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com

jokes and humour

Teacher’s Notes
4 Ask students to work individually to write full
Age: Adult / Young adult
words in the warmer. Encourage them to check in
Level: Intermediate
a dictionary if necessary. Check the answers with
Length: 45–60 minutes
the whole class.
Language Focus: Key vocabulary associated
with humour Teaching tip: Ask students to spell words aloud
Skills: Speaking, reading, listening when giving answers. Pronouncing the letters of
Materials: One copy of the worksheet per the alphabet in English is tricky even at higher
student, one copy of the audio (downloaded levels, and particularly those letters that might be
or played via onestopenglish) pronounced differently in their language, e.g. a, e,
Aims: To provide students with the language needed I, r, y. If they mispronounce a letter (e.g. they say
to discuss humour ‘a’ when they mean ‘e’), write ‘a’ on the board,
as in ‘sansa’ for ‘sense’, to highlight the error.

What are red words?

5 Ask students to read through the six questions
Ninety per cent of the time, speakers of English use
carefully first. Then ask them to listen to the
just 7,500 words in speech and writing. These words
conversation and find the answers. Note that
appear in the Macmillan Dictionary in red and are
you may need to play the recording more than
graded with stars. One-star words are frequent,
once. Ask them to compare their answers in
two-star words are more frequent and three-star
pairs. Then ask them to tell you the answers.
words are the most frequent. ‘Language for’ lessons
Alternatively, make a copy of the audio
are based on red words and encourage students to
transcript and let the students check the
improve their English through communicative tasks
answers themselves.
using collocation and commonly used phrases.
6 Ask students to work individually to complete
1 To introduce the topic, ask students to think of Exercise 2b without looking at the audio
the following: transcript. Ask them to compare their answers
• Their favourite comedian (in their own country or in pairs and check their answers by looking
in another country) and why he or she is funny. in the text. Check their answers as a class to
• A funny film or TV programme they have seen make sure they have all the correct answers.
and why it was funny.
7 Ask students to work in pairs to complete
Ask them to compare their ideas with a partner. Then
Exercise 2c. Check answers with the whole class.
ask each pair to share their ideas with the whole class.
8 Ask students to work individually to prepare their
2 Give a copy of the worksheet to each student.
joke in Exercise 3. Inform students that their joke
3 In pairs, ask students to complete part a of the must not offend anyone in the class. Monitor
warmer. Check the answers with the whole class and give help if necessary, especially if some
then have a brief discussion classifying the types students need help in translating something
of comedy that were mentioned in point 1 above, from their language.
seeing which students prefer.

Language for … jokes and humour 1

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jokes and humour

Teacher’s Notes
9 Ask students to work in pairs to complete 2a. 1 Because he won’t expect it back.
Exercise 4. Remind them to use their ideas from 2 Interest.
Exercise 3. When they have finished, invite 3 Words with exactly the same sounds but
different spellings and meanings.
students to tell their jokes to the whole class.
4 Homophones or words which sound
10 Ask students to work individually to think about almost the same but not quite.
their reactions to the statements in Exercise 5. 5 Themselves.
6 Partners (relationships).
Encourage them to write notes, if necessary.
Then ask them to work in pairs or small groups 2b. 1 one-liner
to discuss the three statements. Ask each pair or 2 double
group to report back to the class. Make sure they 3 punchline
4 wordplay
give reasons and don’t simply say ‘We agree’ or
5 literal
‘We disagree’. 6 idiomatic
7 hilarious
KEY: 8 butt
1a. 1. b) 2c. 1 d
2. d) 2f
3. a) 3e
4a
4. e) 5c
5. c) 6b

