What can teachers learn from stand-up comedy professionals?

Előadó: Szabó Roland

Szerző bemutatkozása:

I have been teaching English for speakers of other languages at PCU since 2013, and I defended my PhD dissertation on the pragmatics of offensive stand-up comedy humor in January 2019. My main research area is pragmatics, language teaching methodology, and human communication in general.

Előadás absztrakt:

The teacher must be able to constantly evaluate and re-evaluate the mood of a room on a minute-by-minute basis, which is exactly what stand-up comedians do. Both of them must know when they are losing the class, and what sorts of gestures are needed to win their attention back. Consequently, teachers can apply strategies for speeding up, slowing down, and influencing the mood of their students simply by watching stand-up comedy professionals and entertainers controlling an audience for an hour. Beside humor, the skill to produce fine-tuned responses to changing circumstances is another aspect of professional comedy that can be adapted to classroom environment, creating exclusiveness at a seminar. One of the main reasons why comedy clubs are very popular is that the audience are aware that the night is unique; unlike a film or a play, it can never be repeated in exactly the same manner. Students value something similar in a seminar. There is no reason why a seminar cannot be an “event” for the students, something memorable and unrepeatable. My presentation focuses on aspects of teacher performance that enhance such exclusiveness.