Korean Job Discussion Forums

[BS.Dos.]

Anyone ever put together a lesson plan using far side cartoons? I've just pasted a few into a word document which you can download here.
I haven't got a lesson plan made up, but I think there's some classroom milage in them:

What happened next?
What has happened?
Describe what is happening? etc

Any other suggestions would be welcome.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I had a giggle. But I couldn't be bothered explaining each joke to them. I doubt they would get most of them.

[harlowethrombey]

I dunno man. Many native speakers have trouble getting the jokes, it mght be really hard for ESL speakers from a different culture.

But Far Side is wonderful, singularly brilliant.

[seoulsucker]

Here's the Far Side: --------------------------------------------------*









Here's a good chunk of native speakers' heads --------------------*






































Here's ESL students' heads--------------------------------*

It's a combination of language ability and big cultural differences in humor. I've shown TFS to students of all ages, and it was murder getting them to understand how I could think that it's that funny.

[mld]

To echo some other posters, I think most of TFS cartoons might not be so easy for non-native speakers to understand.

Some of the ones you have there too might be a bit over the top for some people in Korea (many of them suggest animals eating people - the spiders on the slide, the polar bears, the dumb cavemen) or animals eating other animals (three different ones with cats).

Also, a lot of kids just won't get the references (i.e. the cows and the car.. you'd have to have played street hockey - or seen Wayne's World a lot - to really find that one funny).

Again, much love to Gary Larson (have the full anthology back home in Canada), but many people find his humour sick... and most just don't even get it... try explaining the cow tools one... hahaha (you might have to read the anthology to understand that - I'm such a nerd!)

[ulsanchris]

a few years back gary larson allowed for a printing of an off the wall calendar. So each day I had a new far side cartoon. I often showed them to my classes. Sometimes they would be over the students heads, other times they would get it. either way they enjoyed seeing them.

[BS.Dos.]

[bassexpander]

I have yet to find a student that gets the one where the two pilots are flying the jet and see a goat in the clouds. One of them turns to the other and says, "Hey, what's a mountain goat doing way up here in a cloud bank?"

The best one is the "school for the gifted" Far Side. That one they can sometimes get, and they are impressed.