20 TECHNIQUES
FOR EXPLOITING JOKES IN CLASS:

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1. Prediction. Leave the punch line out and get students to predict it. You can have this as a race too.

2. Leave out the punch line and provide a choice of possible punch lines to choose from. You can also have this as a race.

3. Groups compete to match the two halves of a number of jokes. The first one to match them all correctly wins.

4. Cut one joke up in different parts or lines and give each to a different student. Students work out the order and physically arrange themselves in the correct order.

5. Divide a number of jokes (preferably two-line jokes) in two halves and give one half to each student in class. Students then walk around the room trying to find their matching half.

6. Students listen to the joke and identify the stressed words or syllables. They then practice telling it. Good for stress and intonation practice.

7. Put a joke up on the board or OHP and leave out the punch line or last few words. The first students to shout the correct answer earns a point. Riddles are good for this.

8. Take a joke that involves different characters. Give different characters to different students. Then they act the joke out. This can be planned/discussed beforehand or improvised. They can take it even further by continuing the dialogue.

9. Give out a number of jokes to groups or pairs of students. They discuss and agree on the wittiest, funniest, etc. Good for group discussion and negotiation of meaning.

10. Tell a fairly long joke and ask pairs or groups of students to reconstruct it from memory on paper.

11. Use a joke as a springboard for oral or written production. For example one of the 'battle of the sexes' jokes can easily lead into a debate or role-play.

12. Use a joke that includes samples of the grammar you want to teach instead of a boring text in your course book … or adapt it so that it includes examples of that grammar!

13. Mime a joke and ask students to guess it. Then they do the same in groups.

14. Translation. Ask students to think of some jokes in their mother tongue that lend themselves to translation and some that don't. Students then provide a translation of the first and an explanation of why they think the latter can't be translated.

15. Present a model joke that and ask students to invent new ones following the same structure.

16. Students expand the story or dialogue in a joke to add a twist to it.

17. Do not mention the relationship between the characters in the joke (doctor-patient, policeman-driver, etc) and get students to guess.

18. Play Jokes Bingo! Instead of numbers put punch lines from different jokes in the boxes. Teacher then reads the jokes without the punch lines. When students hear a joke they cross out the corresponding box.

19. Give each student the first half of a joke (or a number of them) and stick the other halves on the walls around the classroom, behind chairs, etc. The aim of the activity is to find the corresponding half. You can turn this into a race with students playing individually or in teams.

20. Build a bank of jokes over the course. Let students take initiative and add jokes to the existing bank every week. You can assign certain days of the month/term for students to update the bank and do activities with them.

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