Greetings and congratulations on being chosen to study abroad! Before you start this adventure, we will have a short preparation class. The many purposes of this class include: 1. To prepare you for the different class environment you may find abroad. 2. To polish your research skills (primary and secondary) 3. To give you practice in presenting using English 4. To teach you basic paper-writing and organizing skills 5. To prepare you for handling unexpected and emergency situations The organization of the 4 lessons of this class, including what will be expected of you, is as follows: Class 1 10/7/2011 Introduction, discussion skills, asking questions, explanation of [[group paper]], discussion of primary and secondary sources Class 2 11/11/2011 Powerpoint presentations of [[group paper]] (10 minutes per group) Finding primary and secondary research sources: Your bibliography should include at least: 1. one news article (use google news http://news.google.com) 2. one journal or magazine article (use http://www.googlescholar.com and http://ci.nii.ac.jp/) 3. one book (use google books http://books.google.com) 4. one "expert" (go to the dorm!) 5. one pamphlet or catalog (go to the international office!) 5. one website (You don't need any help here...) Class 3 12/3/2011 Work on [[group paper]] Class 4 1/6/2011 [[group paper]] due, discussions of main points in groups, final Q and A session