Basic Rules

1. All assignments and eventual quizzes must be emailed by 11.59PM of the due date, EASTERN STANDARD TIME.
    
2. LATE work will not be accepted, even if it is late by one minute. (Please, don't try this stunt.
    
3. Meeting a deadline also counts as "attendance."
    
4. There are no extensions, no exceptions and no "extra credit."
    
5. Partial or incomplete assignments will not be graded.
    
6. I will post one assignment at a time, about every 3-4 days. If I decide to give quizzes, they will be announced 3-4 days in advance.
    
7. No cheating. One strike and your are out. (Scroll down for policy details.)
    
8. Mistakes in email messages and document format will result in a penalty.
    
9. Additional instructions will be provided as needed during the session.
    
10. The course homepage contains the course's official record.

  Academic Integrity 
  (i.e. no cheating)

Academic dishonesty of any type, including cheating and plagiarism, is unacceptable at Brooklyn College. Cheating is any misrepresentation in academic work. Plagiarism is the representation of another person's work, words, or ideas as your own. Students should consult the Brooklyn College Student Handbook for a fuller, more specific discussion of related academic integrity standards. Faculty members are encouraged to discuss with students the application of these standards to work in each course. Academic dishonesty is punishable by failure of the "test, examination, term paper, or other assignment on which cheating occurred" (Faculty Council, May 18, 1954). In addition, disciplinary proceedings in cases of academic dishonesty may result in penalties of admonition, warning, censure, disciplinary probation, restitution, suspension, expulsion, complaint to civil authorities, or ejection.
(Adopted by Policy Council, May 8, 1991.)

It's time to set some rules about your emails.

1. YOUR SCREEN NAME MUST SHOW YOUR FIRST AND LAST NAME. If you don't know what a screen name is, google it. If you don't know how to change it, maybe this course is not for you.
    

2. When you compose a new message, or respond to a message from a professor, start with a greeting. Do not "hey" them.
    

3. If the conversation goes back and forth, skip the greetings. You can go straight to the point.
    

4. Every single message must have your signature. Set up the automatic signature option.
    

5. I require complete grammatical sentences, with upper case where needed and proper punctuation. Impossible to do it with your phone? Wait until you get to a computer.
    

6.  No one-liners.
    

7. DO NOT RECYCLE THE SUBJECT OF OLD MESSAGES. If you want to talk about something new, compose a NEW message with ta descriptive subject. (Suggested subject: "New problem / question.")
    

8. In an ongoing conversation, in each message repeat the relevant information and circumstance (lost assignment, message not-received etc.) Nobody can read your mind except you.
    

9. If you run into problems with the website, either a but or a mistake on my part, please let me know as soon as possible.
    

If you are unsure what "intercultural literacy" means, don't feel too bad.
My department (Modern Languages) has full programs in Chinese, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish and courses in other languages. We had to come up with a title and description that was generic enough to cover the content of courses taught by professors with expertise in different areas.

The basic idea is to examine how different groups that share a common national origin; or a language; or a culture  see each other. For example, a French professor will focus on the Francophone world, which includes France, several French-speaking countries in Africa, Central-South America, Asia and Quebec (Canada). A Spanish instructor will talk about Spanish and Hispanic cultures. That is the "intercultural" part.

My area of specialization is Italy, and the cultures of Italians and Italian Americans. The course will focus on how America and Italy represent Italian-Americans (can you think of any stereotypes?) and how Italian-Americans represent themselves. We will spend time working on the concept of how ALL minority communities, and ESPECIALLY IMMIGRANTS  struggle for self-representation in order to dispel stereotypes and suspicion; and validate their self-image and self-representation.

We will use the experience of Italians as a starting point for a much wider survey of how CULTURES are represented in the media (media, btw, is a plural noun and it includes all forms of communication.)

We will examine various TYPES or TEXTS.: cartoons from old newspapers; shorts; old silent full-length movies; feature films; songs; essays; and, of course, "books." Books include an autobiography, an autobiographical novel, a fictional work and a graphic novel.

We will observe how the the struggles, hardships, anxiety and humiliations suffered by Italians, are unfortunately still inflicted on today's immigrants. We will see how being "different" caused and still causes conflicts and strife.

We will also laugh at the humor of these people, at how they coped and how they were finally accepted (fully?) into the fabric of America.

• DEADLINES: they are the equivalent of class attendance. Every deadline will be posted with due advance notice.
  NO EXCEPTIONS:  NO CREDIT FOR LATE ASSIGNMENTS or QUIZZES; LATE BLOG COMMENTS WILL BE DELETED.
   
• Lectures and Assignments will be posted regularly on the course homepage. They may consist of actual prompts, exercises and other materials, or they may be LINKS to an outside website.
  
  Expect TWO lectures and assignments per week, consisting of a variety of tasks.
  It is your responsibility to check the homepage regularly to meet deadlines.
   
• Discussions/blog: post your comments on the assigned topics. Late comments will be deleted.
   
• Quizzes: If, in my judgment, the class is making satisfactory progress and homework assignments are consistently of high quality, I may decide that quizzes are not necessary. If and when quizzes are scheduled, they will be announced in advance (with an allowance for unforeseeable events.) Usually, you will have 24 hours to complete a quiz.
   
• Final Exam.