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Nikalas Kryzanowski, News Editor and Lisa Bellano, Associate News Editor

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From New West to Shanghai: China program expands horizons

Nikalas Kryzanowski

news editor

“After school from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. we’d explore the city and then from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., it was all partying,” said Sara Manana, a trip participant who signed up for the program on a bit of a whim just two weeks before it started. “We spent four weeks in Shanghai and then one week in Beijing touring around. The best part of the trip was in Shanghai because we got to do more exploring around the city.”

That exploring included waking up at 7 a.m. for a once- in-a-lifetime chance to see the Beijing Olympic torch pass

forget.

There was a variety of people in the program, from arts students, political science majors to people who hadn’t declared yet.

“The people on the trip were awesome. When you get to spend six straight weeks seeing these people everyday, you become friends fast. We still hang out now that we’re back. Our perspectives have definitely changed. Many of us are looking ahead to opportunities at SFU and the similar kinds of programs that they have to offer.”

T Since adventurous Douglas Students got a taste of the Far East last month as the Douglas College China Field School gave them a hands-on learning experience in the People’s Republic. The summer intersession program allows students to learn in China for five weeks while earning Douglas College credits in Communications, Geography and Chinese Language.

Fees for the trip were $2600, which included roundtrip airfare, accommodation most food and entry to historical sites. Students were required to pay Douglas tuition fees for the three courses they took. Teachers were from Douglas as well.

through Shanghai. Though it went by in a bus due to the throngs of people present, it is not something that she’ll soon

Students were accommodated at the college’s partner school, Eastern China Normal University in downtown Shanghai, where they were housed in dormitories and had classes in the rooms below.

The students were in class from Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. They had Fridays and weekends off, to do their own thing or to go on planned excursions as a group to the Great Wall and on a 40 km biking tour of tea fields outside the city.

New Course to Cast a Critical Eye on the Hollywood Dream Factory

By Matthew Steinbach

students,” he said.

He also intends to display to students the idea that “what is history and how the things we do as historians are different than the stories we tell ourselves.” This also stands to serve as a bridge between people and how they gain their historical background through popular media and less through historical sources in this day and age; the course intends to broaden their understanding of history.

The course will entail many case studies with primary source background documents as well, and will be a more abstract course. There will also be key books on how history has' related to film in the past, and on how to use scholarly source material while using popular media.

connections between what is factual and what is fiction within history.

“After being a teacher for ten years [I became] frustrated with students’ critical thinking and writing skills; it is meant to be an introductory course that enables students to produce better papers when they are discussing history. This is a kind of English course for history

(ane in the fall will be an innovative course to be known as “Understanding History through Film.” The course contains a great deal of entertainment sources, including many popular movies and other aspects as well. History professor Dr. Jeff Schutts fashioned the course as a way to educate students on how to make

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