Did you know that cracking jokes is considered an actual skill? Believe it or not, CEFR criteria lists “joking usage (of language)” as a low-advanced conversation skill.

While not all students are interested in joking around, many students do want to work on their humor! As Tutor Asja (🇧🇦) shared, “I’ve had students who asked me to teach them jokes that they could use with their international colleagues.” How can we teach students like these to joke around in English?

Teach Humor That Translates

First of all, it’s important to teach humor that translates. Even students who are interested in humor will most likely struggle with jokes that require a deep understanding of some culture. (As an American who has lived outside of the US for some time, I’m also not totally up-to-date on the latest cultural references either!)

In fact, the CEFR actually lists the ability to “get the point of jokes or allusions with cultural content” as a high-advanced skill! So unless your student is already an experienced jokester, it’s best to steer clear from jokes that use cultural allusions.

What kind of “culture-free” humor can we incorporate into our lessons then?

1. Self-deprecating humor: Let’s say your student picks the Daily News article, “Seven-Year-Old Sets Record by Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.” You can then say, “Wow! I’m four times his age and can’t make pasta.”
2. Common sense humor: Once a student was taking a lesson with Tutor Joca (🇷🇸). The student said, “I was bitten by a mosquito,” and Tutor Joca replied, “Did you bite it back?” The student giggled because this joke is based on the common understanding that ...erm... you can’t bite a mosquito.
3. Understatement: Let’s say a dangerous typhoon is approaching your town. To make a joke and light up the mood you can say, “At least my plants will be watered!”

Avoid Puns & Sarcasm (Most of the Times)

Puns often fall flat with language-learners. For example, I once shared the following joke with a Taiwanese friend and an American friend:

“How are you?”
“I’m medium well.”

My American friend immediately started chuckling, while the Taiwanese friend looked confused. And no, explaining the joke didn’t help. She merely dismissed it as “silly American humor.”

When people in East Asia are unamused by a joke said by a foreigner, they often blame it on its American-ness — even if the person making them is not American! So make sure to save puns for students you’re certain will appreciate them.

The same goes for sarcasm. Sarcasm rarely works with people who do not know you well, since they won’t be able to tell whether you’re joking around or being serious. On top of that, most of our students already aren’t sure if they totally understand what they’re saying. If we’re sarcastic, that’ll add even more to their confusion. Let’s make sure we get to know each other better before hitting our students with sarcasm!

Resources to Teach Humor

So what resources can we use to teach the kinds of humor we’ve discussed above? Below are some resources we recommend.

For self-deprecating humor:

1. Start with this definition of “self-deprecation.”
2. Then check out this Buzzfeed list of self-deprecating jokes.

For understatement:

1. Start with this page that explains the concept.
2. Then check out this page for more detailed analysis.
3. If your student is up for a challenge, try "The 15 Greatest Understatements Of All Time".

For puns:

1. Start with this guide to puns.
2. Then have your student figure out this list of easy puns or work through some puns on Punny Pixels and World of Puns (they have puns accompanied with visuals!)

For sarcasm:

1. Check out this BBC explanation of the term.
2. Have your student open up a Describing Pictures lesson and describe them sarcastically. For instance, if you encounter a photo of burnt pancakes, you can say, “Don’t these pancakes look great?”

Lastly, for a combination of all of the above, suggest your student watch sitcoms, such as Friends, The Big Bang Theory, or Good Luck Charlie, stand-up comedy, such as Dry Bar Comedy, and talk shows, such as the Ellen Show or Conan O’Brien. Advise them to take note of jokes that they found funny and share them with you during your next lesson.

👋 That’s it for now!

Hopefully, this has given you an idea of how we can teach humor to students who need it to connect with foreign friends and coworkers. We may even be able to suggest some of the activities above to students who request free conversation.

And if this topic interests you, make sure to check out this post as well: "Ha Ha Ha! When We Should (And Shouldn’t) Joke Around With Students." Happy tutoring!

• cross-cultural communication