Communications and Media - Freshmen

COURSE #: HUSS 1034

Course Description

The course explores the concepts of culture, tradition, and change in Central Asia. The focus is on factors that have produced the cultural complexities of contemporary Central Asia and how key life-cycle events and celebrations (marriage and death), the verbal arts, music, films, and dance embody and transmit the cultural memory and values of the region’s diverse peoples. The course helps students to explain how Central Asia’s cultures and cultural expressions present a diverse set of influences and values. The students delve into customs and practices that are subject to change and innovation.  Cultural expressions are the heritage of a complicated past, as well as valuable resources for nurturing innovation, understanding, and cooperation within contemporary societies. The students discuss the role of state and non-state cultural and art institutions and global organizations in safeguarding and revitalizing the cultural heritage of Central Asia.

Course Learning Outcomes

After completing the course, students will be able to:

• Explore values, customs, and social systems and practices of various cultures to interpret the diversity of Central Asian cultures.
• Explain how cultural practices reflect the complex relationships between various aspects of life and identities in Central Asia.
• Analyze issues of identity and value of contemporary Central Asian culture to cultivate a critical approach to the study of cultural practices
• Explore one’s own cultural identity and values to embrace the co-existence of identities and cultures throughout Central Asia and the world.
• Produce proposals for cultural heritage projects

Course Assessments and Grading

COURSE #: HUSS 1032

Course Description

The Human Geography in Central Asia course aims to give Communication and Media students a broad knowledge base of key human issues in Central Asia in the context of its physical environment, whilst developing their critical, analytical and productive skills, to assist in their development of becoming capable storytellers and communicators in both the region and globally. In this course, students begin by exploring the concept of Central Asia, before focussing on the natural resources in the region – both renewable and non-renewable – and how they are utilised. This includes usage of water, conflicts over gold mining, the historic importance of pastoralism, and their sustainable usage and how they have helped and hindered the development of the region – from economic, environmental, and social perspectives. Students shall develop their understanding of Central Asia in a global context and explore the opportunities and threats an interrelated world. Students develop their understanding of the challenges Central Asia faces in the 21^st century: climate change; food and water security; sovereignty in an era of superpowers; and public health. Throughout the course, students investigate and develop an appreciation for the importance of context, nuance, and bias, and how to apply a critical lens to reading a variety of sources in order to produce their own balanced analysis, delivered through several types of media.

Course Outcomes

Upon completing this course, students will be able to:

• Describe the natural resources of Central Asia and explain their utilisation and how they present both challenges and opportunities.
• Explain and analyse the role that history, economics, politics, and geopolitics play in Central Asian society.
• Gather empirical evidence on their own about the importance of migration and remittances on people’s livelihoods and analyse how changes to migration affect communities.
• Produce a variety of media sources on core course concepts and perspectives.

Course Assessments and Grading

COURSE # HUSS 1080

Course description

The purpose of physical education is to strengthen health, develop the physical and mental abilities of students. Physical exercises and sports games is the way to a powerful and functional body, clear mind and strong spirit. The course is both practical and theoretical, it covers basic concepts of anatomy and physiology as well as health and safety requirements.  

Course learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will be able to:

• perform a range of physical activities
• describe health and safety requirements for a range of physical activities
• describe the role and progress of sport in Central Asia
• chose an appropriate physical activities program for their age and gender
• identify tiredness and its symptoms to control the body during athletic exercises
• describe the technique of running for a long and a short distance and jumping
• accomplish running for a short and a long distance and jumping according to all necessary norms
• describe the rules of a range of sports games
• participate in a range of sports games according to their rules and techniques

Course Assessments and Grading

This course is graded with pass/fail.

Course #: HUSS 1018

Course Description

The course aims to provide students with the ability to communicate in Kyrgyz language on the Beginner level and to develop students’ sociocultural competence through studies of Kyrgyz culture. Students learn to conduct conversations in the Kyrgyz community. Students practice and apply language skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing in a variety of tasks and activities appropriate for the Beginner level.  

