4 Responses

1. Humour
   Hi Stephanie
   This made me laugh.
   You may have already trawled the internet and a good starting point is wikipedia
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_humour

   Apparently British humour is notable due to its intellectual depth, usage of British slang, wit, and self-effacing culture. Potential course objectives?

   David

2. alternative idea
   Stephanie
   you could try getting them to watch videos of british humour
   (eg the office, Katherine tate show, porridge, red dwarf, only fools and (not again)horses, the thin blue line)
   and then discuss what the heck makes them funny.
   Rus

3. Teaching British humour to people from India
   Mission impossible.

   Our humour is based on slapstick and wordplay (thankfully we’ve almost eradicated …ist examples).

   Read any V S Naipaul novel to see the differences between our comedians’ cynical abuse of others and a much gentler appreciation of the foolishness of the human condition.

   Ths doesn’t mean I’m any less capable of guilty laughter of course.

4. two words…
   Monty Python.

   Can’t believe nobody’s said that already! It embodies everything that is English, slapstick, self-mocking, ironic and just plain silly.

   Having trained Indian call centre managers myself in the financial services industry, I’m assuming their english will be excellent and they are likely to be very intelligent individuals, so…other ideas would be:

   Morecambe & Wise (for discussing slapstick)
   The Two Ronnies (specifically 4-candles/Fork Handles sketch for discussing word-play humour)
   Billy Connolly (if you can find any media without the word £%$* in it…).
   Victoria Wood (again, great for wordplay and also they can sing along!!)
   Spitting Image (self-mockery)
   Tommy Cooper (slapstick)

   What about some radio comedy? – if they are call centre agents their English listening skills need to be top notch too, I am thinking “I’m sorry I haven’t a clue” from the radio – which is conveniently available on CD in the shops!

   Good luck with it anyway. Break a leg…