Ideas for Inspiring Possible English Majors Needed!

[Shannanigan]

Hello LitNet posters! I know I haven't been around a lot lately, and believe me when I say I'm sorry because I'm probably more sorry for myself than for anyone here at having denied myself the pleasure of browsing the forums as of late :lol:

The truth of the matter is, I am in over my head this semester, and have more work than I can imagine to complete. I have but a glimmer of hope and I have come here to ask for your help!

I am involved in Sigma Tau Delta, an English Honors Society here at UVI, and we are on the verge of being labeled "inactive" because we are having such a hard time recruiting people. This semester, the faculty advisors are bearing down on us and we have decided to revamp our recruitment methods...the olny problem is, I really don't have much time to sit around and come up with new ideas to inspire students to become an English major and join our society.

There are very, very few English majors here (14 or thereabouts), and of those even fewer have bothered to become members of Sigma Tau Delta. We have decided to stop begging them and instead to try to recruit some of the multitudes of "undecided" freshman students...which means we have to get them excited about literature, writing, and English in general.

I've already made up a "Recruitment Package" consisting of our English degree requirements, a list of career options for English degree holders, and a page on how Sigma Tau Delta can help its members...but we need events that will get students excited about English. I've mentioned Open Mic Night and perhaps a Book Club...but we need something during the day for the commuting students and something that doesn't require regular attendance, so new people feel welcome every meeting and old people returning after a long absence won't feel lost. It needs to be fun and make people want to be members of our little group.

Does anyone have any ideas? What kind of events are held at your schools, if you are attending, or what events do you remember having at your school if you have already finished school? Any fresh ideas?

I really, really, really appreciate the help guys. Really! Thanks so much ahead of time! :D

[kathycf]

Shan, does your school have a place for commuters? The school I attended has a commuter cafe, maybe your's has something similiar. What if you guys put up posters there and maybe did a 5 minute comic reading or something like that? I say 5 minutes because people might be reading or doing homework so you would't want to distract them, but a short comic reading might be good since I don't know too many people who don't enjoy a laugh.

What about the school library? What if you had a table nearby with some coffee, soft drinks and some snacks along with your packets? I also don't know many people who will pass up a free snack or drink, and then you can talk to them about your society. It shouldn't be too terribly expensive to buy some soda and snacks if you pool your money together. Well, I wish you luck.

[SleepyWitch]

What kind of events are held at your schools?
none

i think kathy's right about the snacks and drinks. feeding people is always a good idea...
hum, how's about a video night (or afternoon for the commuters) where you watch the film adaptation of a book?
or you could do something like a pub quiz with questions about literature, just to get them interested and later on you can do other things.

what's the aim of this society?

[muhsin]

You are welcome bach Shan. Though I don't have much to offer here but I hope others will gladly do so. Good luck.

[Schokokeks]

Hi there, Shan ! Sorry to hear you're up to so much work at the moment, but semestre's nearly done: hold on ! :D

Here at my English Department, we have a "literature café" (it's called The Leaky Cauldron :)), basically taking place in the common room, and meaning free tea and biscuits for anyone taking a break between two classes or so. What makes it a literature café is that three days are dedicated to one author, meaning that twice each day, one or two members from the society present the author, e.g. his life on the first day, his works & what is interesting about his books on the second day, their reception & films on his/her books on the third day, and also give short readings and decorate the room with posters / relevant information. These presentations never exceed 15 min, and they in general have the effect of making people really hungry on the author, and they are really done in a very witty way, not at all like lecturing. Those students that aren't interested can still sip their coffee at the café.

However, I guess this might only be interesting for students who are already very involved with English. I'm not sure if you were looking for ideas for a singular rather larger event in order to lure new majors, or whether you and the society just wanted to become more active in general.

I think Sleepy's pub quiz might also be a good idea. You could do it in the afternoon and combine it with a pizza party or anything of that sort and give it a fancy name to attract people ;).

[Shannanigan]

Hmm..we don't really have a "commuter cafe" per se, though they are supposedly trying to build one. We do have a "Student Activities Center" that has a little room off to the side with a large table and chairs; perhaps we could reserve that for some of these ideas! :D

I'm beginning to slowly get ideas by combining some of yours here (food + literature = good idea :p) I'd still be very grateful if anyone could share more events held at their schools (The Leaky Cauldron sounds like so much fun!)

The aim of the Honor Society within just our school right now is really just to gather some interested people and create some regular activities that people who like literature and writing can participate in and share with eachother. I'm sure that Sigma Tau Delta, as an international society, has some bigger goals in mind, but we need to start small :p

[chasestalling]

spread a rumor that chinese is becoming the globe's lingua franca.

[kathycf]

I also mentioned the short reading in my above post, because that is something that people did at my school. Usually something short, maybe a few paragraphs from a funny book.

[Shea]

Oh, I always regretted not joining the Sigma Tau Delta chapter at my school. I was always too busy.

The same instructor who asked me to join also asked me to be a guest undergraduate reader at a graduate Colloquium. She held it once a semester. Perhaps you might concider it. It was a great thing for me to add to my resume. Graduate students and myself read specific assignments selected by their teachers. One read a collection of poems, another a short story, another a literary analysis. I was asked to read my research paper on the Anglo-Saxon heroic traits of Beowulf, Judith, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. After each reading the audience was allowed to ask questions of the writer.

That Colloquium may not have had anything to do with STD. I just connected it because of that teacher. I was to busy to follow what chapter did here.

[Shannanigan]

yeah, readings sound like a great thing...especialy if they're funny short stories or comic readings that will grab attention...

