“Personally, I think this class will be a waste of your—and what is infinitely worse—my time. However, here we are, so you may attend or not. You may complete your assignments at your whim,” so John Nash (played by Russell Crow) informs his students on the first day of class in A Beautiful Mind. This provides a terrible model for teaching, yet it has found its way into my international teaching assistants (ITA) course as part of a collection of Hollywood movie clips I have fondly labeled “Classroom Scenes From Hell.” While videos of good teaching are commonly used in ITA courses (Beers, Mendelsohn, & Pollock, 2014). Poor examples are less common. However, these particular clips are beneficial in that they amuse and relax my students, stimulate useful discussion about university teaching, and serve as a resource for language practice.

Rationale

1. Humor, used judiciously, can play a positive role in the university classroom by improving students’ attitudes toward the instructor and the course (Banas, Dunbar, Rodriguez, & Liu, 2011; Garner, 2006; Wanzer, 2002). This may be especially true for ITA courses serving those whom I consider among the busiest and most anxious on campus: new international graduate students navigating intercultural communication challenges while completing difficult coursework, trying to impress their professors/advisors/classmates, and facing the challenges of teaching probably for the first time in their lives. Of course many are quite unhappy about being required on top of all this to take yet “another English class.” My goal is to create as quickly as possible an atmosphere in which students can feel safe putting down their guard and discover that what they learn in the ITA course will support their success in all endeavors at the university. The “Classroom Scenes From Hell” help break the ice and encourage students to unwind. The class becomes a place to share a laugh with peers over an overly strict professor, disrespectful undergraduates, or other unpleasant U.S. classroom interactions viewed onscreen and/or perhaps experienced on campus.
   
   
2. When training ITAs, I try to model techniques and strategies they might later use in their own teaching. Humor is part of this. Of course, it does not necessarily mean telling jokes, a skill that is challenging for many us, especially when language issues or cultural differences are at play. As an alternative, Banas et al. (2011) recommend “incorporating a humorous video clip, or adding a cartoon . . . [which] can inject humor but make the burden of spontaneous humor less cumbersome” (p. 135).
   
   
3. A major part of the ITA course involves peer and self-critiques of student microteaching sessions. The “Classroom Scenes From Hell” clips provide a low-risk way to practice identifying strengths and weaknesses without fear of insulting or embarrassing anyone. The poor teaching choices depicted in the videos also serve as springboards to discussions on more effective approaches and related pedagogical and cultural topics.
   
   
4. Short clips from feature films have long been popular in ESL classes as motivating materials for exploring culture and language in myriad ways (see Stempleski & Tomalin, 2001). Although the teaching depicted in these clips is far from exemplary, much of the language and nonverbal cues can serve as excellent examples to explore and emulate. High-quality acting and production make repeated viewing/listening tolerable.
   
   

The Current Rotation

The following clips have found a place in my curriculum.

• The first day of class from A Beautiful Mind (2001), where John Nash enters late, closes the window (despite the heat) to the loud jackhammering outside, briefly flips through the assigned textbook, tosses it in the trash, and expresses his complete lack of interest in teaching the course (see aforementioned quote). [Length 2:41]
  
  
• The opening scene from The Paper Chase (1973) in which Professor Kingsfield (John Houseman) at Harvard Law School publicly berates new student James Hall (Timothy Bottoms) on the first day of class for not knowing about and thus not doing the homework. “You assumed that this first class would be a lecture, an introduction to the course. . . . NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING IN MY CLASSROOM!” [Length 3:24]
  
  
• The opening scene from Wonder Boys (2000) in which students in Professor Grady Tripp’s (Michael Douglas) Advanced Writers Workshop viciously critique the writing of depressed classmate James Leer (Toby McGuire). “I hated it. His stories make me want to kill myself.” The clip also features student eye rolling and the internal narrative of a teacher who is not particularly focused on the task of facilitating a class discussion. [Length 2:31]
  
  

Activities

The main activity for each clip is an examination of the teaching followed by discussion of pedagogical topics of interest to ITAs. Each clip can also be used for additional language practice.

