Korean Job Discussion Forums

[machoman]

i hate making the same joke twice. i never do it, but in class as a teacher, if i get a good reaction from one class, i'll repeat it for other classes.

but the thing is, i have a co teacher. and all she does is sit in the back of the class, staring at me, eyebrows furrowed. sometimes i do a little physical comedy, but i hate doing it when she's watching me, having seen me do it for other classes already. you guys know what i'm talking about? anyway, do you repeat the same jokes throughout the week?

[AmericanBornKorean]

Have you seen standup comedians? It's well known that a good 20 minute riff can get you through a decade. I know many teachers that recycle jokes, speakers that repeat jokes, no hurt in it. When you tell the same funny story to different groups of friends, it's the same thing.

[RMNC]

All you have to do is get better at telling it every time by using what works/doesn't and you're golden. No shame in that.

[Kaypea]

Ah, the in-class comedy routine! I love finding what works forever and what plays itself out, even in Korean middle school classes. For example, I used to think it was *hilarious* to introduce funny looking white people in my PPTS as family members. A lot of classes seemed to think this was funny, until one day a class kind of looked at me like "LOSER!" and the co-teacher was like, "uhm, yeah, what do you mean, he's your father?" Then I knew it was time to retire that joke (how many fat, goofy looking fathers can a girl have?)

As for the coteacher who sits in the back and looks at you like you're stupid, just try and ignore it. I know what you mean... it doesn't mean you aren't funny. I have one like that. Occasionally I make her laugh, but a lot of the time she looks like I would if the TV were stuck on, I don't know, a Benny Hill marathon. Don't take it personally...

[machoman]

[Illysook]

I've done stand-up in the past and part of the difficulty is that group of bitter comics in the back of the room who hear your jokes again and again, week after week. Not only that, but it's your friends and theirs who make up the audience most of the time. You have to be likeable and you have to be funny. They start to trust you and they laugh at your jokes more often, sometimes they tell you which ones are their favorites and they try to help you. Act like an idiot on or off the stage and you lose them. Sometimes, that loss is permanent.

In the classroom, considering my audience, I make my jokes obvious and I illustrate them on the powerpoint. Usually, they are geared toward helping students remember new idioms or vocabulary. This week, I used a lot of turkey pictures. One of them was a picture of George Bush.

[zappadelta]

Tell your co-teacher to get up and do something