Devon TS #15

Hang-ah Kim

8/9/21

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

For a few lessons now, Hang-ah and have had conversations before or after our main lesson about different cultural aspects in the US. For example, Hang-ah expressed how she thought it was weird that Americans ask "how are you doing?" but actually are using it interchangeably with "hello". For the last two lessons I am going to show some SNL skits that showcase exaggerated versions of some phenomenon that are pretty exclusive to American culture. The way that I broke it up was that I picked three short SNL videos that we would watch individually and then talk about. 

The first video talked about the American girl doll franchise, that when I was growing up was a major part of little girls' social circle. Hang-ah was very amused at the idea of a doll that you would make to look identical to yourself, that you would take to salons, and also have meals with. 

The second video was making fun of American lifeguards and some of their extreme behaviors at swimming pools. Some of these include the megaphones, the whistles, the lifeguard tower, the iconic red swimsuits and floaties, as well as lane swimming at public pools and swim tests. Hang-ah thought that the whole thing was overkill.

Finally, we watched a video that made fun of the stereotypical "Chad" character, as well as showcased auction banquets where rich people bid on bachelors for charity.

Every video played off of stereotypes that still permeate into American vernacular and culture to this day. Throughout the videos I stopped the clips to further explain what was happening or explain a vocabulary word that may not have been understood.

To end the session I did our usual shadow box that read, "what tastes better than it smells?" and for the first time since we started doing the shadow boxes, Hang-ah was stumped. The answer was "tongue".

After the session, Hang-ah asked if I could talk about prom, homecoming, and American school life, something that Hang-ah had seen in American movies/shows. I said I would talk about it next session.