Gary Larson: Tarzan meets Jane

aw blah es span yol

LEARNING TO LEARN

There is a way to illustrate the difference between linguistic knowledge and the way of social language in use. 

Today we can use the Korean proverb:

 이미지 만 단어

  가치가있다.

  An image is worth  

  ten thousand words.

Let's just agree to disagree

Who doesn't  know Gary Larson's cartoon (here)

 from his Far Side series. 

They are quite good to teach some language aspects:

 FUNCTIONS:

   agree to disagree

My all-time fav is the one related 

to the moments

before he utters the famous words:

  "Me, Tarzan. You Jane!"

I am not alone as Patrick Ghost wrote:

"The Far Side" was one of my favorite comics, even if I didn't understand half of them. One of my favorites is where Tarzan is shown swinging through the jungle, thinking about how he'll introduce himself to Jane.

Before we continue, 

how many times can we sound like Larson's Tarzan? 

For the next couple of minutes, can we be with Tarzan as he is about to meet Jane for the first time:

Imagine him swinging along on the lianas 

over to Jane's perch in a tree; 

ACTIVITY 1.  PREDICTION (modals)

   Can you guess which might possibly his thoughts be?

       Write four of his thoughts down: 

• ............................... 
• ...............................
• .................................
• ................................. 

And now, watch the real cartoon:

Actually his thoughts were, let us revise the wording: 

"Okay, "How do you do. My name is Tarzan and I believe you are known as Jane."
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle. And you?

....You must be Jane...I am Tarzan. It's a pleasure to meet you."

He finally lands on the large branch that Jane is standing on fixing her hair.
"There she is!"

And the dreadful utterance: 

"ME TARZAN! YOU JANE!"
"Ooops", he thinks, "Damn..."

ACTIVITY 2. 
TO THE LEARNER:
2.1.How does register affect the reception of the cartoon? 
2.2. How much do you identify with him as a language learner?

1. He's thinking of all these intelligent, polite ways to greet her,
2.  and when he finds her, all he belts out is "Me Tarzan! You Jane!" 
3. He then covers his face in embarrassment and ponders, "Damn."

Sometimes our rehearsals to be positive gets screwed by our 'brain speak', no matter what.