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Being funny and making a joke is nothing to be taken lightly.
It’s often rated as the number 1 quality that women are looking for in a prospective mate. In a classroom, students are struggling to use a strange new language and their meanings do not come out quite right sometimes. Similarly, comedians regularly get boo’d off the stage, when things don’t come out right, by their listeners.
I have found that given a very supportive environment, some students will be brave enough to risk saying something funny in class. The rush a student receives when they are understood and even bring smiles to their teacher and classmates can also be encouraged more directly:
Ways to Encourage Student Humour
1. Use comics in class – put them on the overhead or project it a screen. Erase what’s in the bubbles and have students fill in their ideas of what was said.
2. Show a funny video – “Mr. Bean”, for example, and stop each segment and a different student has to summarize what happened. The “Rick Mercer Report” is funny and also encourages learning about Canada. “Just for Laughs – Gags” is a wonderful way everyone can enjoy a laugh (contains no language though).
3. Study funny stories – Lots of ESL stories are funny. The “True Stories” series has many amusing stories. “Punch lines” are not so easy to catch for a language-learner so keep it simple.
4. Ask if anyone knows any jokes - Warning: make sure they are appropriate by asking the students to write their jokes down and hand in to you for a quick check.
5. Smile yourself – laugh at funny things and be humorous in your own teaching style. Of course, the classroom is not a forum for you or your jokes, but everyone enjoys a teacher who is quirky or finds humour in a lot of different situations.
6. Lastly, enjoy the personalities of your students – Some countries’ people just have a neat sense of humour. My funniest students have been from Kazakhstan, Libya, Tunisia, and Congo. How about you, where are your funniest students from?
James Edel is an English teacher. You are welcome to contact him with the answer to his questions above or to share a story about your funniest students at jedel78@gmail.com
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