Evaluating Teaching

I start by showing the clip in its entirety, asking students to watch for strengths and weaknesses. Gorsuch, Meyers, Pickering, and Griffee’s (2013) “rapport building” evaluation questions—which focus on the teacher’s voice patterns, nonverbal communication, and relationship with students—work very well as general guidelines. In the debriefing, students first identify all the positive aspects. For example, John Nash (A Beautiful Mind) has clear board writing and presents a challenging problem, which his students could find highly motivating, Professor Kingsfield (The Paper Chase) uses a chart to identify students by name and speaks very clearly, and Professor Tripp (Wonder Boys) knows his students well and uses a kind and patient voice. Next, students describe the classroom behaviors that seem ineffective or even damaging (these are, after all, “scenes from hell”) and come up with alternatives to these that could improve the learning experience.

Discussing Pedagogy and Classroom Culture

The process of critiquing each clip leads naturally to discussions on teaching and navigating classroom culture. The scenes introduced in this article can stimulate conversations on a number of topics:

A Beautiful Mind

• establishing class policies
• motivating students
  
  

The Paper Chase

• classroom management
• encouraging participation
  
  

Wonder Boys

• leading a discussion
• appropriate/inappropriate student behavior
• student/teacher relationships
  
  

Practicing Language

In addition to the listening comprehension and fluency practice students get from the evaluation and discussion activities above, excerpts from the movies can be used for intensive practice of specific language points. For example, in A Beautiful Mind, the future Alicia Nash (played by Jennifer Connelly) asks the construction workers outside the window to stop making noise while class is in session (“I was wondering if there was any way you could, I don’t know, maybe work someplace else for about 45 minutes?”), which serves as a starting point for our work on levels of politeness in making requests. From The Paper Chase, we use the line “Fill this room with your intelligence!” for pronunciation practice: It’s a great way to introduce (or review) the technique of shadowing and also works well for controlled practice of several challenging segmental sounds. The Wonder Boys scene contains examples of teacher-to-student feedback (“Well put, Hannah. And a good note to end on.”) as well as rich sarcastic humor: “James’s stories were about as sunny as his disposition” and “As usual James’s classmates, aware of a writer’s inherent vulnerability, offered their sensitive, gentle opinions.”

Final Thoughts

Whenever I use movie clips in a class, I hope that students will be inspired to later watch and enjoy the entire film. Making this suggestion, however, to this overly busy group of ITAs in training—especially when prefacing it with “In your free time . . .”—ends up getting a big laugh and confirms that bringing at least a small dose of movie fun into this particular course is a very good choice.

I’m always on the lookout for new clips, so please send me any nominations you might have for “Classroom Scenes From Hell.”

Film List

Grazer, B. (Producer), & Howard, R. (Director). (2001).A beautiful mind. United States: Universal Pictures.

Paul, R., & Thompson, R. (Producers), & Bridges, J. (Director). (1973). The paper chase. United States: 20th Century Fox.

Rudin, S. (Producer), & Hanson, C. (Director). (2000). Wonder boys. United States: Paramount Pictures.

Appendix A

The following clips are currently available on YouTube:

Scene from The Paper Chase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx22TyCge7w

Scene from A Beautiful Mind: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYdjNeFh6zw

References

Banas, J. A., Dunbar, N., Rodriguez, D., & Liu, S. (2011). A review of humor in education settings: Four decades of research. Communication Education, 60(1), 115–144.

Beers, B., Mendelsohn, M., & Pollock, P. (2014, November). A summary of activities to help international teaching assistants build their pedagogical skills: Part 2. ITAIS Newsletter.

Garner, R. L.(2006).Humor in pedagogy: How ha-ha can lead to aha! College Teaching, 54(1), 177–180.

Gorsuch, G., Meyers, C., Pickering, L., & Griffee, D. (2013). English communication for international teaching assistants. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.

Stempleski, S., & Tomalin, B. (2001). Film. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Wanzer, M. (2002). Use of humor in the classroom: The good, the bad, and the not-so-funny things that teachers say and do. In J. L. Chesebro & J. C. McCroskey (Eds.), Communication for teachers (pp. 116–125). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Patricia Pashby coordinates the International Graduate Teaching Fellows Program at the University of Oregon’s American English Institute. She has been teaching in higher education settings in the United States, Thailand, and South Korea for over 25 years. Her professional interests include intercultural communication, pronunciation instruction, language teacher education, and faculty development at international EMI universities.