EFS 693B - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Listening and Communication
EFS 693B - STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Listening and Communication
EFS 693B
Notes: 10 - 1
I. Share your experiences with practicing vocabulary: www.flashcarddb.com; www.ichi2.net/anki; www.wordchamp.com. Explore the three flashcard sites. Pick one of them and put in at least 10 words from your independent project work. Come prepared to demonstrate your list.
II. Listening to TV comedies: introduction to Friends. What do you know about Friends? What do you know about Thanksgiving?
III. Friends--The One with All the Thanksgivings. (Episode 8, Season 5)
IV. Listening to TV Comedies
Comedy shows are very popular on American television. There are dozens of them on during the week, and they provide us with a way of laughing at ourselves and our culture. Being able to understand a comedy show in another culture is an impressive feat. It takes time and keen observation skills to note which parts are supposed to be funny before you hear the laughter from the studio audience.
Comedy shows tend to fall into groups. Most programs can be divided into one of three types: friend shows, family shows and work shows. A few cut across two or all three types. Common themes are friend/friend, boy/girl, husband/wife, and parent/child relationships. Some shows have an ethnic basis to their humor, some have regional humor, and some have humor based on social class. There are also animated forms of these shows, such as The Simpsons.
Traditionally, a comedy episode revolves around a single problem or theme which is set in the first few minutes of the show. Attempts to resolve the problem may be unsuccessful at first, which is often where the humor comes in. Increasingly, shows have multiple problems or themes which evolve more or less in parallel, making a more complex plot to follow.
Besides their general value for practice in listening to casual conversation, comedies are useful to watch for enjoyment just to get some additional insight into aspects of American culture. To get the most out of listening to comedy shows, there are a few points you should keep in mind.
1) Because a lot of the humor in the show is cultural, be prepared not to understand why something is funny. If you can, take notes and try to think about them. If possible, ask a native speaker why something was supposed to be funny.
2) Many of the jokes depend on understanding the characters, both their individual personalities and their patterns of interaction with other characters. In order to appreciate this part of the humor, you need to watch a number of different episodes. A good strategy is to find an older show that is rerun every day instead of only once a week (like Friends: see below). Alternatively, look for shows that are available online (e.g., www.hulu.com) or DVD.
3) Although commercials can be fun and useful practice themselves, they are meant to be distracting. You can mute the TV (turn off the sound) during commercials, reflect on what you’ve just watched, and predict what you think will happen next. If someone else is there with you, you can talk about the show at this time (preferably in English). Of course if you are working from recordings, commercials are not an issue.
4) Finally, there is a lot of variation in the language difficulty among comedy shows. Try to find one or two that you enjoy but can follow best. If you have to have the captioning on to understand much of it, then the show is of questionable value for language learning.
One of the most useful shows for improving listening is Friends. It's on every weeknight twice on KTVU Channel 2, at 6:30 and 7:00. You can get the transcripts for Friends at http://www.friendscafe.org/scripts/ and a number of other TV shows at www.script-o-rama.com. The scripts will be particularly helpful if you can record the shows and listen to them using some of the techniques we've discussed in class. You can find the name of the episode (so that you can get the right script) at www.tvguide.com.
If you like British humor, British comedy shows can be found on Channels 9 and 54. And if you like other types of comedy, including “standup”, there’s a whole channel on cable called Comedy Central. You can see some clips at www.comedycentral.com.
Keep in mind that EFS has two classes in this area: EFS 696 Understanding American Humor, offered next spring, and EFS 689H American Humor, offered in the summer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Homework:
Preparation for the last day of class (next Wednesday)
a) Review the website, course notes and your individual project notes to remind you of what we have covered this quarter. Then, prepare a 5-minute final talk in which you address the following questions:
I. What were the three most useful things you have learned about listening this quarter? You may include both general points as well as the use of specific materials and technologies
II. What are the two greatest challenges still ahead for you in listening?
III. What are your plans for meeting those challenges?
You may use PowerPoint or other computer support. Include a handout (3 copies) so that everyone can learn from your experience. Be sure that you have practiced your talk so that you can stay close to the 5-minute time limit.
b) In class assessments: we will repeat the EFS listening placement exam from this September along with a short dictation.