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Fulbright FLTA NewsletterIssue 20 | June 2009 |
Fulbright Experiences Filled with Humor and Surprises
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Alumni Perspective: Do Germans Have a Sense of Humor?by Melvin Haack, 2006-2007, GermanyGermans are not known for having a sense of humor. Everybody has heard this opinion and some believe it's true. Some also believe other stereotypes about Germans such as their tendency to hold huge parades in Berlin hailing David Hasselhoff (because he, of course, was responsible for tearing down the Berlin Wall), and live in humongous concave potatoes. I am not completely sure whether or not I am the right person to reflect upon my Fulbright experience and discuss what is funny, makes the diaphragm move and the corners of the mouth rise. However, ornithologists can’t fly and most theories about humor are not funny. But I'll try to describe what I find humorous. "Humor is enacted by participants situated in a social context of interaction that is embedded in a cultural context," according to Winnie Cheng (Humor in intercultural conversations, 2003) whose words fit well with those of my old English teacher, ”Boy, only if you understand a culture’s humor, you fully understand the culture!" To me, there are two facets of humor which can be important in teaching a language. On the one hand, there is the potential for language to be creative, funny, and also very motivating. These qualities manifest themselves in idioms, puns, tongue-twisters, etc. Just try to find a context in which Germans might say, "Here, the Pope is boxing..." and you have already learned not only a colorful idiomatic expression, but also something about our culture, speech and colloquial language. On the other hand, when you want to prepare advanced students for communication with native speakers beyond fluency, you should also provide them with the ability one might call "humor-competence" (British Humor in an intercultural context, Dietmar Marhenke, 2003). What role does laughter play in your culture? Is it a polite gesture or a sign of real amusement? In which situations is humor socially appropriate? During a business meeting, on a date, or when an angry cop stops your car because you were speeding while throwing trash out of the window? You might have to think for a minute since these cultural norms are sometimes so deeply rooted, we hardly notice them. But, then again, it’s worth reflecting on norms. At any rate, since I am no longer a Fulbright FLTA, it is not my task to rant on about teaching. I shall briefly offer some thoughts on how American humor has influenced me since my return home. As a small example, look at this embarrassing picture of me in my class Halloween morning. Someone really could have told me that no one dresses up anymore, but I’m sure that my students will never forget the day I dressed up as "Miss Germany."
In any case, a lot of American humor washes its way over to Germany with a certain degree of delay. (Yes, we have TV and Internet in our potato homes!) Thus, I felt well acquainted with it when I set foot on American soil in August 2006. If there had not been those small, nagging questions such as, what on earth is so funny about a dancing banana? Or the song, "Peanut butter jelly time... Peanut butter jelly time... peanut butter jelly and a baseball bat!" I would not have discovered and appreciated this very American thing called a "shout it out." ”RAAA.......AAANDOM!“ It impressed me so much that I still use it in Germany whenever things get weird. Some of my friends started to do it, too. We’ll see where this leads. Possibly the most significant influence American humor has had on me has to do with southern "rednecks." Soon after my arrival, I developed an interest in "redneck" culture, language and humor, e.g., a Jeff Foxworthy joke such as, "You might be a redneck if... you got stopped by a state trooper, he asked you if you had an I.D. and you said, ’Bout What?" For my Fulbright FLTA teacher training, I wrote a lesson plan about "rednecks." I might even use the topic of "redneck" jokes for my master's thesis in linguistics this summer. Until then, I’ll probably be spending my time trying to explain to my folks what is funny about the sentence, "Chuck Norris CAN believe it’s not butter!" To comment on Melvin Haack's article on State Alumni, please click here. |
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The Tale of a Brazilian Fulbright FLTAby Carlos Alves, 2008-2009, BrazilOnce upon a time, a 26-year-old Brazilian son of a street vendor by the name of Honoria Soares applied to the Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program. His name was Carlos Alves. A couple of months after applying, he was surprised to learn that he'd been accepted. He did not know where he would be sent in the U.S., but he would have gone to Alaska, if necessary. He was really excited and had lots of expectations. However, he had no idea that his life was about to change forever. When he went to apply for a visa at the American Embassy, there were almost two hundred people standing in line. To his astonishment, he and five of his fellow Fulbrighters were immediately directed to come inside the embassy where they stayed for no more than 40 minutes. Each day brought Carlos a different surprise. His first stop in the United States en route to the University of Miami was at Syracuse University in New York. Since he had always dreamed of being in Times Square, he decided to make a trip to experience what he had only read about. He could not stop thanking God. His time at Syracuse was more amazing than his most luxurious dream, because he met people from many countries with whom he got along really well.
Not satisfied with just learning some German and Spanish while in Miami, he started learning Arabic with his beloved friends from the Arab world who called him “Abadi," which made him feel extraordinarily honored. Carlos was invited to assist Fulbright staff during a December Fulbright FLTA Workshop at a place where history was just about to happen within weeks - the inauguration of President Barack Obama. In Washington, D.C., he felt as if he'd traveled around the world without leaving the hotel, learning about Fulbrighters from 47 countries, speaking 43 languages. Back in Miami, he donated blood for the first time in his life at Christmastime. New Year`s Eve was no less exciting as he spent it on the beach with his Russian Fulbright friends. He did not know what was going to happen from that moment forward, but he knew that the Fulbright Program would never cease to surprise him. To comment on Carlos Alves' article on State Alumni, please click here. |
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