Comedy in the classroom

Is being funny important or desperate?

As an adult, you have those friends who are “just funny”, don’t you? No matter the situation, they make others laugh with their timing, choice of language and, very often, a sophistication in their take on things. Usually, if you are in the company of friends, you share certain experiences and can relate to each other easily so that humorous conversations flow naturally.

But, try the same approach in school with a teenager with a resting bitch face, whose teacher setting is defaulted to “I hate you no matter what”, and you’ll be quickly labelled a pathetic try-hard or just plain weird.

My favourite teacher at school, Mr Marsh, struck a perfect balance between sharp wit and excellent teaching. Unashamedly, this balancing act is something I’ve been trying to replicate for nigh on 20 years.

Now, I am by no means professing to be some sort of Professor Peter Kay here who treats the classroom like the Hammersmith Apollo. Obviously, teaching is a serious business and I appreciate the objective of lessons might sometimes be to facilitate learning rather than making kids laugh. But humour IS important. Ask the kids – especially the boys. The research backs it up too.

The truth is that there are relatively few opportunities to bring humour into your lessons. So when you attempt a humorous quip and it hits the mark, that’s great for building rapport and a positive classroom climate - but when it misses, you might as well give up on cracking jokes for a year at least and accept that it’s not going to happen with that class.

So how can you bring humour into your classroom without it appearing too try-hard? The (mainly stolen) advice I’m about to impart is mostly language teaching-specific but there are some ideas that will work across subjects. The important disclaimer here is that humour can only work if you have established positive relationships with the class based on trust, honesty and you adopt a genuine, caring approach. Walk into a class with whom you’ve not bonded, armed with a series of Mother-in-Law jokes and you’re asking for trouble.

Tip 1 - “Pretending” to be cool. Self-deprecation is king. Imagine you are discussing modern music in class and you share with the students the music you like. “I’m a fan of the grime scene so I like Stormy - and Kendall Lamar is my favourite rapper”. Accompany that with a wry, innocent smile and you’ve hit that sweet spot where the pupils’ toes will be curling but they’ll be smirking and shaking their heads too. This one gets progressively easier the older and less cool you actually get. The kids are 99% sure you are not being serious but there is that tiny element of doubt.

Tip 2 – “The confused teacher”. Simply ask the class a question and, when a child answers correctly, pull a face like you’ve just been asked to solve the square root of pi. Accompanying the appalled face with a stern “what? - is that really what you think?” is the next step. The child will then either back down and say “I don’t know” or trust themselves. A good opportunity to promote having courage in their convictions.

Tip 3 – “Imperatives”. Unfortunately this one only comes around once a year. When introducing the grammar point of commands, ask the pupils if they understand the term “imperative”. You may get a few students who put up their hand. Labour the point - “EVERYONE should know this”. Suddenly, shout (with a straight face) “GET OUT OF MY CLASSROOM!” to a chosen student. The student will look confused, turn beetroot in the face and begin to get up to leave the room. “That’s what an imperative is - it’s an instruction or command”. Obviously you then apologise to the student, ask them to take a seat and move on. If you know the class well, you will choose your victim wisely.

Tip 4 – “Daft sentences”. In translation activities, to give students a purpose to translate, devise sentences about yourself that are ridiculous. For instance, if practising the imperfect tense, translate sentences such as “I was walking along the road, when I was hit by a bus”, “I was smoking with my grandma, when the phone rang”.

Tip 5 – “Rude words”. As a language teacher you can often get away with innocently saying foreign words that sound rude, which make the students giggle. These can be incorporated into translation sentences very easily to practise certain grammar points. Some favourites are “à moins que” (unless). Mr Marsh was stood shrugging his shoulders saying “what’s your problem? À moins que, à moins que”. “What is “étroite” (narrow) anyone? I remember asking my GCSE class for a good five minutes “what’s a phoque (seal)?” “Has anyone heard the word “phoque” before?” Again, playing the innocent all the while. Obviously, quite pathetic in a way but the students love it.

I’m totally aware that everything above appears to be a pathetic, desperate attempt to be liked by the students, by the way. And while every teacher likes to be liked, humour does create a positive atmosphere in class which provides the perfect platform for learning to take place. So ditch the “no smiles until January approach” and get the pupils laughing and enjoying being in your classroom.

I’d love to hear how you incorporate humour into your lessons. Feel free to comment and share the grins.