Chapter 1 - 7

07 Office Hours

Listen to a conversation between a student and a professor. Fill in the diagram with the information that you hear.

M: Hey, Professor Jameson, can I talk to you for a moment?

W: Sure, come on in. I don’t have all the tests graded yet… Sorry about that. I think I do have yours graded, though. I can look up your grade in the book, if you’d like.

M: Oh, actually, that’s not why I’m here. I’ll just wait to get the test back. I came in to talk about my final paper.

W: Oh, OK. Um. remind me of the topic you submitted in your proposal.

M: I’m going to be talking about the influences of various types of art in Chilean literature in the early 20th century.

W: That’s right… how could I forget? I remember reading your proposal and being very engaged. I took a class that had a very similar goal to what it seems like you want to do in your paper. So, how is your research going?

M: Well, it’s actually going really well, I think, but I do have a couple of things I want to ask. I’ve found a lot of really interesting information that I can use in my paper, but some of it is on videos and CDs. Basically, I want to know if I can use stuff like that in my paper.

W: You mean to say that you want to use videos and CDs in a paper? I’m not sure I understand what you mean.

M: Oh, well, what I mean is… would it be all right if I used some of the information from those sources in my paper?

W: OK, I think I’m starting to understand. Can you give me an example? M: Sure. Let me think… well, I actually found a CD of some music that was referenced in one of the novels we read this semester. After listening to the lyrics, I think I could prove a point about the author’s influences if I can use those lyrics… and maybe describe this song a little bit… maybe something about how the melody makes you think of sadness and hopefulness at the same time.

W: I’d certainly be open to you using the lyrics. You could definitely allude to the lyrics within your paper… or you could quote them directly just as if you were providing part of the body of a poem.

As for the musical stuff… I’ll leave that one open to you. You don’t want to spend too much time on it, but if you can mention it briefly and make it relevant to what you’re discussing.

I’d say that it should be fine. So I suppose with the videos you’re talking about very much the same thing.

M: Well… I wish it was that simple. Actually, the video I found is of a popular Chilean dance.

Now, the video basically shows the exact dance that one of the authors used in her novel. I really wish I could somehow use the video itself, because I know that if I just try to describe it, I don’t think I could do it justice with words. It’s really something that needs to be seen.

W: I see. With something like that, I would tend to agree. However, perhaps the novel did a pretty good job of describing it. Maybe you could just quote from the novel?

M: Well, that’s what I thought before seeing the video. But the video shows the dance with so much… so much intensity. It really shows exactly what she was talking about in her novel.

It shows the cultural importance of the dance in a way that I don’t think even the author herself pulled off.

W: Wow! Let me think here… I can allow you to do a short presentation along with your paper. The only thing is… I can’t really offer you any extra credit for it, since that would be unfair to the other students. So, it’s really your choice here.

I’ll think about that. I could probably come up with a short presentation without too much trouble. Yeah I’ll think about that and let you know before the due date. Thanks for your help.

1) What is the conversation mainly about? 2) What is the student’s main concern about the video?