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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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