Global Short Stories

Register for Global Short Stories here!

Language Arts
Instructor: Emma Sobey
5-10 students
Suggested Ages: 13+ years old
Meets: Thursdays, 10:00 to 11:00 am, 17 weeks. Starts Jan. 28th.

CLASS DESCRIPTION:

“A good short story crosses the borders of our nations and our prejudices and our beliefs. A good short story asks a question that can’t be answered in simple terms.”

--Walter Mosley

Literature empowers readers to step outside their own lives and experience the joys, sorrows, and challenges of other people.  Each genre plays its own part in creating the artwork of the universal human condition we can all understand.  In particular, short stories often use structure and powerful language to encapsulate a particular moment or time in a person’s life in order to highlight a message or theme with which the reader can relate to and grow with. 

In this course, we will explore the universal themes of love and friendship, overcoming challenges, finding our own identities, growing up, and finding freedom by reading works from all over the world that demonstrate different understandings of these themes.  We will use these themes as a jumping off point of forming our own ideas and discussing these ideas fit in to the global landscape of the human experience.

Course Overview:

Week 1—Exploring World Themes and Literary Concepts

Week 2—The Danger of a Single Story Ted Talk with Discussion

Week 3—Romantic Love

Week 4—Friendship

Week 5—When Love Is Over

Week 6—Finding a New Home

Week 7—Overcoming Hardships

Week 8—Who am I?

Week 9—Who are you?

Week 10—Finding my place in my family

Week 11—Finding my place in the world

Week 12—Bildungsroman

Week 13—Struggles for Freedom

Week 14—Struggles for Happiness

Week 15—Embracing Change

Week 16—Embracing Opportunities

Week 17—Putting it All Together

Register for Global Short Stories here!