Paragraph Development through Humorous Activities: A Unique Approach to Essay Writing, Study notes of English

Download Paragraph Development through Humorous Activities: A Unique Approach to Essay Writing and more Study notes English in PDF only on Docsity! Humorous Technique of Teaching Essay Development Susan Olajoke Akinkurolere Levels High beginner (can be adjusted up and down) Aims Increase awareness of paragraph types in essay writing Develop paragraphs for essay writing Class Time 35–45 minutes Preparation Time 15–20 minutes Resources Paper, pens, and markers Chart of family members (see Appendix) Cardboard Pins Mastering the composing process of an essay assists students in developing a full-length essay. Every ideal essay must have the basic components of para- graph types: introductory paragraph, transitional paragraph(s), and concluding paragraph. The types of paragraph that make up an essay could be likened and compared to family roles to amuse students and arouse their interest in essay development and writing. This activity helps students develop their essay writ- ing through a cooperative writing process that is humorous. PROCEDURE 1. Explain the three basic types of paragraph in an essay to the students. 2. Divide students into teams of five or six of mixed sex. 3. Bring each team to a table with chairs. 4. Write the topic to be developed on the board, and explain that each team will develop the essay topic as members of the same family. 5. Allow students on each team to appoint two parents. Other members of the team will be the children. The teacher can also assist in assigning roles. Humorous Technique of Teaching Essay Development | 3 6. The sitting arrangement should be in the order of Parent 1, Child 1, Child 2, Child 3, and Parent 2, depending on the number of students in a team. The students that are regarded as children should sit between the two parents. Hence, the sitting arrangement should be employed in explaining paragraph types’ arrangement. 7. Fix stickers made from cardboard that indicate family positions to clothes to avoid confusion in the course of writing. 8. Draw students’ attention to the chart on the board with different types of paragraph assigned to the parents and children (see Appendix). 9. The codes should be interpreted thus: Parent 1-I (introduction), Children- T1, T2, T3 (transitional paragraph 1, transitional paragraph 2, and transi- tional paragraph 3), and Parent 2-C (conclusion). 10. Each team should commence writing the essay in this way: The first parent writes the first paragraph and gives it to the first child, each child writes a transitional paragraph, and the last paragraph is completed by the second parent. 11. The essay is submitted to the teacher for assessment when each team fin- ishes writing. CAVEATS AND OPTIONS 1. The number of paragraphs you want students to develop will determine the number of students on a team. 2. You can give the same topic to all the teams. 3. The level of the students should determine topics that will be employed in the explanation and practice of essay development. 4. You could make the students practice another topic with different paragraph types from the initially assigned types in another class. 5. A family picture chart that demonstrates father and mother with children in between could be hung or drawn on the board. 4 | NEW WAYS IN TEACHING WITH HUMOR I 4. Learners can narrate stories on their own by using their implicit knowledge of grammar. 5. Learners should not be restricted with one version of their interpretation but can be encouraged to give more versions, especially with a sting of humor. 6. Each narration or interpretation becomes original and eventually develops students’ socio-psycho behavioral skills in the classroom. CAVEATS AND OPTIONS 1. Monotonous interpretation should be avoided. 2. Students’ level of interest or mood in learning should be considered. 3. Simple ideas should be used to minimize boredom among learners. 4. Picture interpretation or narration helps learners develop their interest in considering English as a language rather than a subject. APPENDIX: Sample Pictures and Stories Picture Story 1: The Umbrella Nest Mary is happy to be in the rain, as her beautiful new umbrella keeps her dry� However, the umbrella is unable to withstand the power of a sudden storm. The umbrella flies away, but then a father crow gets a brilliant idea and takes it to his family to convert into a nest� Now, the crow family lives happily together in their new umbrella nest� Spin the Yarn | 7 Picture Story 2: The Cat and the Mouse A cat smells the presence of a mouse and wants to catch it� The mouse notices the cat and starts to run away� The cat tries to pounce on the mouse, but the mouse jumps to the nearby table� The cat continues to chase the mouse, but the brilliant mouse uses a magnifying glass that is on the table to frighten the cat. The magnified image of the mouse makes the cat fall from the table� Now, the mouse is safe and happy again� 8 | NEW WAYS IN TEACHING WITH HUMOR IPassive Pictures Walton Burns Levels Low-intermediate (but can be adapted to any level depending on the target language) Aims Understand and practice word order in the passive voice Learn the meaning of the passive voice Class Time 20 minutes Preparation Time 10 minutes Resources Paper Pens or markers Students often get confused when using the passive because the structure puts the grammatical object in the subject position. This method of presenting passive demonstrates how mistakes can lead to saying something unintended. In this way, it draws attention to the role of grammar as a mediator of meaning, rather than a set of dry rules. The fact that switching the subject and object of a passive sentence often results in a humorous image helps students remember the correct word order better. Used as an error-correction method, humor soft- ens the blow of making a mistake. PROCEDURE 1. Draw two pictures and hang them up in front of the classroom. One pic- ture should illustrate the sentence “Sarah was eaten by the cake,” while the other should illustrate “The cake was eaten by Sarah.” Write the two sen- tences on the board. 2. Ask students to decide which picture illustrates which sentence. Draw attention to the fact that the only difference between the sentences is the position of the words “the cake” and “Sarah,” the subject and object of the verb. Now ask which sentence is more likely to be a useful thing to say. 3. If necessary, repeat the steps with other pictures (see Appendix). 4. Put the students into groups and hand each group a set of sentences. Ask them to illustrate each sentence, and then have them share their sentences and pictures with another pair. Passive Pictures | 9 2. Model the activity by using one of the chosen images (perhaps one with the caption cut off ), and elicit captions from students as part of a group brainstorm. 