So yesterday I showed my first year spanish class the Mafalda comic strip where the dad opted for the santos instead of the pest control company when faced with an ant problem. They didn't get it.
I explained it to them and said "Don't worry deep down inside you think it's funny. Later you'll laugh." Then they laughed. . . . at me, which I guess is better than no laughing.
The question is, humor is hard in the foreign language especially at beginning levels, so should we use comic strips and if so how? Your wisdom is appreciated.
I explained it to them and said "Don't worry deep down inside you think it's funny. Later you'll laugh." Then they laughed. . . . at me, which I guess is better than no laughing.
The question is, humor is hard in the foreign language especially at beginning levels, so should we use comic strips and if so how? Your wisdom is appreciated.
9 comments:
I suppose the students might need a lot of pre-reading activities. Maybe you could have (if you didn't) talk about the concept of saint veneration in Catholicism and how that se manifiesta in Spanish speaking cultures. You could have also supplied them with any vocabulary they would need to understand the comic.
Actually, I have no idea what I'm talking about.
Humor is definitely hard at beginning levels of foreign language learning, but I don't think that's a reason to give up. Before throwing out the comic strips, I think we should definitely figure out better ways to use them. As Andrew said, it would be a good idea to introduce them to the concept of saint veneration that is so heavily present in Spanish-speaking cultures. Maybe just use comic strips that pertain to cultural concepts that have been addressed in the class. Going over new vocabulary is also good. I'm not really sure what else we could do, but I definitely think we should keep trying. It's hard to modify them to the level of the students in this case, but we have to start somewhere.
I am in accord with the previous two comments. First of all, there has to be linguistic simplicity; you know, something that doesn't require a whole lot of new vocabulary. Second, there needs to be cultural similarity. If there isn't cultural similarity, some kind of cultural/conceptual preparation would be needed, preferrably in conjunction with a cultural topic already being considered in class. Of course, there is always the possibility that they won't understand unless they've had experience with the particular cultural phenomenon that is being represented, but I think Dr. M is right in saying that they'll think it's funny when they're older.
I think that it is valuable to expose them to comic strips, even if they don't understand the humor at first...first of all, I think that it is good to recognize that humor is different in other cultures, and even if they don't think it's funny, it is good to expose them to it. Second, I think that it can lead to a lot of other valuable activities and/or discussions on cultural perspectives, which is where we really want our students to go. Humor really is all about perspective when it comes right down to it, so I think that, laughter or not, it can be a valuable activity. :)
I guess I got Sarah's back on this one, though I agree with all of the previous posts (I'll just try to be a little different).
What would you guys say about showing the comic strip first in order to introduce a cultural concept (without discussing the humor about it), presenting the concept (with video footage, literature, etc.), and than revealing the comic strip again to see if anyone laughs. To me, that could be a possible way to measure if our cultural lessons are working...
nice idea Drew. They need the cultural context not just the linguistic one.
I had my class do this activity. On Friday, I showed them a couple of comic strips (from the sheets you gave us) and asked them to find one that they understand and bring it today (Monday). Some brought strips that they already understood; one girl in particular thought that hers was hilarious (it was funny). Some didn't understand theirs, and I could only help them so much to get it. I've decided that humor is a fairly advanced part of language/culture.
I wonder if understanding the humor of the target culture correlates with higher levels of cultural sensitivity? Maybe that will be my thesis. . .
The ability to get a joke is definitely a litmus test for language/culture learning. Comic strips would be better understood, obviously, at later stages of learning. I think that at those levels comic strips would cease to be culture teaching tools (assuming that an advanced stage of language use implies a fairly advanced cultural understanding) and would become something more like rewards for being at the level they're at, motivation to keep progressing (realizing that they're effort so far has given them access to the "pleasure of the text").
At lower levels, comic strips are definitely problematic. It seems to me that at these levels the strips, and humor in general, would assume the function of a "cultural riddle" a "rompecabezas cultural." They are enigmas that offer rewards (cultural understanding, the pleasure of participating in the humor) to the student that puts in the work to find them out.
Perhaps in the your situation comic strips would have been good to reinforce culture that they had already learned about. That way they, like a native, would already be cued into the cultural nuances that would make the comic strip funny.
Post a Comment