1b. 1 funny 3. students’ own answers

2 sense of humour 4. students’ own answers

3 crack a joke
4 laugh

Language for … jokes and humour 2

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jokes and humour

Audio transcript
A: OK, so you think the British have a special sense of A: Right, but apart from wordplay, what are some other
humour. Go on, then. Tell me a joke. features of British humour?
B: Why should you always borrow money from a B: Well, I think we like to laugh at ourselves and, in
pessimist? general, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. I
A: I don’t know. mean, I’m pretty pleased with myself. I bought a
B: Because he won’t expect it back. jigsaw puzzle that said ‘three to five years’ on the
A: That’s not funny, and anyway, you could crack the box. I finished it in three months!
same joke in any language with the same meaning. A: Right. I understand that one. Are there any particular
What’s so special about British humour? targets of British jokes?
B: I think it’s connected with the language. We have lots B: I guess one of the favourite subjects is relationships,
of words with more than one meaning and that can and partners are often the butt of jokes. For example,
be funny. ‘my partner’s cooking is so bad we usually pray after
A: Can you think of an example? our food’, or ‘My husband hasn’t stopped looking
B: Well, I wanted to be a banker but then I lost interest. through the window since it started snowing. If it
A: Hmm. I see. ‘Interest’ can also mean a percentage gets any worse, I’ll have to let him in.’
paid on money people invest. A: I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. OK, come on.
B: That’s right, so the joke is in the double meaning. What’s the secret of a good joke?
We also make jokes based on literal meaning as B: It should be short and easy to understand. One-
opposed to idiomatic meaning. For example: a hole liners are the best. If you have to explain the
appeared in the middle of the road yesterday. Police punchline, the joke hasn’t worked. That’s why it’s
are looking into it. sometimes impossible to translate jokes into other
A: OK. I understand that one. Literally standing there languages.
and looking into the hole, or investigating it.
B: Yes. Then we have homophones. We make jokes
using them too.
A: What are homophones?
B: Words with exactly the same sounds but different
spellings and meanings. For example: I only know
twenty-five letters of the alphabet. I don’t know why.
A: OK, I get that one. The question word ‘why’ and the
letter ‘y’.
B: Then there are puns. These can be homophones but
they can also use words which sound almost the
same but not quite. There are thousands of jokes
based on these. For instance, some people say that
being a vegetarian is a huge missed steak.
A: Yes. It’s not exactly hilarious though!
B: I’m trying to show you how the language influences
our humour. We can even play with grammar to
produce double meanings. One of my favourites
is the newspaper headline ‘Police found drunk in
shop window’. If ‘found’ is past simple, it means they
discovered a drunk person in the shop window. If it’s
a past participle, it means the police themselves were
drunk. It wasn’t an intentional joke though!

Language for … jokes and humour 3

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jokes and humour

Worksheet
1 Warmer
a. Below are the names of some types of comedy found on TV. Match up the names on the left, to their
descriptions on the right.

1. sitcom a) Humour that is based on physical actions such as people hitting each other or falling
over, rather than on the clever use of language. Clowns, Mr Bean and Laurel and Hardy
are examples of this.

2. satire b) A series about a particular group of characters who deal with situations in a
humorous way. An example is the US show, Friends.

3. slapstick comedy c) A story that deals in a humorous way with unpleasant aspects of life such as illness
and death.

4. Standup comedy d) A show which uses humour to criticize someone or something and make them seem
silly. An example is the British panel show Have I Got News For You which makes fun of
the weeks’ events in the news.

5. black comedy e) A comedian that tells jokes on a stage in front of an audience.

b. Complete the spelling of these words connected with humour

1. f u __ __ y
2. s __ ns __ of h__ __ o __ r
3. c __ __ c k a j __ __ __
4. l __ __ __ h

2 Text
a. Listen to the conversation and answer the questions.
1. Why should you always borrow money from a pessimist?
   
2. What is the word for the percentage paid on money people invest?
   
3. What are homophones?
   
4. What are puns?
   
5. Who do the British like to laugh at?
   
6. Which particular target of British humour is mentioned?
   

Language for … jokes and humour 1

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jokes and humour

Worksheet
b. Complete the sentences with one of these words.

literal     hilarious      
wordplay   one-liner
double    punchline    butt       
idiomatic

1. A is a joke that consists of a single sentence.

2. Many words in English have meanings.
3. The is the last line of a joke.
4. is using words in a clever or funny way.
5. The meaning of a word is its most basic meaning.
6. The meaning of an expression is different from the meaning of its
individual words.
7. If something is described as , it is extremely funny.
8 If you are the of jokes, people often make jokes about you.

c. Match the verbs taken from the text (1–6) with noun phrases (a–f).
1. get a)  oneself seriously
2. explain b)  oneself
3. lose c)  money
4. take d)  a joke
5. borrow e)  interest
6. laugh at f )  a punchline

3 Language in Use
You are going to tell another student about a joke you know in your own language. Think about
these things:
1. Who or what is the target of the joke?

2. Does it involve any double meanings, homophones or puns?

3. Is the joke short and easy to understand?

4. Is the punchline clear and simple?

4 Communicate
Work with a partner. Tell your partner your joke. Use your ideas from Exercise 3.

Do you think each other’s jokes are funny? Why/Why not?

Language for … jokes and humour 2

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jokes and humour

Worksheet
5 Discussion
Read these statements. Decide whether you agree or disagree with them. Think of reasons for your answers.
Then discuss your answers with a partner or in a small group.
1. ‘Some subjects are not appropriate for jokes. For example, death or religion.’
2. ‘Verbal humour is much funnier than visual humour.’
3. ‘A sense of humour is the most important quality for a person to have.’

Red Words
laugh*** target*** seriously*** feature***
humour** influence*** spelling* sound***
meaning*** double*** literal* crack** joke**
sense*** situation*** criticize** silly** comedy**

Language for … jokes and humour 3

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