminar is ‘Identity.’ Our sense of who we are permeates every aspect of our lives: as sons or daughters, students, friends, partners and young adults. This course explores how we develop and transform personal, social and cultural identities depending on contextual and situational factors; how we cultivate self-knowledge, curate self-presentation, and cope with the impacts of social media on identity construction. We engage with a variety of written and spoken academic texts as well as a range of multimedia sources to gain insight, formulate informed opinions, and increase our understanding of our dynamic, multiple selves.
EAP-SHU 101 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Paul Meloccaro
This 101-level English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you continue to develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. At the 101 level students are encouraged to gain control over facilitation of group discussions as well as the other academic communicative skills introduced at the 100-level. These academic skills can also be transferred to future professional and personal endeavors. As in the 100-level course, the thematic, content-based EAP seminar, aims to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Specifically, this course will investigate topics such as what makes a particular incident funny, why we laugh at some remarks but not others, what is happening in the brain when we laugh, and whether or not there a way to predict what people will find comical. Attempts to answer these surprisingly complex questions have given rise to the rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field of humor studies. We will test various theories of humor to see how well they hold up; take a close look at different genres of humor such as jokes, puns, teasing, irony, parody, dark humor, visual humor, and the absurd; explore the cognitive and social processes involved in the perception and production of humor; try to understand when and why humor does or does not translate well across cultures; study some applications of humor in advertising, education, medicine, business management, and other fields; and consider which factors can render humor ineffective, unintentional, or unethical. Overall, through this course, students will examine the major findings of humor research to date and investigate some of the many mysteries that remain.
EAP-SHU 101 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Terra Nicoll
This 101-level English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you continue to develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. At the 101 level students are encouraged to gain control over facilitation of group discussions as well as the other academic communicative skills introduced at the 100-level. These academic skills can also be transferred to future professional and personal endeavors. As in the 100-level course, the thematic, content-based EAP seminar, aims to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. The notion of disability goes beyond the physical and cognitive differences among individuals. Exploring (Dis)ability investigates a range of topics that intersect with disability, including history, psychology, media, technology, design, and medicine. In addition to EAP language skills, the main goals of this course are to question the way we think about ability and society in order to build empathy, awareness, and an understanding of ableism, inclusion, and accessibility. Students will utilize lectures, readings, and other media to participate in group discussions, reflective activities, field trips, and a multimedia project. In addition to the course themes, students self-select topics based on their interests to conduct in depth research to inform their course project. At the end of the course, students will be confident participating in informal and academic discussions on the implications of disability and their connections to varied academic disciplines and aspects of life.
EAP-SHU 101 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Katherine Tosi
This 101-level English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you continue to develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. At the 101 level students are encouraged to gain control over facilitation of group discussions as well as the other academic communicative skills introduced at the 100-level. These academic skills can also be transferred to future professional and personal endeavors. As in the 100-level course, the thematic, content-based EAP seminar, aims to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Complex systems are at the root of our world’s most pressing problems and largest opportunities. This course focuses on concepts and practices used to define and analyze systems. Students will have the opportunity to develop and refine their critical thinking skills through the practice of systems thinking. This approach empowers them to analyze, assess, comprehend, and effectively navigate complex situations at various scales, from local to global. By taking this course, students will gain a profound understanding of the importance of using systems-thinking when making decisions and solving problems. With a combination of activities like exercises, lectures, discussions, readings, role-playing, and projects, you will gain the tools to tackle everyday issues with confidence. By the end of this course, students will gain a thorough understanding of the systems thinking framework and its practical applications in various contexts.
EAP-SHU 101 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Sarah Warfield
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments, and an experiential learning project outside the walls of the university. This course is designed to help you acquire skills that can also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Art and artists have always had a presence in Shanghai. We can find examples of art and artistic expression throughout its streets and buildings, people and experiences. This course will help you discover the ways that art and the city interact with one another. Using Shanghai as our starting point, we will consider how various forms of art (visual art, architecture, folk art, music, fashion) influence a city and its residents. Additionally, we will examine the influence of art across disciplines such as finance and engineering. During the semester, you will conduct an investigation of how different relationships with art can affect a city. After being introduced to art theories and concepts, you will be asked to apply them to the analysis and exploration of a city and its art or artists. Overall, through this course, learners will gain a better understanding of the influence of art in a city, and how art impacts our daily lives.
EAP-SHU 101 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Meng Zhang
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. In this course, you will engage with content relevant to fashion and fashion industry individually and in groups, completing a variety of communicative tasks and an experimental learning project outside the walls of the university. This course is designed to help you acquire skills that can be also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education. Specifically, this course will investigate the complex world of fashion. Fashion is everywhere. It is one of the main ways in which we present ourselves to others, signaling what we want to communicate about our cultural and subcultural allegiances, our mood and thinking, professionalism, and even wealth, sexuality, and political allegiances. It is also a global industry with huge economic, cultural, and political impact on the lives of all of us who make, sell, wear or even just watch fashion. The aim throughout is to present a comprehensive but also accessible and provocative analysis on many different aspects of fashion. These include, for example, the major events in the history of fashion, how arts and popular culture influence fashion and how fashion shapes global culture and arts, how clothes mean different things in different parts of the world, the links between media promotion and mainstream fashion retail, the power of cosmetics, the rise of celebrity branding, the cult of thinness, and age, gender and national factors in fashion consumptions. Through studying authentic lectures, participating in the discussions, and conducting the project around these topics, you will acquire academic skills that can be transferred to your future professional and personal lives and develop interest in issues that cross disciplines.
EAP-SHU 101S | 2 Credits| Instructor: Meng Zhang
The freshman English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course is designed to help you develop the high-level language, communication, and critical thinking skills you need to be successful in an English-speaking university. While the primary emphasis is on speaking and listening, you will also practice reading and writing. You will engage with content individually and in groups, complete a variety of communicative tasks, reflective writing assignments, and an experiential learning project outside the walls of the university. This course is designed to help you acquire skills that can be also be transferred to your future professional and personal lives, and to help you cultivate an interest in issues that cross disciplines, an important part of a well-rounded, liberal arts education.
EAP-SHU 201 | 4 Credits| Instructor: John Jordan
This course is designed to take your public speaking skills to the next level. The course aims to deliver students a tool kit for engaging and effective presentations, design principles for visual aids, and space to critically assess and reflect on public speaking and other’s presentations. Close-readings of exemplar model talks and a peer-feedback workshop approach will help students develop top-notch public talks. The course will prepare students to give both common academic presentations, like case-studies and research-based presentations, as well as other speech types, like a pitch and a TED talk. Students will work on speaking events both long and short, and prepared and extemporaneous. The course will culminate with a public presentation of polished and revised talks from the course. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or exemption from EAP 101
EAP-SHU 202 | 4 Credits| Instructor: Sarah Warfield
This is a comprehensive course designed to equip students with the skills and knowledge needed to effectively navigate the digital world and evaluate information with a critical eye. Through a combination of lectures, discussions, and hands-on activities, students will learn how to identify credible sources, recognize fake news, and effectively communicate information in the age of social media. By the end of the course, students will be well-versed in media information literacy and able to use these skills in their personal and professional lives. Prerequisite: Sophomore standing or exemption from EAP 101