I’d like to show an adult beginner class a North American TV show as break a from the text we are using. I’ll prepare worksheets to accompany the show.
I think a sitcom would be good. Any suggestions for adult beginners?
Would Seinfeld be too difficult? I don’t plan to show Chinese subtitles.
[quote=“Steeevieboy”]I’d like to show an adult beginner class a North American TV show as break a from the text we are using. I’ll prepare worksheets to accompany the show.
I think a sitcom would be good. Any suggestions for adult beginners?
Would Seinfeld be too difficult? I don’t plan to show Chinese subtitles.[/quote]
Simpsons? Although, with that show, subtitles would help. I used this show back in grad school on a bunch of Egyptian English inspectors. They loved it. 
My Name is Earl. I believe the diologue is slow enough, but I don’t know your class
You can use a show that’s available at a video shop in Taiwan. Currently, I believe Friends, ER, CSI, and some other shows are on the shelves in the TV Shows section. I can’t recall seeing Seinfeld there, though.
SAS: Ultimate Force: Throw 'em in the deep end. Nothing like British colloquialisms.
Nip/Tuck: At least they’ll understand the gore and boobs.
Haven’t used it myself but am thinking about trying “Everybody Loves Raymond”. There isn’t so much meaningless techno-babble designed to show off how professional the characters are (like you will find on CSI or other similar bullshit) and the family themes will likely go down well I reckon.
Bob’s idea is perfect IMO. Friends would work too, but I think the dialogue is a tad too fast. Even I can’t always follow The Simpsons, CSI or ER - they’re way too difficult for beginners.
[quote=“Grubber Kick”]
Nip/Tuck: At least they’ll understand the gore and boobs.[/quote]
NO way 
The story line is so complicated that I wouldn’t even bother trying to explain to a native, along with the idioms/cultural contexts.
[quote=“Namahottie”][quote=“Grubber Kick”]
Nip/Tuck: At least they’ll understand the gore and boobs.[/quote]
NO way The story line is so complicated that I wouldn’t even bother trying to explain to a native, along with the idioms/cultural contexts.[/quote]
That’s why I said, “At least…”
Sarcasm is completely lost around here I guess.
But if it’s pap you want, pap you shall receive:
[color=blue]Airing on StarWorld:[/color]
Let’s start with the Queen of Pap, Oprah. Every day during the week and Oprah, Prime Time on Sunday evenings.
This January, American Idol will be airing . You can watch the show and download and print the lyrics to analyze the pap, I mean songs.
They will also begin airing The OC. This will be immensely popular here, or so I predict.
StarWorld also has many American sitcoms airing on Monday and Thursday. Choose from any of those. I suggest Scrubs as it is the funniest, but 8 Simple Rules, the late John Ritter show is pretty funny and does showcase those family values. There is also a new Andy Dick show called Less Than Perfect, if you can handle Eric Roberts preening about with a “This is television, so I don’t need to act” attitude.
[color=blue]Airing on AXN and/or V/L.[/color]
It has been my experience that Taiwanese are fascinated by big boobs. For light crime drama with a healthy dose of tatas, try Las Vegas. Airing various times throughout the week.
How about Smallville? Superman in High School. Simple stuff. Wednesday nights.
The Amazing Race is pretty cool, and, as an added bonus, you can marvel at how stressed Americans can get when out of their comfort zone. Weekdays at 3:00PM, but it may end soon.
[color=blue]On DVD[/color]
Maybe you could purchase a series called Without a Trace. Excellent Missing Persons drama with Tony LaPaglia. It would give you lots to explain, but it’s not CSI complicated.
Then there is the always reliable Sex and The City.
Is that better boss? 
“Sex in the City” works as vocabulary is re-cycled pretty well - cock, big cock, big fat cock, big fat beautiful cock, I like to suck his big fat beautiful cock, I like to suck his big fat beautiful cock til he comes on my face… Goes down real well with a mixed audience as nobody is ever embarressed about those sorts of issues, especially in a mixed class 
Actually I have tried to teach it because it was what everybody wanted to study. Personally I wouldn’t do it again.
Scrubs sounds like a plan but it might be a bit of a let down coming back from the fast pace of the show to the slow pace of an evening class especially.
Friends is a great one. Most people love the show and like the idea of a show being based basically on “friendship”. And they like the fact that the guys in the show act a bit like adolescent girls. It’s less threatening.
Six Feet Under is the one I like to teach with the most. It’s an inteligent show and most students here recognize and respect that.
My Nam is Earl went well with 2 classes. It takes some setting up, vocab, idioms, plot, etc…
This is just a guess but I’d think “King of Queens” would be easy because the dialouge is usually slow and most of the jokes don’t use puns or American only inside things. Its mostly about being lazy and trying to get out of doing things which is somewhat universal…
I would have to suggest ‘Friends’ - it’s well-known here, the students usually find it interesting, there isn’t a lot of obscure vocabulary (unlike CSI), and the characters actually have conversations (also unlike CSI, where a lot of time is spent on moody atmospheric shots).
The kind of vocabulary used and the situations are appropriate for general language learning as well: friends in their 30s who get together after work and joke around.
Friends is a great show! But, there’s no way most students can understand what’s being said without subs…