Korean Job Discussion Forums

[teachingld2004]

I would like to watch a comedy show (1/2 hr) in English, and another 1/2 hr. comedy show in Korean, and then talk about how we think differnt things are funny. Does anyone have any ideas on what english comedy? I refuse to watch "sex in the city", or "friends".

[Rusty Shackleford]

Curb Your Enthusiasm or Seinfeld will be a massive step up for most students. Unless they have lived outside of Korea for any length of time, they won't get anything more complex than dudes hitting each other with inflatable hammers, broad racial stereotypes or funny noises.

[Hightop]

Try 30 Rock or The Office. I'm pretty sure there will be a stack of differences.

[andrewchon]

you could have a series of short skits from Paul Hogan Show.

[drydell]

Comedy is one of the most difficult things for ESL learners to get. You'd probably be fine with visual/physical/slapstick but jokes using language will go over their heads 99% of the time . General Freshmen uni students.. forget it. Even highest level English uni groups will struggle with most of The Office, Yes Minister, or Frasier from my experience...expect bored students...

A few of my Korean friends really liked "Little Britain" when living in the UK because its very visual and full of repeated catchprases..and having now lived here a while I realise it's also quite similar to the Korean style TV variety comedy shows..

Hard balance between keeping the class engaged and doing what you set out to do.

[zappadelta]

I would stick with 'Friends, Sex in the City', easiest to explain

[ED209]

How about Simpsons? Something they are familiar with, also has plastic hammers and deeper social satire.

[teachingld2004]

Yep. I thought of 3d rock. I also thought of "fraggle rock".
and "The Muppet Show".

I love "LIttle Britain", but I think there is too much sex. And with that said, "Sex in the city" has more.

I thought about "Benny Hill". My friend suggested "Ugly Betty", but I hate that. How about "Three Stoogers?" Koreans love to hit each other.

[bluelake]

How about 2-1/2 Men?

If you can find the old 80s series, Three's Company, it was a favorite of many Koreans (my wife included) who lived in the US.

[English Matt]

The Big Bang Theory is popular with my Korean friends (albeit adults), however if you are teaching High School kids or Uni students then it could work (obviously with subtitles which you can get on GOM's website). Sheldon is clearly autistic and therefore has difficulty understanding sarcasm and anything that is not obvious, so more often than not the jokes end up getting spelled out because they go over his head...this could help the students to understand why a particular joke was funny (whether it's funny due to sarcasm or cultural reference points).

[detourne_me]

Big Bang Theory is great. How I Met Your Mother is also popular among Korean adults.
Hmm, If you want to try a different route Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog is short, funny and amazing.
I'm not sure if there are Korean subtitles yet.

[hockeyguy109]

This is a really good idea. Any ideas for whether or not this would work in Elementary school? I guess I'd have to get subtitles for it to have any impact.

[reactionary]

the seinfeld episode where elaine's korean hair stylists talk smack about her in korean

[saw6436]

Southpark

[Goon-Yang]

It's always sunny in philadelphia.

That is funny.


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