I am sitting with my fourth year students at a British pub after our seminar. Some students are talking and laughing about something at the other end of the table, when I hear, “Sex and the city” in the middle of one of their sentences. “Are you talking about the TV show?” I ask. “Yes, they say, do you know that show?” they ask me in the same way young Japanese often believe McDonald’s is a Japanese company.
“Yes, I used to watch that with my wife all the time.” “Sensei, you watch ‘Sex and the City’? It’s for women!” “Well, um, I like that show. It’s funny!” “So, which is your favorite character?” they ask, waiting to analyze my answer, and then continue to grill me about the show, but clearly, they know more about it than I do. I realize afterwards on the train home that “Sex and the City” probably has delivered more English into more students’ brains than the entire testing industry altogether.
But, is it good English? Someone might ask, and I’d have to say, who cares if it’s good. It’s English. Do viewers really listen to the English or only read the subtitles? I’m not sure, but maybe if they watch for whatever reason, some English will arrive in their ears, and that’s enough. If it can get my students to engage in a long discussion with me about some fictional characters in a distant place like New York City, distant not just geographically but experientially, then I give it the thumbs up as a learning tool. It might not be the most polite English or socially acceptable topics, but at least it’s real.
“Sex and the City” is perhaps at the opposite end of the spectrum from the English language materials that most students are forced to study at high school and lower level English classes. Everything that most students learn in their grammar-based textbooks is presented in entirely different ways from what this show presents. The content and topics, ways of speaking, attitudes and actions, settings, movement, body language and story lines all seem a world away from the English that appears on tests, quizzes, study sheets and the entrance exam.
Do students watch that show for the language? No, I guess they watch it mainly for hundreds of other reasons. However, they do get some English out of it. I guess they expect me to say it’s a terrible show because I’m a professor and argue that they should be watching quality feature films or reading more books. And in fact, I do say that. Maybe they think I will say the show gives them bad ideas about life and incorrect or inappropriate English. I do not say that, though, because, in fact, I think the show is interesting and amusing. It’s also one of the best antidotes, or maybe an immunization shot, against the bland structural dictates of most school and test English.
I think my students were surprised I watched the show not so much because it was aimed at women, but because it seems so different from what professors are supposed to profess. They tend to divide the world into school and non-school, with no overlap between the two. I guess in many students’ minds, there are two distinctly different kinds of English: 1) school English, and 2) Sex and the City English. However, they are not really so different. And ironically, if they had not studied school English, they would not be able to understand the Sex and the City English. Students need to learn ways to bridge the two, of course, but building that bridge strengthens their English all around.
When rap and hip-hop hit big in Japan, many students occasionally used phrases they picked up from songs they listened to. It was hilarious to read a student paper and come across terms and phrases like “the bomb,” “bling,” “chill” or “jiggy,” all of which have showed up in one or another paper I’ve read. Music lyrics have real force to them, especially for young people. I have not noticed any Sex and the City English in their papers yet, however, one student a couple years ago did write an excellent senior seminar paper comparing “Sex and the City” with Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road”!
With rap music so popular, I was not surprised when a first-year student turned in a paper to me with all the final ‘g’s removed from all the verbs. The paper went something like, “In givin’ my opinion, I am tryin’ to explain the reasons for studyin’ this intrestin’ topic.” That student even dropped the internal ‘e’ from “interesting!” That shows great language acquisition skills, even though it is totally incorrect for an academic paper. That kind of confusion will happen when students are never exposed to real English except outside school. It is hard to understand at first that spoken street English is not the same as college English, but students can learn from both.
“Hallelujah!” I always think when I find this dropped ‘g’ kind of mistake in their papers. They are at least listening or watching something! Obviously, I correct them. But rather than scold or judge them, I encourage them to notice the differences between levels and types of English. A word like “bling” can be extraordinarily effective in an essay criticizing greed, for example. “Bling” captures the desire for showing off wealth and can be highly critical and powerful when making a point. Whenever students soak up things from the media, it can become a teaching opportunity that carries real meaning.
Instead of rigid academic/media divides, students can be encouraged to develop a healthy curiosity about ALL aspects of English, good and bad. I do not use hip-hop terms myself, but I do find hip-hop English to be a fascinating variation. The characters in “Sex and the City” are engaging because they have problems, confusions, and emotions (and of course, they have, gasp, shock, blush—SEX!) all of which is expressed in living, breathing language. If that makes students interested and delivers English into their ears, I say, great!
“Sex and the City” English is fairly natural and contemporary English from New York City. This day and age where language, culture and all its various manifestations can travel from country to country is remarkable. Students’ hearing that kind of language is a sign of how globalized English language and American culture has become, but also a reminder of what is available and how language travels. Teachers may not be quite ready for it, but students, obviously, already are!
And by the way, my favorite character in “Sex and the City” is Carrie. After all, she’s the writer.
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