Humour in the classroom, speech synthesizer and funny grammar

Suomeksi:
http://erilaistaenglantia.blogspot.fi/2015/03/naurua-luokassa-puhesimulaattori-ja.html

Dear reader,

I'm now going to go through some sheet metal worker-welders' safety Q&A. I asked the questions, the students answered spontaneously:

You have told me that welding sparks get inside your overalls sometimes. What should you do in case that happens?

- Well, mostly I just scream.

How would you advice a person who is about to weld without safety goggles or welding mask?
- Here's a list of kennels that sell guide dogs.
You are at the workshop and your workmate's  hair has caught fire. What should you do?

- First, I would take a selfie with him.

There's humour for you. Often stupid, sometimes black, always silly. But it does brighten the day (as long as no-one's offended by it) and makes the atmosphere that much lighter and more fun. Would I accept those answers in the exam? Of course not. Are they appropriate? Certainly not. Did they help the students remember the questions and study harder when we got to serious business? I think so. Did cracking a few jokes make the lesson less boring and more memorable? Of course it did.

Funny exam answers brighten the day. Once, an IT-student scribbled a message to me on the side of his

exam paper: "Remember: Gamers don't die, they respawn."

This is something I've never read about in any of the pedagogical books I've studied. Yet it goes without saying that the way the student feels about studying makes all the difference in the learning process. For most of us, feeling happy, relaxed and alert is probably the ideal state for learning (as long as you can still concentrate on the thing you're supposed to learn of course.)

All went well until someone decided to play Harry Potter...
Participants' identities have been concealed in case they want to keep a serious image.

Most students love joking. I enjoy it, too. I like the informal atmosphere joking creates and I think there should be more laughter in the classroom anyway. Even the most boring grammar exercise is made a little bit more tolerable if the teacher invents funny example sentences using names of the students or has funny pictures that explain the subject. A challenging listening exercise can be fun if it is so silly it makes you laugh. A funny meme might make you remember a grammar thing you always tend to forget. The list goes on.



There's a huge amount of excellent memes about punctuation online

I lost my voice for one whole week last autumn but decided to go and teach as I was otherwise well. So, I wrote the instructions on the blackboard. The students started doing their assigments in groups and one was wondering how to pronounce the word "mousse". This gave me an idea. The crazy person I am, I decided to use a speech synthesiser. You know, Stephen Hawking style. So I typed the word "mousse" there and pressed enter. The whole class jumped when they heard a computer voice butting in on their conversation. That's when I typed: "This is my new voice. It's cool, isn't it?" I used the synthesiser for many lessons that week and it was a lot of fun for me. I think the students liked it, too. If not, at least it kept them awake ;).

What I'm trying to say is that we should let ourselves have more fun in the classroom. Students and teachers are on the same side, we all have a sense of humour and we all enjoy laughing. When you are in a good mood, you work much more efficiently and remember things better. At least I do.

So give yourself the permission to be silly in the classroom. I'm talking to you, teacher ;)!

LOL
Venla

ps I'm so glad you've found my blog. 300 reads in four days, that's great! I thought no one would read this ;). I'd like to hear from you, so don't hesitate to leave a comment. Tell me what you're teaching/studying, what part of it is great, what could be improved... What ideas do you have, how could language teaching be better? What about English teaching at the workshops etc?