I Introduce Basil Fawlty to My Students. Madness Ensues.

It seemed like a brilliant idea.  What better way to improve my students' comprehension than show them an episode of Fawlty Towers, the greatest sitcom ever made?  Okay, I admit there are much better ways, but I thought it would be so much fun to introduce them to the neurotic antics of Basil Fawlty, the world's rudest, most paranoid hotel owner, and also his nagging wife and inept Spanish waiter.  After all, not only could I enjoy a show that I loved for the 143rd time, I could also sit, back, relax and let John Cleese and his madness do all of the work for 30 minutes.

Physical humor is universal, and Towers is wonderfully slapstick.  I chose the most violent pick of the litter,  Ep. 4: "The Hotel Inspectors," but it got mixed reviews.  They seemed to understand the general plot--Basil trying to figure out who the hotel inspectors were so he could be especially nice to them (as opposed to his usual brusque behavior)--and they enjoyed the constant physical abuse inflicted upon Manuel.  Yet so much of the humor lies in the dense, circumlocutious British banter, most of which obviously escaped their grasp.

Because "Inspectors" relied too much on such dialogue (and also because I was tired of watching it), I switched to "The Kipper and the Corpse," my personal favorite.  There is plenty of action, and most of the dialogue, though still advanced for their level, is delivered much more slowly and clearly.  As expected it got a much better overall response.  They laughed quite a bit watching Basil and Manuel carry a dead guest all over the hotel, all the while trying to keep him hidden from the other residents.  Some of my brightest students even got a few of the morbid jokes (i.e. "Two dead.  Twenty-five to go").   I initially had reservations about this episode because of a short scene where they burst in on a man blowing up a sex doll (the maturity level here is lower than the collegiate norm).  Of course when they did see it all of the guys would crack up.  I guess some traits are universal.

Now that they've gotten to know the characters, I will have to show them another episode later in the semester.  It will come in handy if I get "teachers-block" again.  

Leb Wohl!