an archive of lesson plans

Tag: humor

JP F20 ADV: Reading Kanji

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Tuesday November 24, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Advanced 

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Last class: kanji games 

Goal of the class:  

  • Guess how to read unusual kanji

How did you structure the class?  

  1. How are you doing? Hanging in there? Good news if any??? (7 min) 
    1. Hawaiian Thanksgiving dishes – lots of Asian food included  
  1. Guess and read the kanji (45 min) 
    1. Veggies
    2. Fruits 
    3. Things in the water 
    4. Family names 
  1. Most complicated kanji (10 min) 
    1. Some legendary mysterious kanji 
    2. Officially registered real kanji

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) 

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, white board 

What worked well in this class? What did not work?   

  • We talked how we feel at the end of the semester. Since everything happened online at home, there is not a huge difference compared to pre-COVID time when students used to move back to their hometown etc.  
  • We talked a bit about Hawaiian Thanksgiving food 
  • Kanji guessing game was fun, and they had very good questions such as when these vegetables were introduced to Japan and how their kanji were decided like that. 
  • One student was sharing her knowledge about how Taiwanese use the same kanji for the same fruits and how a kanji was chosen for a certain fruit because of the meaning of kanji (蕃) 
  • We guessed some strange and rare family names and some super complicated kanji as well. 
  • We had a pretty fun time. They used everything they know to guess the kanji, such as a documentary film about fish that they watched the other day, the knowledge of Taiwanese usage of kanji, etc. 

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • There are lots of kanji. Some are easy to guess, and others are just impossible to guess. We can do a lot about this. 

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well. 

Below are what we did with whiteboard

Fruits 

Vegetables 

Things in the water 

Rare and strange family names 

Complicated kanji 

Taito たいと – a family name (not officially recorded in anywhere but there is a story around this kanji) 

https://www.benricho.org/kanji/img-kakusuu/Taito_small.gif

Biang – From Chinese kanji 

https://www.benricho.org/kanji/img-kakusuu/biang-68-500.png

Jin ジン – dust 

https://glyphwiki.org/glyph/u269c4.png

JP F20 INT: Embarrassing Stories

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Wednesday October 14, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate 

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Student suggested theme #2 
  • Embarrassing Stories 

Goal of the class:  

  • Share embarrassing stories. 

How did you structure the class?  

  1. Good news (5 min) *We share positive stories at the beginning of each class.
  1. Continue from last class (5 min) 
  1. Today’s plan (5 min) 
    1. Your embarrassing story is awesome, but something you witnessed counts, too. For example, your siblings.
  1. Break out room (2-3people) (25 min)  
    1. Share embarrassing stories 
    2. Ask at least 1 question to each other’s stories 
  1. Main room (20 min) 
    1. Share each others’ story. 
    2. My partner’s story is like this. I asked this question, and their answer was that.  

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) 

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, Breakout room.   

What worked well in this class? What did not work? 

  • They have hilarious stories! I thought the last class “Childhood stories” were amazing, but this was as amazing as last time if not more.  
  • We didn’t get to share all the stories, so we will start next class with sharing the rest of the stories. 
  • Students spoke a lot, and we laughed a lot.  
  • I felt students are trying very hard to tell a story as they wanted to deliver the story and how funny the story is. Also I sensed that everyone was listening hard because they didn’t want to miss the funny point.   
  • They were definitely sharing more stories while I wasn’t with them in breakout rooms.   
  • This is one of classes students chose as the best.

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • Several students said that they had hard time remembering any stories as they wanted to forget embarrassing stories. So I think it was a good idea to let them know that it’s ok to use some embarrassing stories that they witnessed as well as their own stories.  

JP F20 INT/ADV: Onomatopoeia

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Wednesday November 4, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate  / Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Check in with everyone and see how they are doing 
  • Onomatopoeia 

Goal of the class:  

  • See if everyone is cool to do a class (This class was right after the presidential election)
  • Explore Onomatopoeia 

How did you structure the class?  

  1. How are you doing? Hanging there? Good news if any??? (7 min) 
  1. Introduce Onomatopoeia (8 min) 
    1. ザーザー and パラパラ 
    2. Animal voices etc. 
  1. Breakout room (30 min) 
    1. Describe a moment or create a story 
    2. Pick 3 or 4 Onomatope from https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-onomatopoeia/ and use it in sentence. One sentence one onomatope. 
  1. Main room (15 min) 
    1. Share the sentences that each group creates 
    2. Wrap up. Stay positive, and stay calm

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) 

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, breakout rooms online resource 

What worked well in this class? What did not work? 

  • Students were tired and stressed out with election situations. 
  • Students loved Onomatope. They sound funny and cute apparently. 
  • In the breakout rooms, students were laughing so hard finding new Onomatope and how they sound like 
  • They were so creative about making a story. This is a lot more than I expected. 
  • In the main room, students typed what they created in a chat and read aloud. It became almost like a theatre at some point. One student acted character A, another one was character B, and another one was a narrator, etc. 
  • They were so good at creating, writing, and using new words. I gave a little grammar correction to make a phrase sound natural after every group presented their stories. 
  • I enjoyed so much how engaged they were in today’s activity.  
  • I wanted this class to be somewhat fun. I’m glad that this class created some cheerful moments for them, especially after hearing them saying that other classes were all ok today and that they were just ok. 
  • This is one of classes students chose as the best.

