Venkovits Balázs – Tanított kurzusok
Az aktuális félév szillabuszaiért látogasson el az egyetemi e-learning oldalra / For the syllabi of the current term, please visit the UD e-learning platform.
BA program:
Skills Development: Speaking and Listening
The seminar course is designed to offer first year students the possibility to improve their speaking and listening skills in general, and to prepare them for the English Yardstick Exam in particular.
American Civilization
This seminar course is designed to improve first-year students’ language skills through acquainting them with some of the core topics of American civilization, including geography and regionalism, government, basic political concepts, politics and the Constitution, society, national holidays, and everyday life. Special emphasis will also be put on certain aspects of American English
United States History
The seminar is designed to serve as a basic introduction for English majors to the history of the United States of America. Topics for discussion range from the relations between England and her North American colonies and the War of Independence through the Civil War and the two world wars to the post-cold war era. Domestic and foreign affairs as well as social and cultural issues are addressed in an attempt to help the students prepare for the in-class final exam.
Regional and Multicultural Studies: Introduction to Canada and Australia
This series of lectures focuses on Canada’s geography, history, culture and current issues on the country’s social and political scene in a North American context. The course further discusses the antipodes to extend students’ knowledge of the English-speaking world: a survey of Australian geography, history, culture, and current issues will be presented.
MA program:
Strange New Worlds: Hungarian Immigration to North America
the objective of the course is to familiarize students with migration studies through the example of Hungarian immigration to North America. The course material covers not only US-Hungarian relations in this respect but takes an Inter-American approach and also discusses Hungarian immigration to Mexico and Canada. Thus during the course the students will become familiar with the history of 4 countries involved, changes in migration policies, push and pull factors, various immigration trends, etc. Besides providing new information to MA students in an Inter-American and Transatlantic setting, the aim of the course is also to improve the participating students’ analytical, presentation, critical thinking, and writing skills.
Fordítástechnika (magyar-angol) – Fordító-tolmács MA
A kurzus célja, hogy gyakorlatias feladatokon keresztül fejlessze a hallgatók fordítási készségeit és korábbi tanulmányaikra illetve gyakorlatukra építve hozzásegítse őket, hogy egyre professzionálisabb munkát tudjanak végezni magyar-angol vonatkozásban. Emellett fontos szempont a szókincsfejlesztés, a kifejezőkészség javítása, a fordítási technikák és segédeszközök minél alaposabb elsajátítása. Az otthon és órákon végzett fordítási feladatok és egyéb kapcsolódó kreatív gyakorlatok a fenti célokat szolgálják. A félév során egyéni és csoportos munkát is végeznek a hallgatók, a kiadott feladatokat közösen elemezzük, megvitatjuk. Kifejezetten fontos az órai munka, az aktív részvétel jelentősen hozzájárul a végső jegyhez. Emellett a végső jegyet befolyásolja a zárthelyi dolgozat eredménye és a házi fordítások minősége is.
PhD Program:
Academic Self Efficacy (team teaching)
This course is designed to help PhD students learn how to bring the very best out of themselves while working on their doctoral dissertations, both in terms of academic achievement and mental wellbeing. The first half of the course is devoted to four major blocks related to the practicalities of academic life: written genres (e.g. how to write a successful research plan when applying for a scholarship?), oral skills (e.g. how to make a good impression at an interview and other occasions?), IT know-how (e.g. how to use databases effectively for research?), and action planning (e.g. how to make long-term career plans?). The second half of the course is entirely focused on self-care and mental health (e.g. stress, conflict management, assertiveness, burn-out, etc.). The course is concluded by all students presenting their online academic profiles developed during the term.
