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LTEN 107 Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales (882126)
Tu/Th: 12:30-1:50 LIT 255
Professor Lisa Lampert-Weissig; llampert@ucsd.edu; www.medievallit.org
LIT 347; (858) 822-0204

Course Objectives: In this course you will learn how to read Middle English in Chaucer’s London dialect. It is my goal that you will be able to read Middle English with some fluency, have a degree of proficiency in pronunciation and be able to translate passages of Chaucer’s work into Modern English. You will read a significant portion of Chaucer’s poetry and gain insight into its fourteenth-century context and its modern reception.
Text: Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, ed. Jill Mann. Penguin, 2005.
Also recommended: Ian Mortimer, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England.

Course Requirements:
Middle English Reading Session: Pass/Fail
Thinksheets: 20%
Quizzes: 20%
Paper: 25%
Class Participation: 10%
Final Exam: 25%

Tentative Schedule of Readings and Assignments:
It is expected that you will consult the notes for the text. I may assign supplemental secondary readings as needed throughout the semester.
Reading assignments may be moved or modified depending on the pace of the course.

Week One:
Tues., 9/27: General Prologue. Thinksheet One Due: Please translate lines. 118-126 of General Prologue (so, this is your first assignment; you don't need to type, but please skip lines. Due at beginning of class.
Thurs., 9/29: GP and The Knight’s Tale (Parts I and II) (Quiz One) No thinksheet today, but please review GP--translation quiz will be from GP

Week Five:
Tues., 10/25: (Quiz Three) Clerk's Prologue and Tale
Thurs., 10/27: The Merchant’s Prologue, Tale and Epilogue and The Franklin’s Tale Thinksheet

Week Six: Thinksheets
Tues., 11/1: The Franklin’s Tale and The Pardoner’s Introduction, Prologue and Tale
Thurs, 11/3: The Pardoner’s Introduction, Prologue and Tale

Week Seven: Thinksheets
Tues., 11/8: The Shipman’s Tale
Thurs., 11/10: The Prioress’s Prologue and Tale
Papers due today. No thinksheets

Week Eight: Thinksheets
Tues., 11/15: The Nun’s Priest’s Prologue, Tale, and Epilogue
Thurs., 11/17: The Second Nun’s Tale

Week Nine:
Tues., 11/22: The Parson’s Prologue and Tale (selections) and Chaucer’s “Retraction.” Final thinksheet
Thurs., 11/24: Thanksgiving

Week Ten:
Tues., 11/29: Review/Time for Catch up
Thurs., 12/1: Review/Time for Catch up

Final exam time in schedule of classes: 12/9/16 11:30-2:29. Take home exam due by 12/9 at 2:29 pm (submission details TBA).

Middle English Reading Session: In order to PASS this class you must meet with me and satisfy me that you have some facility in Middle English. This will consist of reading some passages (approx. 10-15 lines) out loud. One will be prepared and one chosen by me during the appt. The reading is not graded. I don’t expect perfection, but I do expect evidence that you have been working with the language and can read aloud and translate with the facility necessary to do the course assignments. If necessary, I will ask you to repeat this session. Recordings of Chaucer in Middle English are available online. See links at www.medievallit.org. And, of course, I’m happy to help you with your Middle English reading or any additional questions--just come to office hours

The reading sessions will be made by appt. It is your responsibility to make your appt. on time. If you fail to be punctual or you fail to show up you will be wasting my time as well as that of your classmates. Consequently, you’ll be lowering your course participation grade. Any resulting make-up will have to be made during my regular office hours, i.e. no more appts.
Quizzes: These quizzes are designed to test translation ability and reading comprehension. There are three quizzes built into the syllabus (see schedule for dates). I reserve the right to give pop quizzes if I feel they are necessary to help us with readings/discussions.
Attendance: Attendance is expected. Poor attendance can lower your grade.
Deadlines: I consider being able to meet a deadline to be an important part of written assignments. For that reason, and in the interest of fairness to students who do meet deadlines, the consequences of submitting late work are severe. Exact instructions regarding papers and deadlines will be detailed on the paper topic handout, but late papers will lose at least one full grade per day late and may not receive comments. Papers left in my mailbox or at my office door are left at the student’s own risk and students are responsible for making frequent computer backups as they write the paper. Only documented legitimate medical or personal emergencies will excuse late work. If an emergency arises, you must let me know as soon as possible and I will do my best to accommodate your needs. It is your responsibility to keep me informed, and, indeed, I can’t help you if I don’t know that there is a problem.
Think Sheets: Think sheets are response papers designed to stimulate discussion and help students engage with the works we are reading. During class I will ask a question or assign a topic for the thinksheet.
If you miss the thinksheet topic, it is your responsibility to contact a classmate to find out what you missed. Given course size I cannot promise that I will be able to send you this assignment myself, so please use our phone list. Unless otherwise specified, the thinksheets will usually be about 3/4 to 1 double-spaced typed page. With the exception of translations, which may be handwritten, thinksheets must be typed. Emailed thinksheets are not acceptable.
I have really been impressed with the thinksheets that students write, and, after an entire semester, they add up to quite a bit of writing. In recognition of this, when you enroll in this class you start out with an “A” on your thinksheets. I will comment on your thinksheets and try to give you feedback to what you have written, but I won’t grade the thinksheets in the same rigorous way in which I will evaluate your formal paper. If your thinksheets show effort and engagement with the assignment, you will maintain the “A” that you will have earned by working on these thinksheets throughout the semester.

“How do I know my thinksheets are up to par?”: If I determine that your thinksheets do not show the kind of effort that I expect or if there seem to be other problems, I will inform you in my comments on the thinksheet and ask you to meet with me to discuss improvement. It is your responsibility to come to office hours or otherwise arrange to meet with me and discuss this in order to maintain full credit.
“What if I miss a thinksheet?”: You are allowed to miss three thinksheets for whatever reason. Beyond that, only documented medical excuses or documented personal emergencies will excuse a late thinksheet. It is your responsibility to inform me about such emergencies as soon as it is possible for you to do so. If you do not contact me in a timely fashion, it may not be possible to make up the work. Thinksheets are due at the beginning of class. Without a documented excuse, late thinksheets will not be accepted and will be deducted from your thinksheet grade at the end of the semester. I will keep track of your thinksheets in my grade roster, but mistakes can happen--you should hold onto to all of the graded thinksheets until you receive your final grade.
Vacation plans and extracurricular activities are never an excuse for missed or late work.
“What is late work?”: Sometimes there’s just something that keeps a person from getting to class on time. What I want to avoid is disruptions to the class by habitual late entrances and the “abuse of the system” of thinksheets. If I think you are having a problem with getting the thinksheets in on time, I will inform you promptly and we will discuss how you can avoid losing full credit for your work and attendance. It will be your responsibility to follow up on meeting with me about this.