10/28/2005

Japanese students are willing to learn. Making them laugh is a different matter. Some of them are what we in the staffroom call super genki and will laugh at anything you say, even if you were serious. Others laugh out of nervousness. Others laugh when you laugh, because you’ve given them the cue.

It’s been interesting trying to get laughs out of students. The higher level students are ok, occassionally they’ll get a word joke – an amazing feat since they are, after all, speaking their second language. My proudest moment was when I managed to get a laugh with this pearler:

‘Ok, please try to complete this sentence: “People think that London is just a concrete jungle, but actually….” got it? I’ll give an example. “People think that London is just a concrete jungle, but actually…there are no monkeys”‘.

AND THEY GOT IT!! Well, 2 out of the 3 students got it. And those two could actually explain the joke in English to the third. *sniff* I was so proud of them! *sniff*

For your students to understand plays on words is a pretty rare thing indeed. Sarcasm will never make sense to them. Very often, you will get that intense look that means ‘…nani?’ so it’s best to avoid sarcasm altogether.

If you want to make your students laugh, the best technique is to go for the ridiculous. And that may mean losing some dignity. Most stand up comedy in Japan is based on silly antics. Waving your arms around in class and yelling will get their attention at least, if it doesn’t make them laugh. Another tip is to say things that are obviously silly, like “There are many dangerous animals in Australia” and they’ll nod and say “Ah, yes, sharks and crocodiles” then you can counter with “Yes but the deadliest of the all is the KOALA!”

It’s silly and quite often juvenile. But if you can make your students laugh and enjoy themselves, then it’s more likely that they will stay your students in the future.