Hello! My name is Leo Yau and I am a fourth year student at UBC currently majoring in Psychology and minoring in English Literature. I was born in Vancouver but I quickly moved back to Hong Kong for kindergarten. Because of my upbringing, I was extremely disconnected with Canadian history and literature before arriving at UBC. It wasn’t until I took ARTH100, where I began to learn more about the indigenous people of British Columbia (specifically the Haida and the Kwakwaka’wawk).
This summer, I will be taking ENGL470A, where our class will be exploring Canadian literature with a focus on the overlaps between European and Indigenous traditions. A central theme about this course is the power of stories – how these stories affect how we view our “Home(s) and Native Land(s).” This course incorporates the use of social media (Facebook) and blogging to allow students to collaborate and critically assess the range of literature that is taught. I anticipate that this blog will help me document and further my learning in the Canadian literary genre.
Personally, this course pushes me out of my comfort zone a little. I’ve never blogged before in my life, so the thought of having my work displayed on the internet is a little intimidating but intriguing at the same time. Secondly, I never saw Facebook as an academic tool (as I was constantly told it was a distraction throughout high school). It is almost poetic that one of my last classes at UBC will make me feel like a first year experiencing something new again. I’m looking forward to learning more about the stories and literature that helped shaped Canada.
References:
Paterson, Erika. ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres. University of British Columbia, 2014. Web. 15th May. 2014.
Cohodas, Marvin. ARTH100 Introduction to Art History. University of British Columbia, 2013. Web. 15th May. 2014