3. Teach and assist students in practicing the following discussion frames that are useful in negotiating meaning: . a. What if we use the title ______________________________________? b. What if [character X] says ____________________________________? c. What if [character X] is thinking ______________________________? d. Do you think it would be funny if [character X] says _______________? 4. As a class, have students use the target formulaic phrases for negotiating meaning. Elicit captions, write them on the board, and have students vote for the best one. Show the caption, if available, from the original image. Discuss the reasons why certain captions are appropriately matched and humorous. 5. Place visuals around the classroom, each accompanied by a blank piece of poster paper. 6. Ask students, working in pairs or groups, to stand next to the image and, after discussing the visual, using the target formulaic phrases, write a funny caption or speech bubble for the image on the corresponding poster paper. 7. After 90 seconds give students a warning, and after 2 minutes ask them to move to the center. 8. After each pair has had a chance to produce a caption or speech bubble for every image, have them put a check next to the caption or speech bubble they like the most on each poster. 9. Tally the votes for each image, and congratulate students on their creativity and language use. CAVEATS AND OPTIONS 1. Encourage students to find and bring in their own funny pictures. 2. Remember that some pictures by themselves, without captions, may not be particularly laughable but paired with an ingenious title may become quite funny. Remind students to push their imaginations and verbal creativity. 3. You can adjust the time spent on each image by allowing less time for more advanced learners and more time for less advanced learners. 12 | NEW WAYS IN TEACHING WITH HUMOR I 4. This exercise can be played online using a group Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest account. You could consider having students create fake hashtags for their uploaded image. Students could vote by using the “like” button to accumulate points for best picture-caption-hashtag combination. REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING Bell, N. D. (2009). Learning about and through humor in the second language classroom. Language Teaching Research, 13, 241–258. Negotiating Meaning and Humor: Funny Caption Contest | 13 Mad Headlines Hilda Freimuth Levels Intermediate and above Aims Write newspaper/magazine headlines Write a newspaper article Class Time 60 minutes Preparation Time 5 minutes Resources Newspapers and magazines Scissors Glue sticks Paper Big bowl This activity is a fun way to practice student writing as it combines humor with an authentic writing task. This activity will breathe new life into your writ- ing class and reignite students’ interest in English. PROCEDURE 1. Begin class with a short news clip of a funny headline and news story. 2. Divide students into small groups. 3. Give each group a pair of scissors and some newspapers and magazines. 4. Tell students to cut nouns, adjectives, and verbs out of headlines. 5. When finished, students put the cutouts into the bowl at the front of class (on the teacher’s desk). 6. Mix up the words and then ask one member of each group to come pull out a handful. 7. Each group gets several sheets of paper and a glue stick. 8. Groups get 5 minutes to create funny headlines with their cut-out words. Each headline needs to be glued at the top of the sheet of paper. 9. Students present their funny headlines to the class. 14 | NEW WAYS IN TEACHING WITH HUMOR I 2. Prepare two sets of handouts with two simplified jokes each. The first joke should be common to all handouts, and the second joke should be unique to either Handout A or Handout B. Allow a lot of open space around the text so students can edit freely and/or rewrite. 3. Divide the class into groups of two or three students and give them one copy of a handout per group. Alternate A and B handouts among groups, making sure all members in a group have the same handout. 4. Tell students to work in their groups to combine sentences as they see fit to make the language flow more naturally. Depending on the level of the students and their previous sentence combining experience, you may want to demonstrate with the first couple of sentences of the first joke. Encourage all group members’ input to arrive at a good finished product. 5. When students are finished, let them compare with other groups to appreci- ate how many different ways the sentences could be combined. It is impor- tant here to have students tell the joke to others rather than just show it. This is to get them to pay attention to the flow of the sentences—and to practice joke telling—as well as to keep the second joke hidden from other students who may not have seen it yet. 6. After sharing, discussion, feedback, and error correction, tell students to work on the second joke on their handout. Point out that other groups have different jokes, so they should keep their discussion fairly quiet until they finish. 7. When they are finished improving their second joke, students should approach members of other groups and tell it to them, looking especially for students who worked on a different joke. After a sufficient amount of sharing, the newer jokes can be discussed as a class. CAVEATS AND OPTIONS 1. Throughout both activities, it may be necessary to explain the humor of one or more jokes to students. This will depend of course on what jokes you select and on how well the students combine sentences. Hopefully at least one person per group will understand the joke and can explain it to others, but if you find that a joke requires explanation to many people time and time again, it may be wise to consider selecting a different joke the next time you do the activity. 2. If there is time and a desire among students, different student versions of the jokes can be rated for their humor, timing, and so on. Students can also practice telling the jokes in front of the class, acting as comedians. Sentence Combination With Jokes | 17 APPENDIX: Possibilities of Jokes for Sentence Combination A man is sitting in an airplane� He is looking out the window� He turns to his wife� He says, “Look at those people down there� They look like ants!” She leans over� She looks out the window� She turns to him� She says, “They are ants� We haven’t taken off yet!” A politician was in a rural town� He was in the town square� He was giving a speech� He saw an old woman� She was standing at the front of the crowd� She was watching him� He asked her, “Have you lived here all your life?” The old woman paused� She said nothing for a long time� Finally, she looked up at the politician� She said, “I don’t know yet!” 18 | NEW WAYS IN TEACHING WITH HUMOR