Course Learning Outcomes (based on A1 CEFR level¹) 

Upon the completion of the course students will be able to: 

• understand short, simple questions and statements, provided they are delivered slowly and clearly and accompanied by visuals or manual gestures to support understanding and repeated if necessary. 
• recognize every day, familiar words/signs, provided they are delivered clearly and slowly in a clearly defined, familiar everyday context. 
• recognise numbers, prices, dates and days of the week, provided they are delivered slowly and clearly in a defined, familiar everyday context. 
• understand very short, simple texts a single phrase at a time, picking up familiar names, words and basic phrases and rereading as required. 
• produce simple, mainly isolated phrases about people and places. 
• give information about matters of personal relevance (e.g. likes and dislikes, family, pets) using simple words/signs and basic expressions.  
• produce simple isolated phrases and sentences. 
• interact in a simple way but communication is totally dependent on repetition at a slower rate, rephrasing and repair.  
• ask and answer simple questions, initiate and respond to simple statements in areas of immediate need or on very familiar topics. 
• ask for or pass on personal details. 
• use basic information about Kyrgyz culture, nation, and speech etiquette to achieve mutual understanding with representatives of Kyrgyz culture

Course Assessment and Grading

Course #: HUSS 1019

Course Description

In this course students will acquire Kyrgyz language on elementary level and familiarize themselves with an overview over Kyrgyz culture. Upon this course students will be able to conduct basic conversations in the Kyrgyz community. Students practice and apply language skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing in a variety of tasks and activities appropriate for the Elementary level. Relevant information about Kyrgyz culture will be shared.

Course Learning Outcomes (based on A2 CEFR level1)

Upon the completion of the course students will be able to:

• understand enough to be able to meet needs of a concrete type, provided people articulate clearly and slowly.
• understand phrases and expressions related to areas of most immediate priority (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment), provided people articulate clearly and slowly
• understand short, simple texts on familiar matters of a concrete type which consist of high frequency every day or job-related language.
• understand short, simple texts containing the highest frequency vocabulary, including a proportion of shared international vocabulary items.
• give a simple description or presentation of people, living or working conditions, daily routines. likes/ dislikes, etc. as a short series of simple phrases and sentences linked into a list.
• Can produce a series of simple phrases and sentences linked with simple connectors like “and”, “but” and “because”.
• interact with reasonable ease in structured situations and short conversations, provided the other person helps if necessary.
• manage simple, routine exchanges without undue effort; can ask and answer questions and exchange ideas and information on familiar topics in predictable everyday situations.
• communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters to do with work and free time.
• handle very short social exchanges but is rarely able to understand enough to keep conversation going of their own accord
• compose short, simple formulaic notes relating to matters in areas of immediate need.
• use information about Kyrgyz culture, nation, speech etiquette to achieve mutual understanding with Kyrgyz culture bearers
  
  Course Assessment and Grading

Course #: HUSS 1020  

Course Description: 

The course aims at developing and refining students’ language skills to take part in relatively complex conversations and exchanges that evidence their expanded and refined listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Students practice and apply language skills in a variety of tasks and activities appropriate for the Upper Intermediate Level. The course offers relevant information about making business in Kyrgyzstan; Kyrgyz values, culture and traditions; Kyrgyz literature and proverbs and famous sayings of Kyrgyz thinkers, writers and poets.  