COURSES TAUGHT
BA program:
American Culture and Institutions
This is a survey course, which serves as the foundation for all subsequent courses in American studies. Besides revisiting topics already encountered in the first-year language course titled “American Civilization,” the seminar provides opportunities for more in-depth analysis of American politics, regional identity, society, race relations, religion, myths, sports, media, and other topical issues of American life
Translation Practice
This seminar course is designed for students in the Business English and Translation Specialization. Its objective is to provide them with practical translation exercises and to improve their translation skills. During the semester we will translate various types of texts (contracts, articles, reports, etc.) related to business and the economy (from English to Hungarian and vice versa) and will also focus on vocabulary development. Besides business-specific assignments, we will also discuss general translation methods and tips, and various translation resources will be presented in class. Besides written translation, students will also get a chance to learn about and practice the “art” of interpretation
Vocabulary Building
This course is designed to help students expand and activate their English vocabulary via various practical exercises and tasks, focusing on everyday as well as more specialized topics. It is also the objective of the course to prepare students for subsequent university courses (and especially the English Yardstick Exam) by focusing on vocabulary building and the development of basic language skills. During the classes we will also discuss various vocabulary building strategies as well as word formation processes.
Invisible Luggage: Hungarian Travel Writers in Mexico and the US
This course has been designed for third year BA students and it aims to introduce them into a relatively new field of scholarship, travel writing studies. During the course, we will read and study 19th-century travel accounts written by Hungarians visiting the Americas (texts will include original diary fragments, books, letters, and newspaper articles). We will identify general trends in the development of the images of the Americas (the interrelationship between the depiction of Mexico and the United States) and will try to reveal what Hungarian travel writers carried in their invisible (cultural) baggage that influenced the way they saw and presented the Americas and themselves. Students will gain insights into 19th-century history and culture on both sides of the Atlantic while working with so far little-studied texts.
More Than Just a Game: Sports and American Culture
This course has been designed for third year BA students and it aims to introduce major themes in American sport history and culture. The course does not deal specifically with rules of certain sports or current standings but explores the role sport has played in American history and how it has reflected political, economic, class, gender, ethnic, and racial issues. Sport will provide a vantage point to examine topics like gender equality, immigration, history, education, business, etc. During the course students will consult unique primary sources, read literary texts (a short story and poems), watch a movie, and will have the chance to share their opinion with their fellow students. Therefore, the course aims to improve students’ analytical and critical thinking skills also.
Debating America
The course aims to introduce students to the art of effective public speaking and help them develop sophistication and eloquence in debate culture. In a series of in-class workshops and debates on pre-approved and research-based topics students will have the chance
- to learn important rhetorical, constructive, rebuttal and cross-examination strategies
- to practice effective forms of argumentation (claim, warrant, evidence, counter-claim)
- to master verbal and non-verbal delivery skills (organization, projection, inflection, body language)
- to develop analytical and critical thinking and advocacy skills
- to learn how to delegate and work in teams
- to learn to appreciate the value of teamwork.
The debates will address controversial issues in American public discourse to facilitate our students’ critical understanding of the contemporary American social and political scene. Topics on the agenda may include a variety of current topics in US politics, society, culture; the actual debate topics will be chosen by the students at the beginning of the term.
Szakmai Gyakorlat I és II (fordítói specializáció)
This course aims at providing an opportunity for students to use and practice the translation skills they have acquired during previous seminars of the program.
Introduction to the World of Business
This lecture course has been designed to offer a basic introduction for students into the world of business by providing insights into the varied aspects of business life, its basic concepts, organization, objectives, functions as well as the surrounding environment. By covering a variety of topics, the objective of the course is to provide a fundamental working knowledge of terminology that prepares students for future studies in more specialized topics. The course serves as a prerequisite to “Introduction to the World of Business II.” The lectures of the instructors will be complemented with presentations by guest lecturers and the discussion of case studies.
MA program:
Teaching Contemporary American Literature and Culture / Teaching Contemporary American Culture and Society
This seminar is designed to provide students with an up-to-date view on American culture, society, myths and values as they are reflected (and sometimes challenged) in literature and everyday life. The course is divided into two sections, one focusing on American literature, the other on American civilization. Both parts examine the roots of contemporary American culture and the different responses to the changing cultural, political and social landscape. Another goal of the course is to offer various methods, practical advice and materials for students (high school teachers) for the teaching of American culture and literature in Hungarian high schools.
PhD Program:
Presentation Skills (team teaching)
The course prepares students for effective and persuasive scholarly presentations at conferences.