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In college, I see that some of the students who sit on the first bench just keep on smiling or laughing at every joke the teacher makes. Everytime! Even if it is not funny!

The closest word that I could find was obsequious. But I don't think it does the job here because those students are not that much obedient or attentive to appease the teacher nor I would say they are sycophants.

They just act so fakely in that little time in order to please the teacher even though after the lecture they would just not give a damn what the teacher was talking about.

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    "teacher's pet"
    – Megha
    Commented Jan 25, 2017 at 2:22
  • Apple polisher. Particularly since teachers famously receive apples from their students.
    – verbose
    Commented Jan 25, 2017 at 5:18
  • Maybe this individual found the jokes funny? Your sense of humour is not the only one in existence!
    – Lightness Races in Orbit
    Commented Jan 25, 2017 at 11:59
  • For the record, I laugh at a lot of my profs' jokes because I am laugh easily.
    – anon
    Commented Jan 25, 2017 at 13:08

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Obsequious is a good word. Sycophant is even better.

Otherwise we might say "kiss-ass", "brown-nose", "boot-licker" or "toady". If the teacher returns the favoritism, then we call them "teacher's pets".

Other than obsequious to describe their behavior, you can say "fawning", "sycophantic", "toadying", and sometimes "servile" or "slavish" if they act especially like a servant or slave.

From (M-W, Cambridge Dictionary, Dictionary.com)

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