Advanced:

  • They knew a lot more onomatope than the intermediate class. 
  • They were very nervous and worried about the election results.  
  • We ended up with talking a lot of feelings and situations around the election with onomatope.  
  • We also had some fun moments with some fun and positive and funny onomatope.  
  • Students also expressed some feelings about COVID. 
  • Onomatope are very nuanced expressions, so it was a great exercise to think about what the equivalent expressions are in English. I ended up with doing a lot of acting and facial expressions to tell them the nuances. That was fun.  
  • Manga is a great way to learn onomatope. 

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • Onomatopoeia is very fun and great things to know. I used an entire class focusing on this. But also it’s possible to introduce a few Onomatopoeia at the beginning of every class. This would give students some laugh and create a positive mood to start a class. 
  • I used a breakout room with 3-4 people. It could be smaller groups. 

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well. 

https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-onomatopoeia/

Student works: Each group created a story. 

  • ある日かえるさんとあひるさんが、いけに会いました。あひるさんは、かえるさんにかっこつけて、大きな声で 「ガーガー」と泣きました。かえるさんは、これを聞いてクスクス笑いました。じつは、あひるさんはじこあいせいでしたので、笑われたことがなかったです。あひるさんは、これを聞いて「ブルブル」ふるえました。かえるさんは、それを見て「おほん、きみはキャンセルドだ!」と言いました。あひるさんはもじもじして、こいにおちました。そして、かえるさんは、「へんなやつだなー」と思ってたたたたにげました。
 
  • ある日、マイケルジャクソンは馬をみました。馬はマイケルに向かってサクサク走りました
。
マイケルも馬に向かってタタタタ走りました。

マイケルのマネージャーは「マイケル!馬の話をできない」と言いました。
でも、マイケルはガミガミだけを聞きました。
マイケルは気にしませんでした。

馬は「ひひいん」と言いました。
マイケルはうっとりです。
マイケルは「ひひ」と言いました。
その後、マイケルは馬と友達になりました。
マイケルは歌手をやめて、カウボーイになりました。 

サクサク = stepping in dirt 
タタタタ = running 
ガミガミ = being lectured/nagged by someone above you 
ひひいん = sound of a horse 
うっとり = being fascinated by something beautiful 

  • 昔々 きみちゃんという六歳の子供は もりに すたこらに あるいていた。

きゅうに おおきくてこわいくまが 起こった。

でも きみちゃんは ゆうかんな子供 泣かなかった。


くまさん、大丈夫ですか?一人で もりにいるのは さびしいでしょう
。
くまさんは、ええええ、何これ?どうして この子 怖くならないの?

きみちゃんは、私の方が くまさんより こわいよ!それで、どんなに大きくても ぜんぜん ぶるぶる ふるえない!
くまさんは、そうなんだ。じゃあ、一緒に 世界せいふくをしよう!
きみちゃんは、世界征服 したくないけど。でも、人間は 最悪から 一緒に 森を 守ろう!
それ以下 きみちゃんとくまさんは もりを守ったり 毎日ラーメンをたべたり 幸せに 住んでいた.
 

DE F20 INT/ADV – Christmas Escape Room

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Eva Saunders

Day and Date: 11/24/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediante/Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: Christmas & the holidays

Goal of the class: Learning about German customs and escaping Krampus’ mine

How did you structure the class?

A) Warm-Up: With the lights off and your Zoom background set to a coal mine, tell the students they have been captured and brought to a coal mine because they opened their advent calendars too early! Impersonating Krampus for this is highly recommended & fun (I wore a Santa hat and used a flash light to make myself look frightening)

B) Give them the “escape room” game Google Sheet link and explain (as “Krampus”) how they are going to find the code word to get out (which is “Merry Christmas” in German, but backwards, see Key sheet). Stress that they are supposed to talk to each other to solve riddles together, one at a time. Then set a timer for 45-50 minutes for them to solve the questions and to guess the code word.

It’s good to remind them of the time they have left every once in a while (half time and maybe 5 minutes before, depending how they are doing on time). I plan about 5 minutes per question on average as a guideline. If they are taking longer, feel free to help them a bit by telling them if their answer is right or wrong before they type them in, to avoid detours. And giving hints or more information about a correct answer works well, too.

C) Once the game is finished, go over the answers the students provided or answer any outstanding questions about Christmas in Germany.

D) Extra activity: Watch “Cat-A-Claws”, a 2-minute Christmas themed cat movie https://vimeo.com/381605666 (this is my own production, but available publicly). Find traditions and words we talked about in the movie.

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.): Share Screen function in Zoom, Chat, Google Sheets, Vimeo, Course Website as a resource for homework and reference

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The students enjoyed the surprise escape room very much and solved the riddles just in time. I clarified some things during the game and helped a bit to keep it moving. It was a fun way to learn!

