Job Discussion Forums

[moonraven]

I don't use them.

[moonraven]

I don't use them.

Frankly, there are a lot of things that others use which I find to be not all that useful or outright time killers.

I have nothing against goofing off with students in class, but I and they find more original ways to do so.

[shmooj]

[leeroy]

Girl gargoyle guy gargoyle girl gargoyle guy gargoyle.

I can't even type it!

[moonraven]

Stuff like talking about what really p*sses them off about boring teachers and boring classes....

Having someone grab a guitar and we all sing along--in English....

Telling jokes--and then seeing if the joke comes across the same in the second language....

Please be advised that all those goof-offs are copyrighted....

(Yeah, I'm kidding.)

[Guy Courchesne]

Jokes are hard, particularly puns...I've found them only good for use in high levels. Otherwise, you end up explaining the joke and we all know how unhumorous it is to explain a joke.

You know the one about the naked nuns and the blind man?

[moonraven]

I don't know any jokes.

The classroom is not an arena for me to tell jokes--but students like to tell them.

I'm more of a standup comic....

[Guy Courchesne]

I have a good freind here in DF...a real naco. He taught me all about doble sentido when I first got off the boat. He's also a big Pumas fan...

Spanish can be a lot of fun with its puns. None of the ones I was taught are appropriate for publishing here though.

[Moore]

"Does this shop stock socks with spots on?"

Tongue-twisters are absolutely not goofing off: a bit of humour is always welcome in the classroom. I�ve found that it�s usually the teachers who take themselves way too seriously who give dull and unproductive lessons. Is it possible to place a thread on this forum without some oaf shooting it down?

[denise]

[quote="Moore I�ve found that it�s usually the teachers who take themselves way too seriously who give dull and unproductive lessons. [/quote]

Well said. We can be hard-working and professional and still enjoy ourselves in the classroom. Good teaching and fun are not mutually exclusive. If we look like we're enjoying ourselves, then maybe our enthusiasm will rub off on the students. Happy students=receptive students (lower affective filters, more engaged in the lessons, etc). Receptive students=more likely to learn something.

Lessons should not be only fun and games, but lessons without any fun and games at all will only appeal to a small subset of students.

d

p.s. Gosh darnit, I've botched Moore's quote somehow!

[merlin]

[dajiang]

Another link:
http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm

Anyway, jokes can work out, i think.
It's all about story telling, and delivering a punchline. It's hard to tell a joke well in a language you're not fluent in. Practising with jokes will make ss more aware about sentences and the structure of a story.

First tell the joke: students laugh.
Then put down some important words in order from top to bottom.
Then ss try to retell the joke using the words on the blackboard.

Get a joke with somekind of storyline in it, e.g.:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Gift For The Teacher"

It was the teacher's birthday and the students decided that they would each buy their teacher a gift.

The first student, whose parents own a florist shop, gave him a present. He held it and said, "I guess that it is flowers". "How did you guess?" asked the little boy. He laughed and thanked him.

The second student, whose parents own a candy store, gave him a present. He held it and said, "I guess that it's some candy."
"How did you guess?" asked the little boy. He again laughed and thanked him also.

The third student, a little girl whose parents own a liquor shop, gave him a box which was leaking. The teacher touched the liquid with her finger and tasted it.

"Mmmmm is it wine?" he asked.
"No," said the little girl.
So he tasted it again.
"Is it whiskey?" he asked.
"No," replied the little girl, "It's a puppy."

----------------------------------------------------------------
This activity worked fairly well, I thought.
Suprisingly, the class kept laughing at the joke, even though they knew what was coming after having heard it a couple of times.

In the 'advanced' book of Speak up (ren ren shuo yingyu) they also use this method, only then with pictures outlining the story.

I can understand that some teachers wouldn't use jokes or tongue twisters though. If it's not part of your teaching style you probably won't feel comfortable with them. You could have other, more original, ways to goof off with students.

As for myself, humour definitely works, and variation.
Regards,
Dajiang

[moonraven]

Is this the question of the thread?

"Is it possible to place a thread on this forum without some oaf shooting it down?"

I am not some oaf--and please remember there are rules on Dave's which also apply to TEACHING threads.

Moreover, saying I don't use tongue twisters is my PERFECT RIGHT.

In my opinion, the point of teaching a language is to allow students to communicate in it--primarily with folks for whom it is the first language.

I have yet to have a conversation with anyone in which tongue twisters was the plat du jour, and I can think of few things that I would consider more peripheral to the process of teaching a language.

When tongue twisters become the featured items on TOEFL exams I will, however, be happy to teach them.

In the interest of my students.

[Guy Courchesne]

Well, then I guess we get to the core of the matter...student motivation and objective. I wouldn't use tongue twisters in a TOEFL prep class either, since there currently isn't any speaking or testing of pronunciation to be done on the test. I understand that is to change soon.

I find younger, let's say uni age kids in English classes, are very motivated by pop music, tv, movies, etc. Not the best English lesson to be sure, but if it helps retention of language, I will use it in class.

I would think that tongue twisters and puns would give the students a broader range with the language...

[moonraven]

Pop music, tv and movies are absolutely appropriate to use for lessons! If one of your students goes to the US those are three topics which he/she will be encouraged to talk about.

Q: What's your favorite kind of movie? A: Action

Q: What's your favorite tongue twister? A: ??????