Czech through Film I
Term
Subject Area
Course Number
CZCH 110 680
Course Code
CZCH110680
Course Key
74231
Schedule
Day(s)
Monday
Wednesday
Time
5:15pm-7:15pm
5:15pm-7:15pm
Instructor
WEIL, ABIGAIL
Primary Program
Secondary Program
Course Note
Offered through the Penn Language Center.
Course Description
This course has two separate but related components: a series of Czech films,
shown with subtitles and open to the entire University of Pennsylvania
community, and a Czech language class which relies on the films for content.
Each film screening will be preceded by introductory remarks and followed by a
discussion, with optional reading material made available in advance. In this
way, the film series can but need not also be offered as a for-credit course,
cross-listed through REES and Cinema and Media Studies. The films will be
sequenced chronologically through Czech history, as opposed to film history,
so that the series will double as a survey of Czech history. For example, we
will begin with films set in the medieval period, such as Marketa Lazarova
(dir. Frantisek Vlacil, 1967) and Cisaruv pekar-Pekaruv cisar (Emperor's
Baker-Baker's Emperor, dir. Martin Fric, 1955). Eventually we will progress
to recent films that deal with the current moment. Classic and contemporary
films will be intermingled to simultaneously present a variety of important
historical eras and cinematic techniques. Concurrently, students enrolled in
the language course will learn basic Czech using custom-made materials drawn
from the films. As their vocabulary and grasp of grammatical concepts
increases, we will be able to work with longer and more complex sections of
the film-texts. The films will provide the material for listening and reading
exercises, and the students' oral and written work will be anchored by their
responses to the films. We will advance from picking out simple statements to
analyzing dialogue and identifying irony in film and composition, developing
skills of intercultural communication and competence. By the end of the
course, students will be able to read about Czech cinema using authentic
materials, and discuss the films' aesthetic, historical and political
importance.
shown with subtitles and open to the entire University of Pennsylvania
community, and a Czech language class which relies on the films for content.
Each film screening will be preceded by introductory remarks and followed by a
discussion, with optional reading material made available in advance. In this
way, the film series can but need not also be offered as a for-credit course,
cross-listed through REES and Cinema and Media Studies. The films will be
sequenced chronologically through Czech history, as opposed to film history,
so that the series will double as a survey of Czech history. For example, we
will begin with films set in the medieval period, such as Marketa Lazarova
(dir. Frantisek Vlacil, 1967) and Cisaruv pekar-Pekaruv cisar (Emperor's
Baker-Baker's Emperor, dir. Martin Fric, 1955). Eventually we will progress
to recent films that deal with the current moment. Classic and contemporary
films will be intermingled to simultaneously present a variety of important
historical eras and cinematic techniques. Concurrently, students enrolled in
the language course will learn basic Czech using custom-made materials drawn
from the films. As their vocabulary and grasp of grammatical concepts
increases, we will be able to work with longer and more complex sections of
the film-texts. The films will provide the material for listening and reading
exercises, and the students' oral and written work will be anchored by their
responses to the films. We will advance from picking out simple statements to
analyzing dialogue and identifying irony in film and composition, developing
skills of intercultural communication and competence. By the end of the
course, students will be able to read about Czech cinema using authentic
materials, and discuss the films' aesthetic, historical and political
importance.
Subject Area Vocab