Course Learning Outcomes (based on B2 CEFR level¹) 

Upon the completion of the course students will be able to: 

• understand straightforward factual information about common every day or job-related topics, identifying both general messages and specific details, provided people articulate clearly in a generally familiar variety.  
• understand the main points made in clear standard language or a familiar variety on familiar matters regularly encountered at work, school, leisure, etc., including short narratives. 
• read with a large degree of independence, adapting style and speed of reading to different texts and purposes, and using appropriate reference sources selectively. Has a broad active reading vocabulary but may experience some difficulty with low-frequency idioms. 
• give clear, systematically developed descriptions and presentations, with appropriate highlighting of significant points, and relevant supporting detail. 
• give clear, detailed descriptions and presentations on a wide range of subjects related to their field of interest, expanding and supporting ideas with subsidiary points and relevant examples. 
• produce clear, detailed texts on a variety of subjects related to their field of interest, synthesizing and evaluating information and arguments from a number of sources. 
• use the language fluently, accurately and effectively on a wide range of general, academic, vocational or leisure topics, marking clearly the relationships between ideas.  
• communicate spontaneously with good grammatical control without much sign of having to restrict what they want to say, adopting a level of formality appropriate to the circumstances. 
• interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction, and sustained relationships with users of the target language, quite possible without imposing strain on either party. 
• highlight the personal significance of events and experiences, and account for and sustain views clearly by providing relevant explanations and arguments. 
• express news and views effectively in writing and relate to those of others. 
• use information about Kyrgyz culture, nation, speech etiquette to achieve mutual understanding with representatives of Kyrgyz culture. 

Course assessment and Grading 

COURSE #: HUSS 1003 

Course Description 

This course explores the history and creation of states and societies in Central Asia with the focus on the history of Kyrgyzstan. It investigates the influence of geography on history, including the interplay between oasis trading corridors and steppe pastoralist mode of life, as well as the role of forests and mountains as redoubts for groups that lost political battles in the central steppe. The course aims to develop competencies and skills which enable students to use critical thinking while analyzing sources of historical events including a comparative study of Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia. Students learn how to critically examine historical sources, engage in discussions, exchange ideas and presents their topics by reading primary historical texts and secondary papers. Through the examination of the history of Kyrgyzstan, the course also considers the issue of interplay between oasis and steppes, between settled and nomadic way of life addressing how belief, religion, social practices and customary way of life is changed and accommodated to the needs of social and political context. In the course, students learn to explore ideas, generate knowledge, provide alternate responses and exclude opting for one immediate response.     

Course Learning Outcomes 

At the end of this course, students will be able to: 

• Discuss the key features, facts and frameworks that make up the history of Central Asia in general and Kyrgyzstan in particular; 
• Provide broad historical narratives related to development and formation of Kyrgyz nation and society;  
• Interpret and analyse history of Kyrgyzstan as part of the broader social and political process of Central Asia; 
• Analyze primary sources to assess received narratives about the past. 

Course Assessments and Grading 

COURSE #: HUSS 1004

Course Description

The aim of this course is to explore and analyze ideas, knowledge and practice associated with the Manas epic as well as the role that the Manas epic has been playing in formation and development of Kyrgyz society and construction of national identity. The Manas epic is reflective of history, culture, identity and society of Kyrgyz people whose origin traces back to Yenisei Kyrgyz – an ancient Turkic people who dwelled in the upper basin of Yenisei River. The course draws on a variety of interpretations and meanings attached to the Manas epic in different historical periods. This course applies historical approach to interpretation of the Manas epic enabling students to analyze it from different perspectives: while there can be different interpretations on the history of the Manas epic, the course does not focus on identifying its “true” story or historicity. The idea is rather to look at how the Manas epic can create a new reality, the reality of a nation-state and national identity and how the Manas epic is harnessed to perpetuate the current reality. By critically approaching the Manas epic, students learn how reality is constructed, how identity is formed and forged through beliefs, ideas, religion and associated practices. By developing and harnessing critical thinking, students will be able to figure out how practice and idea can be internalized and appear to be “true” in given social context.

Course Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Identify the core messages and meanings communicated through ideas, belief and practices associated with the Manas epic
• Provide an example of how knowledge, belief and ideas can be constructed and perpetuated
• Examine the role of myth, tradition, religion and culture in construction of society and identity
• Provide examples of historical or religious events which are identical to the Manas epic and used to promote national identity, culture and social cohesion among the respective nation or society.

Course Assessments and Grading