That's at least one good event in the making. Thanks for the help so far, guys. I wish I had more time to spend on this and more members to help out ~sigh~

[Madhuri]

the olny problem is, I really don't have much time to sit around and come up with new ideas to inspire students to become an English major and join our society.


The interest in reading and literature will take time, I suppose. But, first you have to attract their attention for them to even consider this thought.

What do you think of some rewards? I am not sure if you have enough budget to think of something like this, but, this might bring it to the students notice, and if initially just to win a reward, there maybe some who will eventually get interested, which could be better because then you'll remain with the students who are really willing to be an English Major.

Well, atleast these rewards work at my workplace. We have to prepare reading reviews on any technical subject (technology / field) that we work on. As soon as it is announced that there will be a reward, there is more than usual activity in submitting the reviews. And some make really good effort, its very interesting to read those reviews. So, atleast it grabs the attention and in the process one gets to read some good informative material.

[Scheherazade]

I find that many people are surprised to discover how many movies are actually based on books. Maybe you can have themed movie sessions (provided that you have a TV set and DVD/Video player available for you). For example, you can have The Taming of the Shrew month and show a different version of the movie (modern and classic), say, every Friday evening free of charge in your centre maybe?

Depending on the number of people interested, maybe you can have a one-off monthly discussion as well following the movie month to get people more interested and read the book (finally!) :p

(This could turn into a lot of fun if you could offer some pizza and drinks or popcorn (for a little fee?) and might keep students coming for more.)

[seasong]

Have the students take a chemistry class. They'll come running to you. Trust me.

[Shannanigan]

lol Seasong!

They do show movies here in a small auditorium that has a projector and can be made into a theatre...so the idea sounds cool, except I don't know how successful these things have been in the past since sudents usually only want to go to "cool" movies that are out now or were very popular when they came out recently...

and when the movies over, they all just want to leave; the only way I think we could gain would be to plater Sigma Tau Delta stuff all over the room and give handouts, though most of the handouts will probably get thrown away...

Maybe if I combine the rewards idea from Madhuri and the movie I can come up with something...perhaps some small prizes for people who stay afterward to discuss the movie and sign up to come to a Sigma Tau Delta meeting? Hmmm...

[Scheherazade]

Or maybe you can have a 10 minutes introduction session before the movie (once that starts don't let late comers in so that people won't be able to skip it :p) and even ask a question about the book and the movie for which the answer they can only discover by watching it and offer a prize to winner at the next meeting?

[Shannanigan]

wow, hey, good idea!

We have a meeting on Tuesday to present the ideas we have come up with...Scheher I think I'm gonna have to bring that one up :D

[blazeofglory]

Hello LitNet posters! I know I haven't been around a lot lately, and believe me when I say I'm sorry because I'm probably more sorry for myself than for anyone here at having denied myself the pleasure of browsing the forums as of late :lol:

The truth of the matter is, I am in over my head this semester, and have more work than I can imagine to complete. I have but a glimmer of hope and I have come here to ask for your help!

I am involved in Sigma Tau Delta, an English Honors Society here at UVI, and we are on the verge of being labeled "inactive" because we are having such a hard time recruiting people. This semester, the faculty advisors are bearing down on us and we have decided to revamp our recruitment methods...the olny problem is, I really don't have much time to sit around and come up with new ideas to inspire students to become an English major and join our society.

There are very, very few English majors here (14 or thereabouts), and of those even fewer have bothered to become members of Sigma Tau Delta. We have decided to stop begging them and instead to try to recruit some of the multitudes of "undecided" freshman students...which means we have to get them excited about literature, writing, and English in general.

I've already made up a "Recruitment Package" consisting of our English degree requirements, a list of career options for English degree holders, and a page on how Sigma Tau Delta can help its members...but we need events that will get students excited about English. I've mentioned Open Mic Night and perhaps a Book Club...but we need something during the day for the commuting students and something that doesn't require regular attendance, so new people feel welcome every meeting and old people returning after a long absence won't feel lost. It needs to be fun and make people want to be members of our little group.

Does anyone have any ideas? What kind of events are held at your schools, if you are attending, or what events do you remember having at your school if you have already finished school? Any fresh ideas?

I really, really, really appreciate the help guys. Really! Thanks so much ahead of time! :D

I could not get well your message about the recruitment package. Are your thinking about recruiting English degree holders, why do you need them and can anyone from any country apply?

[Shalot]

In the US, college costs money and a lot of people, here in my town at least, hold the belief that any education you receive should directly lead to gainful employment. There aren't many employment notices that ask specifically for English majors, and that is why i was relunctant to major in English. I opted for the Tech Writing concentration because I thought that I could have my cake and eat it too - I could take all the English writing classes (with some literature requirements) and then there would be jobs waiting for me when I graduated.

What I found is that I had to learn something else, and in the course of my employment, I found and made opportunities to apply the theories I learned in my writing classes.

There are some companies who might hire a degreed individual over a non-degreed person because they realize that a person who can obtain a BA, can be trained to do a specific tasks and has other skills to bring to the table.

But in all honestly, if I had it to do over again, I would have concentrated on a study program that lead directly to a job. Then i would have gone back to study English literature and writing theory (just because I like having been exposed to works of literature, literary criticism and books and magazines about the art and craft and writing, style guides, usage manuals, and all the other tools a wordsmith has - not that I think I'm a wordsmith - at best I'm a lazy wannabe as far as that's concerned)

I am not sure if that's what the Op was getting at there, but I thought I would add my two cents for any newbie who is interested in the subject...