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EFS 693B - STANFORD UNIVERSITY

Listening and Communication

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EFS 693B
Week 8 Notes
 

CLASS OBJECTIVES

I. Discussion of FlashACE: www.stanford.edu/dept/lc/efs/FlashACE/: provides processing practice through rapid, intensive comprehension and optional dictation.

II. Vocabulary discussion

    A.  A note on vocabulary learning: words per week; common phrases; connect to context

    B. Discuss vocabulary experience in groups

        1) How are you selecting the words you are currently studying? Do you think that's an effective procedure?

        2) How are you studying and reviewing those words?  Do you think that's an effective procedure?

        3) How many words and phrases do you think you should learn in the next year? How many words a week is that? What can you do to make it possible to reach that goal?

    C. Questions about vocabulary? For a fun way to practice general vocabulary see www.freerice.com.

III. Listening quiz and dictation test results

IV Friends: The One with all the Thanksgivings (Season 5, Episode 8).

    A. First part with captions on

    B. Second part with captions off

    C. Try to interact with the material, especially after the first time through--don't just watch straight through "for pleasure" alone.

V. Watching 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--the language is easier than many other comedies, and the stories are often more universal. It's on every weeknight on KTVU Channel 2, at 12:30 am. 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. Note KTVU also has Big Bang Theory, a current but more challenging sitcom weeknights at 6:30 and 7:00, and recent episodes (with captions) can be found at http://www.cbs.com/shows/big_bang_theory/video/.  Big Bang Theory transcripts are at http://bigbangtrans.wordpress.com/. The scripts will be particularly helpful if you can record the shows (or find recordings) and listen to them using some of the techniques we've discussed in class.

If you like British humor (though the accents can be challenging), 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.

Note: You can find free comedies on Hulu by searching here http://www.hulu.com/genres/Comedy?type=tv and selecting "TV Full episodes" and clicking the "free" and "captions" boxes.

Finally, EFS has two relevant courses if you want to pursue this more formally: EFS 696, Understanding American Humor, in the winter and spring, and EFS 689H, American Humor, in the summer.

VI. Friends: The One with all the Thanksgivings (Season 5, Episode 8) -- Continued

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Homework:

1) This week, you should try one long session of at least 2.5 hours sometime during the week. You should then have at least two other 15 minute sessions to review vocabulary. You can  contrast this with the "everyday" experience from last week and the 3-4 times/perweek you did earlier to help identify what you believe to be the most effective learning option. Your reports will be due by Monday March 5 at 8:00 PM. Get the report form here if you need it, but please return it through Coursework.

2) Go to www.stanford.edu/dept/lc/efs/FlashACE/. Go through FlashACE Advanced Lessons 1-3. Try to understand the sentence as thoroughly as possible before selecting your answer--this is processing practice. Try some dictation afterward if you have time.

3) (Optional) If you would like to try a comedy show and don't know where to start, go to www.hulu.com, click the "free" and "captions" boxes and look under comedies. Add one of these to your individual project.

Last modified February 29, 2012, by Phil Hubbard