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Activities to encourage

student-created humor

Scott Gardner

Okayama University

part of

Border l ine Funny: Hum or in L anguage Educat ion

JALT2014: Conversations Across Borders

Tsukuba International Congress Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Sunday, 23 November 2014

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Students were...

practicing language

qualifying as classroom participants

securing more occasions for practicing

Cekaite & Aronsson, 2005Language play was...

motivating students

facilitating language use (although off-task at times)

Bushnell, 2009

Students were...

resisting English asserting local cultural identity

Luk & Lin, 2007

Is humor valuable in learning?

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How do I do funny?

draw humor out, dont force it in

respondent in Zielinski, 2005

get the audience (class) in on the act

Tamblyn, 2003

collide; juxtapose; question; take a different view

Herring, 2008

mix the unsettling with the safe

McGraw & Warner, 2014

go too far; find the line, step over it

To the Best of Our Knowledge (Mary Walsh), 2013

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Textbook examples

Patient: Help me, Doctor! Everywhere I touch on

my body, it hurts! If I touch my head, it hurts. If I

touch my elbow, it hurts. My stomach, my

knees...everywhere I touch it hurts! Whats wrong

with me?

Doctor: Your fingers broken.

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Textbook examples

Patient: Help me, Doctor! Everywhere I touch on

my body, it hurts! If I touch my head, it hurts. If I

touch my elbow, it hurts. My stomach, my

knees...everywhere I touch it hurts! Whats wrong

with me?

Doctor: Your fingers broken.

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Textbook examples

Patient: Help me, Doctor! Everywhere I touch on

my body, it hurts! If I touch my head, it hurts. If I

touch my elbow, it hurts. My stomach, my

knees...everywhere I touch it hurts! Whats wrong

with me?

Doctor: Your fingers broken.

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Teacher example from

university English class

Student A

Which of the following bodies has the

strongest force of gravity?

a. Earth b. Hakuho

c. the sun d. the moon

Which of the following animals has the

largest footprint?

a. a camel b. a grizzly bear

c. an elephant d. a whale

The Wright brothers were pioneers in

the field of ________.

a. medicine b. computers

c. manzai d. aviation

Student B

Which of the following countries was once

a colony of Great Britain (England)?

a. The Philippines b. Tottori

c. The United States d. Mozambique

Which of the following is a natural satellite

of the earth?

a. the Death Star b. the moon

c. the sun d. the International Space

Station

Who was the first person to walk on the

moon?

a. Lance Armstrong b. Neil Armstrong

c. Stretch Armstrong d. Buzz Lightyear

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Teacher/student example from

jr high school English class

Assignment:

Write reported speech of requests between two

people (A told B to...; My teacher asked

Masahiro Nakai to...; Matsuko DX wanted meto...; etc.)

Student creation:

I told Kentaro not to fart because it smelled bad.

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Some activities that promote

creative humor

Punchline Exchange

Mad Libs

Middle of the story Fortunately... (Tamblyn, 2003)

Describe and draw...the opposite

(Lindstromberg, 2004) Make Your Own Skit

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Some activities that promote

creative humor

Punchline Exchange

Mad Libs

Middle of the story Fortunately... (Tamblyn, 2003)

Describe and draw...the opposite

(Lindstromberg, 2004) Make Your Own Skit

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Mad Libs: A trip to

Walley World

Last month, I went to Walley World with my friend ___________.(PERSON'S NAME)

We traveled for ______ hours by __________. Finally we got there, and it(NUMBER) (TYPE OF TRANSPORTATION)

was very ___________. There were ___________ people ___________(ADJECTIVE) (ADJECTIVE) (VERB ending with -ING)

everywhere. There were also people dressed in ___________ costumes.(ANIMAL)

I wish it had been less ___________, but we tried to have fun(ADJECTIVE)

anyway. We went on some __________ rides, including one called Magic(ADJECTIVE)

___________. My friend nearly fell off, and afterward (s)he felt very(NOUN starting with the letter M)

___________. Later we went to a restaurant and ___________.(ADJECTIVE) (past tense VERB)

Next year, I want to go to _________-land, where I can _________!(FRIEND'S NAME) (VERB)

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Some activities that promote

creative humor

Punchline Exchange

Mad Libs

Middle of the story Fortunately... (Tamblyn, 2003)

Describe and draw...the opposite

(Lindstromberg, 2004) Make Your Own Skit

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15

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16

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Some activities that promote

creative humor

Punchline Exchange

Mad Libs

Middle of the story Fortunately... (Tamblyn, 2003)

Describe and draw...the opposite

(Lindstromberg, 2004) Make Your Own Skit

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Fortunately...

Bad news...

Your tooth will have to come out.

Your computer crashedagain. Theres a snake under your desk.

Theres a 3-hour faculty meeting scheduledat 8:00 am tomorrow.

Your St. Bernard is having septuplets. Youlive in a studio apartment.

Fortunately...

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Some activities that promote

creative humor

Punchline Exchange

Mad Libs

Middle of the story Fortunately... (Tamblyn, 2003)

Describe and draw...the opposite

(Lindstromberg, 2004) Make Your Own Skit

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Some activities that promote

creative humor

Punchline Exchange

Mad Libs

Middle of the story Fortunately... (Tamblyn, 2003)

Describe and draw...the opposite

(Lindstromberg, 2004) Make Your Own Skit

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(A jail cell. Inmate 1and Inmate 2aresitting. Jailerbrings New Inmatein.)

Jailer:Welcome to your new home. Dont

expect to get out anytime soon!! (laughs

devilishly and leaves)

(Inm ates 1and 2look at New Inmate

without interest, then go back to whatthey were doing. After a short silence...)

Inmate 1:(yelling)Five !!

