I really enjoyed the happy/sad face technique used by our presenters last night. I kept thinking of students I have had in the past who love to get in front of the class and make everyone laugh, and this is a perfect way to let them do so without being a distraction, rather they become engaged in the learning.
I always enjoy microteaching presentations. The hardest part is trying to only teach 10 min of a lesson. It is natural to want to explain the entire lesson in order to put things into context. My lesson was about teaching jokes and humor to a third grade class. I think it is an important lesson (it is listed as a goal on the ESL website we were directed to for this assignment) because kids LOVE to tell jokes. And nobody wants to be the last one in their class to hear "Why did the chicken cross the road?"--a staple in American humor. Or, if somebody walks up to you and says, "Knock knock." It is important to know the correct response: "Who's there?"
"Boo"
"Boo who?"
"Why are you crying?"
Ha Ha Ha!
However, I did not realize how hard teaching jokes would be. They really need to be explained thoroughly. Now I wish I were in the humor group for the multi-genera papers. Not really, but I hope they do a good job so I can learn a thing or two from them.
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2 comments:
Humor is so hard, and necessary. We also often find that when we explain a joke it loses the funny. This is detrimental to the ESL student because we may decide humor is not worth the explanations.
I also liked your jokes. :)
I think people enjoy and learn better in an positive funny atmosphere rather than a serious atmosphere.
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