План урока к 1 апреля “April Fool’s Day“

Говорят, смех полезен для здоровья и даже продлевает жизнь. Так давайте же насладимся юмором сполна и зарядим им своих учеников! На носу 1 апреля — отличный повод улыбнуться. Мы подготовили план урока по теме “April Fool’s Day“, чтобы у вас была возможность провести wow-урок для студентов. Let’s switch to English then!

Level: Upper-Intermediate +

Vocabulary:

• puns
• homophone
• literal meaning, idiomatic meaning
• butt of jokes
• joke fodder
• to crack (someone) up
• quirky
• slapstick
• hilarious

Lesson aims: During this lesson, your high-level students will be able to check how well they understand the humour, practice their listening and reading skills and express themselves.

Lesson plan:

1. Warm-up
2. Lead-in
3. The unique sense of humour
4. Comedians and comedy shows
5. Anecdotes: let’s get inspired
6. Homework

1. Warm-up

Is a sense of humour important to you? Why, why not? How often do you watch stand-up shows?

2. Lead-in

Try to answer the questions below. Remember: you have to think outside the box!

1. What do you call a fish with no eye?
2. What do you call a fish wearing a tie?
3. Why do programmers prefer dark mode?

3. Task 1: The unique sense of humour

Let’s listen to the podcast and discuss some of the questions raised:

• What makes British humour special?

• Are there any particular targets of British jokes?

• What’s the secret of a good joke?

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4. Task 2: Comedians and comedy shows

Read the descriptions of some famous comedians and try to guess them:

1. He is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles on the sitcom Mr. Bean, and the film series Johnny English.
2. He is a Russian comedian, creator and producer of the «Stand Up» show.
3. He is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and artist known for his energetic slapstick performances. He broke out as a star in motion pictures with Ace Ventura and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
4. He is a French-American actor, film director, screenwriter and producer.

Do you watch any comedy shows? Are they popular in your country?

Let’s watch different types of comedy shows:

Let’s check whether you understood the idea:

1. Which museum did he mention?
2. How did the audience react?

Take a look at some comments below:

Do you understand the humour?

Let’s discuss the video “Mr Bean Takes An Exam“:

• How is Mr. Bean feeling?
• Have you ever cheated?
• Do exams make you mad? (or did they?)
• What’s your attitude towards Mr. Bean show? Is it stupid or hilarious?

Let’s discuss what we’ve watched: 

1. Why is the host explaining the joke made?
2. How can the audience understand whether the joke was made on the audience member?
3. What are the most common Google questions about the host? Are they true?
4. There was a man who appeared at the end. Do you think he was an audience member?

5. Task 3: Anecdotes: let’s get inspired

Let’s read some anecdotes and discuss them:

1.
A: Hey, man! Please call me a taxi.
B: Yes, sir. You are a taxi.

2.
A: I have the perfect son.
B: Does he smoke?
A: No, he doesn’t.
B: Does he drink whiskey?
A: No, he doesn’t.
B: Does he ever come home late?
A: No, he doesn’t.
B: I guess you really do have the perfect son. How old is he?A: He will be six months old next Wednesday.

3.
A: Do you want to hear a dirty joke?
B: Ok.
A: A white horse fell in the mud.

4.
A person who speaks two languages is bilingual… A person who speaks three languages is trilingual… A person who speaks four or more languages is multilingual. What is a person who speaks one language? An American.

Which of these jokes do you like the most?

Create your own joke in English. Here are some of the ideas that might help you:

• Joke about yourself. Using yourself as the butt of your own joke is a sure way to get people cracking up. 

• Crack one about your spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend. We’ve all seen comedians use them as funny joke fodder.

• Joke about a place or situation. There are excellent fodders for jokes everywhere around. Figure out what’s quirky, annoying or surprising about somewhere you’ve been or something you’ve seen.

6. Homework

Write an essay. Here is the topic: “Some subjects are inappropriate for jokes. For example, death or religion”.

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Have funny and effective classes!