Fawlty Towers night was conducted on Tuesday the 19th of November 2013 by University of Macau English Teaching Fellow Dan Burge. It started at 6 p.m. and went on for roughly three hours, finishing at just before 9 p.m. Dan Burge was most pleased that most students wished to stay for the whole duration of the activity. As a reward for their efforts, all were given some delicious snacks to feast on such as biscuits and crisps (British English). Americans would call these snacks cookies and potato chips.
The night started with an introduction to what Fawlty Towers was about and where in England it was set. Teacher Dan Burge was excited to teach the students about a famous TV show from his country and explained about Torquay where all twelve episodes were filmed. Students watched two whole episodes of this hit show at 30 minutes each. The first one shown was Dan Burge’s favourite: “Communication Problems” and another -“Waldorf Salad” -showed how England culture is very different from that of America. There was an activity to show some differences between British English and America English.
Students were at first asked to look at the pictures of the main characters before watching and to try to describe what they thought the characters were like based on their appearances. While watching “Communication Problems” various comprehension questions were discussed to assist in understanding. Afterwards, students had to mix and match British and American vocabulary with the same meaning. This was in preparation for viewing an episode where an American stays in a British hotel. Comedy ensues due to the cultural differences. It was a fun-filled evening!!
