Friday, January 7, 2011

Cliff Huxtable


Is this the stfu face or can J-E-LL-O get you high?
   The longer I teach in Korea the more I feel like I'm turning into Bill Cosby's character Cliff Huxtable. Hell, I've got the sweaters to match or will have them soon. Cliff Huxtable as a dad is cool but Cliff Huxtable as a teaching style makes me feel like that dancing frog on the WB.
   If you are teaching students under the age of 6, a Cliff Huxtable approach is best. This style of teaching, once summoned, is hard to shake. If you so happen to go there, be warned you will be forever stranded in bizarro world. The style doesn't crossover into the realm of elementary education let alone the world of normal functioning adults. Imagine the laughter ensued by 4 year old students after you've made the "jello pudding pop" face to explain the words awesome and great. The non verbal language is also teaching them how to effectively ignore that guy who just won't shut the fuck up!
   Using the Huxtable teaching style to teach ESL students can be fun initially. Crossing your eyes and tucking your lips while your students practice counting to a mere three is simply hysterical in the mind of a 5 year old. Until they begin to recognize your role as the school's jester. Imposing your will from the onset is impossible because you're a foreigner and English should be "exciting!"

Colonization goes by globalization in some cases.

   I'm sorry but there was a reason Cliff Huxtable was on t.v. He was a blend of all things good with dads. Still that dad could not exist in a world where analogies don't sufficed for children as young as Rudy, circa 1980. If parents of ESL students wonder why their sons and daughters don't speak English very well, you should blame it on not being openly colonized. By the Americans of course! Instead you should realize we are forced to be Cliff Huxtables rather than actual teachers.
 
I have a strange theory on why we must summon our inner Huxtables. Like to hear it here it go! The reason may sound more like a conspiracy but the reason is simply to spread globalization as thoroughly as possible. The best way to spread it is through language and/or images. What better image than a Cliff Huxtable like figure? The perfect time to integrate a new system of control if you will, is during our current recession. Fresh graduates are unknowingly the perfect agent to spread American ideals because they are filled with optimism. WTF anyway enough of my theory enjoy your hoagie and start at 2:24 or watch the entire clip.

1 comment:

  1. You are a genius. That is all. Oh wait, one more thing..."How are we gonna ENJOY the HOAGIES!!???"

    ReplyDelete

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