Camille-TP6

Last Thursday, Brian and I taught a culture class on Comedy in the Western world and how its roots are found in the science of improvisation. The class had a pretty big turnout, but throughout the lesson 3 students left. With this class, we showed various videos starting with a Saturday Night Live clip of the Lawrence Welk show starring Kristen Wigg. After that, I explained with improvisation was and how it is the root of all comedy. Brian and I led many improvisation games including: Three-line scene, three headed monster, sound effects and party quirks. Each of the games had a video model from Whose Line is it Anyways? as well as a physical example performed by Brian and me. With these examples I figured the students would be able to understand and complete the activities seamlessly, unfortunately that was not the case. The students had to be re-explained the games and would break many of the game-rules. But even for Americans, the art of improvisation is extremely confusing. I stressed the importance of participating in these games because you get to be whatever you want to be when playing improv. Also, the students were able to effectively practice their English without even realizing it. Through these exercises, the students had to listen and quickly respond to whatever the prompt was, as well as try out some acting skills. Overall, the culture class was seemingly enjoyable by the students and the feedback was all positive. I am glad I was able to share with the students something that I have learned and performed for the past 3 years.