In over my head?

Don't ask how, but I'm assigned to teach a Cultural Comparison course this semester which I've never done before.  I'm getting a lot of leeway in what I can teach which, of course, has it's good and bad aspects.  Since this is new to me, I'm seeing more of the negative aspects.

I'll be leaning on Geert Hofstede heavily and I'd like to include sections on differing religions/mythologies but I'm trolling for ideas from this experienced pool of educators and world travellers.  I know this is extremely vague but that's what I'm dealt at the moment.  I will probably try to stick to Chinese culture versus American/Western Europe, (as if that really narrows anything down).

So if you've taught/taken any courses like this and sections really stood out and stuck with you, please let me know what those were.  Of course any and all wild-ass ideas and half-baked notions will be closely considered as well.

Thanks in advance for any help you might be able to lend.

Last year was my first year teaching culture.  I was given no curriculum or criteria.  No one seemed to care what I taught, so I did what I thought the students would be interested in.  

Popular topics were:
wedding culture (they know a lot about this, but I delved into the reasons behind some of our traditions.  Homework assignment was to write about a wedding tradition from their hometown that differed from a western one.) Recommended movie: License to Wed with Robin Williams.

Women's movement in the 70s (most of my students were female). Effect this had on family life, jobs, etc. Toss in the cultural influence of the pill. I went out on a limb and taught about birth control options available in the west.  Very positive feedback from the students ("no one talks to us about this stuff") and I didn't get fired.

University culture. So, so different from what they know.  I had several students research their choice of a western university and do a ppt presentation for a major part of their grade.  They had to tell about dorm life, club options, things to do on campus, how to choose classes, what subjects were available, class sizes, etc.

Half of my students are planning to be elementary school teachers. I did a lesson on early childcare options, elementary, middle and high school - west vs China.  There are quite a few differences between the UK and the US once you get to the middle school level, so I pointed those out too.

Sports culture.  Not so popular with my mostly-female students. They don't have the kid-sport culture (ie Little League, soccer mom syndrome) or inter-collegiate sport culture (college football or basketball).

Music. Can't lose with this one.  Go as far back in history as you want. I'm spending at least a couple weeks on this in the coming semester.  Assign genres or a period of time to several students and get them to do the work of researching and presenting.  (Big band era, jazz, disco, drug culture, anti war songs, musicals, British invasion - there's no end to this, really).

Dating.  Very popular with my uni students.  How, where to meet a prospective boy/girlfriend.  What activities constitute a date in the west?  I found a website about the stages of a relationship and they wanted a handout with that info.

Elder care options. Many available in the west. I used situations pertaining to my actual family members to personalize it.  Contrast with Chinese traditions.

Holidays. They know the major ones, but you can always do more.  Have a Halloween party. That was successful for me last year and I'm doing it again.

That's what I can think of off the top of my head.  My lesson plans from last year aren't available to me right now as I'm traveling.  I've got 4 culture classes again this year, so will be getting my semester planned this weekend.  Will add to this if there are any other good ideas I've forgotten about.

Ruth ~ thanks a ton for so many great ideas.  I will steal from this list unashamedly.  If others happen to float to the top of your mind, please feel free to post. 

Thanks again.

See:
http://raoulschinasaloon.com/index.php?topic=236.msg3905#msg3905

especially Linell Davis's book cited there

My husband also taught a culture class last year (British and american culture) and he is teaching it again this year. 

Like Ruth he just kind of picked a different topic for every class and discussed it. The kids seemed to like that style because you cover a lot of different subjects. He did many of the same topics as ruth, but also Art (modern and classical), philosophy and I think he did one on viral videos too.

He asked in the first class what type of topics they wanted to learn about and most said university life in America, so he made sure to cover that like Ruth suggested. They were really interested in it.

And if you don't want to be lecturing all the time, In the Global Classroom.

I've always tried to avoid this, because the topic is so bloody big, and people's ideas are so incredibly vague. There's a reason why Ruth was given no curriculum or criteria to go by! Gotta love how she rose to the challenge, though. 
When I did weddings, I was lucky. I had photos from both my weddings, one in China the other 30 years ago in Canada. I walked my classes through the progressive steps in each wedding, having the students role-play. (I had more than one young man give gifts of booze and cigarettes to the father of the bride)  Lots of fun, everyone remembered that class, but when it was time to do oral assignments, few could actually compare a chinese wedding to a foreign one. That really is the issue. Asked to produce something, can they talk or write about it?

hey I also taught this course before with reasonable success, if you PM me your email I'll send you on some powerpoints etc that you can adapt or at least use the pictures from  ...

also, good to remember that while this is a "content" course, these are language majors, so keep it interactive wherever possible, maybe dividing it up into 2 class modules, where one is a lecture, and the following class requires some sort of debate/discussion/written or oral production from the students, just to keep them on board...

you may feel stressed now, and it will be a lot of work to prepare, but you'll probably find it very rewarding