Course Description of BGSU's EDTL 4900 with Dr. Angela Thomas
This trip is ideal for education & English majors and those studying literature, film and/or the performing arts!
This course will focus on learning about literature and authors unique to London, Oxford and Stratford-upon-Avon. Students will expand their repertoire of literature and visit many educational and inspirational sights in the area such as The Kilns (the house where C.S. Lewis penned the famous Chronicles of Narnia), the home where Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the Kings Arms Pub and the Eagle and Child Pub where Tolkien and Lewis often met. Also visited will be the British Library (the largest library in the world and home to great literary treasures like the Magna Carta, a Gutenberg Bible, original Beatles lyrics and Shakespeare’s First Folio), the Victoria and Albert Museum to see the Beatrix Potter collection, and the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studios to see up-close the actual sets used in filming, as well as the costumes and props.
Students will participate in book discussions, guided literary walking tours, see professional theater performances in London’s West End and at the Globe Theater and attend an acting workshop at The Globe. Additionally, students will experience England’s culture by seeing Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Windsor Castle and take a bicycle tour around Hyde Park and St. James’s Park. The bike tour will start at Kensington Palace, home to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and students will pedal around many notable monuments and buildings linked to England’s royal history.
England’s unique educational systems will also be experienced by touring St. Cecelia’s, Church of England Middle/High School as well as taking a guided tour lead by a current college student at Oxford University through historic quads and halls, including Christchurch College where Lewis Carroll penned Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and where many memorable scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed. (3 semester hours, 2016 summer semester course)
Students will participate in book discussions, guided literary walking tours, see professional theater performances in London’s West End and at the Globe Theater and attend an acting workshop at The Globe. Additionally, students will experience England’s culture by seeing Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Windsor Castle and take a bicycle tour around Hyde Park and St. James’s Park. The bike tour will start at Kensington Palace, home to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and students will pedal around many notable monuments and buildings linked to England’s royal history.
England’s unique educational systems will also be experienced by touring St. Cecelia’s, Church of England Middle/High School as well as taking a guided tour lead by a current college student at Oxford University through historic quads and halls, including Christchurch College where Lewis Carroll penned Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and where many memorable scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed. (3 semester hours, 2016 summer semester course)
Course Aim: To provide students the opportunity to explore culture, authors and literature while learning in the settings that inspired its English authors.
What is This Course About?
England is home to many authors and stories. In fact, two university lecturers and friends, JRR Tolkien & CS Lewis, wrote some of the most popular books of the 20th century in Oxford, including The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia. In this course, you will share the environment in which authors from Shakespeare to JK Rowling studied, lived, and sought their inspiration. (Actually, this is about the closest one can get to studying in Hogwarts – and nowhere is closer to that than Christ’s Church, which was used in the filming of the movies of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series.) Oxford is one of Britain’s busiest and most instantly recognizable places for film locations because movies such as The Golden Compass (2007), Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Saving Private Ryan (1998) have been filmed there and will be explored on a guided walking tour in Oxford.
In this course, students will see the backdrop for historical recreations and literary adaptations from fantasies to thrillers, and they will also visit and have lunch at a middle/high school as well as tour a college of Oxford University. Students will all be housed in a centrally located hotel in London, which will allow for convenient group visits to performances in the West End as well as at The Globe Theater, and to London’s amazing museums, which showcase art, history and culture from a British perspective. A Harry Potter walking tour will be enjoyed as will taking a tour on bicycles around notable buildings and parks in London.
Group excursions, all lead by a Tour Group Leader from England, will also be taken to Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Leavensden and Windsor. This will allow students to experience the William Shakespeare museum, his boyhood home and his resting place and as well as experience a world-renowned Royal Shakespeare Company performance. Additionally, students will see and tour the incredible studio where the Harry Potter movies were filmed, and see Windsor Castle, the official residence of Queen Elizabeth II.
Required pre-departure and post-trip class sessions will also be held on campus with Dr. Thomas. These class sessions will be held on Wednesday, April 6th and Wednesday, April 20th from 7:00-8:30pm. The post-trip class will be set at a mutually convenient time after the return from England.
In this course, students will see the backdrop for historical recreations and literary adaptations from fantasies to thrillers, and they will also visit and have lunch at a middle/high school as well as tour a college of Oxford University. Students will all be housed in a centrally located hotel in London, which will allow for convenient group visits to performances in the West End as well as at The Globe Theater, and to London’s amazing museums, which showcase art, history and culture from a British perspective. A Harry Potter walking tour will be enjoyed as will taking a tour on bicycles around notable buildings and parks in London.
Group excursions, all lead by a Tour Group Leader from England, will also be taken to Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Leavensden and Windsor. This will allow students to experience the William Shakespeare museum, his boyhood home and his resting place and as well as experience a world-renowned Royal Shakespeare Company performance. Additionally, students will see and tour the incredible studio where the Harry Potter movies were filmed, and see Windsor Castle, the official residence of Queen Elizabeth II.
Required pre-departure and post-trip class sessions will also be held on campus with Dr. Thomas. These class sessions will be held on Wednesday, April 6th and Wednesday, April 20th from 7:00-8:30pm. The post-trip class will be set at a mutually convenient time after the return from England.
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