Film courses are now standard offerings in collegiate world language programs, but instructors have only begun to consider the unique benefits of teaching a television series to engage language learners in meaningful communication. As series have become the entertainment of choice for today's students, educators should consider the opportunities…

By using the "Game of Thrones" pop-culture television series, the author has structured courses in a way that seeks to solve problems that plague many history courses serving university requirements. In this article, the author will discuss how gaming the classroom can serve as a solution to the issue of engaging majors and non-majors…

Challenges to identity formation often emerge during college experiences as one's world view is confronted by exposure to new social circles, ideas, and cultures. Through the analysis of interpenetrating identities in the popular television show, "The Big Bang Theory," students are able to locate concrete examples of the four frames of…

Rosemarie T. Truglio is the senior vice president of curriculum and content at Sesame Workshop, where she is responsible for the development of the interdisciplinary curriculum on which "Sesame Street" is based, and oversees content development across platforms such as television, publishing, toys, home video, and theme park activities.…

The reality show "The Amazing Race" serves as a useful text for the cultural geography classroom. As competitors travel the world, they complete challenging tasks designed to be both educational and entertaining. Audiences see actual images from destinations around the world and learn about the unique cultures of these places. They also…

As a teacher of an intensive class for college-level students that focuses on learning the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) vocabulary, Kelly Keegan wanted to create and play vocabulary-review games that encourage flexibility and spontaneity in authentic contexts. This article describes how she created games that give…

This article examines how the radio drama, or "Hörspiel", might be successfully implemented in the German classroom to train students' ability to listen for context. "Hörspiele" can help students reduce their dependency on visual stimuli, develop critical and discerning listening skills, and acquire familiarity with a…

Recurring expressions and idiolectal speech patterns are often used by the scriptwriters of sitcoms to portray the personality of some of the characters. These expressions, which in many cases end up becoming popular, are so significant that they need be kept in the translated versions of these series. A corpus-based script analysis method that…

Working effectively in groups is essential for college graduates (Hart Research Associates, 2013). University and college administrators have responded to this need by increasing the number of group communication courses by 25% (Bertelsen & Goodboy, 2009). However, it is the quality of course instruction that determines how well prepared…

This paper presents an innovative teaching technique, the utilization of a popular sitcom to teach an introductory economics course. Using clips from the television show "Seinfeld," instructors can present the oft-perceived difficult, yet basic, economic concepts in an amenable manner, which also enables the achieving of higher levels of…

A desired outcome of teaching intercultural communication is cultivating an understanding and awareness of different cultural values while attempting to increase intercultural communication competence within our students. Goals of teaching intercultural communication include assisting students in recognizing, accepting, and appreciating cultural…

The purpose of this exercise is to get students to relay and connect with the impact of ethics on public relations research. Students will begin to realize and analyze how their personal ethics influence their professional ethics choices. This is conceptualized through the completion of the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI)…

For better or worse, college sports are a big, big deal. But the value of sports on campus goes far beyond gate receipts, sponsorships, and TV revenues. Regardless of the size of a school, sports are a key element in spurring alumni giving and involvement; they play a major factor in helping prospective students select a college; and they help…

Leadership educators are encouraged to identify and apply new ways to teach leadership. This paper provides the qualitative results of post-secondary students' reflections of learning leadership concepts after watching several episodes of the television show, "The Office." Students used reflective journaling to record their reactions and…

This article intends to show how situation comedies may be used in the English language classroom to develop awareness-raising activities aimed at soliciting an understanding of essentially pragmatic and cultural aspects of everyday language. After a brief overview of studies on pragmatic teachability (Rose and Kasper 2001, 2002) and learnability…