(Inm ate 1and Inmate 2laugh

hysterically. New Inm ateis confused.

Laughing stops and everyone is quiet.)

Inmate 2:(yelling)Twenty-two !!

(Inm ate 1and Inmate 2laugh again,

and New Inm atestarts to get angry.

Laughing stops and everyone is quiet.)

Inmate 1:Forty-three !!

(Inm ate 1and Inmate 2laugh again,

and New Inmatefinally speaks.)New Inmate:(frustrated)Whats going

on? Why are you laughing at numbers?

Theyre not funny!

Inmate 1:Well, weve been in this jail for

so long that weve memorized every joke

we know.Inmate 2:So to save time, we gave each

joke a number. Instead of telling the joke,

we just say the jokes number. Sixty-six!

(Inmate 1andInm ate 2laugh again.)

New Inmate:OK, Ill give it a try... (yells)

Seventy-eight!!

(Absolute silenceno one laughs)

New Inmate:Whats wrong with seventy-

eight?

Inmate 1:Its a good joke. You just dont

tell it very well.

Skits: Joke Numbers

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(Momis in kitchen with a big pot boilingon a stove. She stirs the pot several

times with a cooking spoon. She looks at

it with satisfaction, turns off the heat,

then checks her watch and leaves. Two

Kidsenter kitchen.)

Kid 1: Its great you could come over forlunch. My mom is a fabulous cook. Just

wait till you try her soup.

Kid 2: Thanks for inviting me.

Kid 1:(sees pot on kitchen table) Oh, it

looks like she already made some. Lets

try it!Kid 2:Are you sure its ready? Maybe we

should wait for your mom.

Kid 1: Come on, its ok. Im hungry!

(They get some bowls and spoons and

serve soup to each other. They start

eating.)Kid 1: Wow this is ood isnt it?

Kid 2:(not very impressed) Uh, yeah, itsok.

Kid 1: Ok!? Its great! This is my favorite

kind!

Kid 2: It kind of reminds me of...

Kid 1:Of what?

Kid 2: Oh nothing. (tries to eat more, but

not really able to)

Kid 1: (lifting bowl to mouth to slurp down

soup) Mmm, that was delicious. Come

on, lets go outside and play!

Kid 2: (glad not to have to eat any more)Ok, lets go.

(They leave. Momcomes back in and

looks into the pot. With the cooking

spoon she lifts out a big sock.)

Mom: Oh good. These old socks are

looking much cleaner now.

Skits: Kitchen Pot

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Make your own skit

Lost Cell Phone Silly Interview

Toy Sale

Medical File

Restaurant

Car Accident

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Make your own skit

Lost Cell Phone Silly Interview

Toy Sale: There is a sale on a popular toy at a

store, and only one of the toys remains. Two

people both want it, and they grab the toy at the

same time. Make a short, funny, dialog between

the people. They can be parents, kids, collectors,

whatever you like. Medical File

Restaurant

Car Accident

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Tell me once more how to do

funny stuff in class

if you can, link humor to subject matter and use it to emphasize

important stuff

Suzuki & Heath, 2014

dont use it too much, or too little

Blackmore, 2013

leave them laughing (as we often try to do in ordinary

conversation)

Dubinsky &Holcomb, 2011

know your students; get a feel for who you can be funny with;

gradually include more in that groupHellman, 2007

sarcasm mightbe usable where there is already good rapport

(good luck with that!)

Torok, et al., 2004

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Every joke is a tiny revolution.

Orwell, 1945

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REFERENCES

Blackmore, A. (2013). If humour be the food of

learning, joke on: Perspectives of several Italian and

Swedish upper-secondary school students on

humour and dialogic classroom interaction.

Unpublished research paper, University of Halmstad.

Bushnell, C. (2009). Lego my keego!: An analysis of

language play in a beginning Japanese as a foreign

language classroom.Applied Linguistics, 30(1), 49-

69.

Cekaite, A, & Aronsson, K. (2005). Language play, a

collaborative resource in childrens L2 learning.

Applied Linguistics, 26(2), 169-191.

Dubinsky, S., & Holcomb, C.(2011). Understandinglanguage through humor. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Hellman, S. (2007). Humor in the classroom: Stus

seven simple steps to success. College Teaching,

55(1), 37-39.

Herring, R. (2008). How to write comedy (Guardian

and ObserversHow to write series). London: The

Guardian and Observer.

Lindstromberg, S. (2004). Language activities for

teenagers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Luk, J. C. M., & Lin, A. M. Y. (2007). Classroom

interactions as cross-cultural encounters: Native

speakers in EFL lessons. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence

Erlbaum.

McGraw, P., & Warner, J. (2014). The humor code: A

global search for what makes things funny. New

York: Simon & Schuster.

Morreall, J. (2014). Humor, philosophy and education.

Educational Philosophy and Theory, 46(2), 120-131.

Orwell, G. (1945). Funny, but not vulgar. Leader, July

28. Retrieved from

Suzuki, H., & Heath, L.(2014). Impacts of humor and

relevance on the remembering of lecture details.

Humor: International Journal of Humor Research,

27(1), 87-101.Tamblyn, D. (2003). Laugh and learn: 95 ways to use

humor for more effective teaching and training. New

York: Amacom.

To the best of our knowledge (Producer). (2013,

December 22). How to be funny [Audio podcast].

Retrieved from

Torok, S. E., McMorris, R. F., & Lin W-C. (2004). Is

humor an appreciated teaching tool? Perceptions of

professors teaching styles and use of humor.

College Teaching, 52(1), 14-20.

Zielinski, D. (2005, June). Humor 101. The

Toastmaster, 8-11.

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scott@okayama-u.ac.jp