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I’ve tried this both with just one student and a group of three students and both took about 45-50 minutes to finish it. If the group is much larger, communication might be hard so they should probably be split up into groups of three or four and you can jump from room to room to help if necessary.

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

Virtual Handout in target language https://courses.pomona.edu/la-german-2020/blog/2020/11/24/13-1-class-25-11-23-2020/ (Password: GERMAN)

Note: You can use the key document for yourself and then load the blank template tab into Google Sheets to have the students work in the same document. It’s best if one student shares their screen of it so all can see what’s asked.

ES F18 INT: Future

ES-INT-F18-Future-and-habits

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: JOSE GOMEZ

Day and Date: 11/11/2018

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Intermediate

Class theme/topics discussed:Habits, and future.

Goal of the class: Review vocabulary about daily routines and talk about future events.

How did you structure the class?

Activity 1 (5’):

Students review quickly the grammar forms in the future.

Activity 2 (25):

Students are shown a video with different clips. Each clip stops and students has to make a prediction of what is going to happen. All the video are supposed to be funny and bring up creative predictions.

Activity 3 (30’)

Now that they have practice the future and have made predictions. Students get a crystal ball to predict the future to their classmates. They get the story cubes in order to help them create stories. They need to stick to the structures required for this speech act.

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

Powerpoint presentation

16 sheets of paper with visual material

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The activity with the video turned out to be very fun and entertaining for the students. The story cubes activity was also really fun, they came up with crazy stories and they managed to product the correct structures. They had visual aid the whole time on the screen in case they forgot the form.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I had to divide this class in two because it took too much time.

 If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

ES F16 ADV Comedy Monologue

Language Resident Name: Tamara Olivos

Day and Date: September 27, 2016

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced Spanish

Class theme/topics discussed: Humor Monologues

Goal of the class:

How did you structure the class?

 

We will discuss a monologue about “suitcases”. I introduce the topic by asking what they pack when they travel and how much they pack

We start reading the first paragraph of the handout and then we discuss what kind of text they think it is.

We continue to do this with the following paragraphs, stopping after each one for questions on vocabulary and comprehension (following the handout)

 

We watch the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy3nL51Nzr8 and discuss the differences between reading the monologue and watching it live.

 

In pairs they create a mini monologue.

 

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

They were really motivated and participated throughout the class.

The video was a bit too long.

 If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

monologo

FR F15 Les Shadoks

Language Resident Name: Julien Moniz

 

Day and Date : 11/12

 Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): French intermediate

Class theme/topics discussed: “Les Shadoks”

Goal of the class: Work on oral comprehension and the absurd in a foreign language

How did you structure the class?

I made the students listen twice to the soundtrack of a video which tells a story. They were supposed to understand as much as they could before I even showed them the video part. Ten they could see it and they were subsequently asked to fill out missing verbs in the past tense in a text. Ten we watched a few more episodes of the cartoon and I asked them comprehension questions.

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

Youtube for the cartoons

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The reception was mixed, both because the language was a little difficult for them to understand and the humor as well. It is an old French TV show which is famous for its absurd humor. But once we reviewed the vocabulary and once everything was understood, the students really liked it.

 How could this class be improved/ modified?

 If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that). Please attach any handouts as well.

Lesson Summary FR11 #21

JP F15 ADV Humor

Language Resident Name:

Tasuku Sasaoka 

Day and Date:

Tue. Sep. 15th, 2015

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):

Advanced Japanese

 

Class theme/topics discussed:

Japanese humor

 

Goal(s) of the class:

Students will be able to do basic tsukkomi, or Japanese comedy retort

Students will be able to make simple Japanese boke, or gags 

How did you structure the class?

Time Title Notes (T: teacher, S: student)
5(5) Attendance check and announcement T checks the attendance of the students. At the same time, teacher talks about the coming events and cultural activities.
5(10) Warm-up Brainstorming

Ss participate in a brainstorming to activate their background knowledge related to Japanese humor, or gag culture.

4(14) Presentation and practice 1: Tsukkomi T gives basic tsukkomi expressions to students using powerpoint presentation. Ss familiarize themselves through practice and repetition. After the practice, T tells a simple joke to Ss and they do tsukkomi to the T.
10(24) Presentation and practice 2: Boke T explains some basic strategies to make gags in Japanese using a powerpoint presentation. Ss do tsukkomi to the examples that comes with each explanation.
12(36) Practice: Boke and tsukkomi integrated T gives students a handout on which expressions shown on the screen are. Ss get into pairs and practice boke and tsukkomi taking turns. T walks around them and gives advices on Ss’s tone, pronunciation, speed, and so on. When they finished their practice, teacher asks some pairs to present their boke and tsukkomi in front of the class and gives feedback to their performance.
14(50) Activity: Role play Ss in pairs create their own boke and tsukkomi and present it in front of the class. They work with their partners to make sentences, practice speech, and decide the roles. T gives advice to the students who find difficulty. After the presentation Ss give feedback to others’ performance.
10(60) Consolidation Ss watch a comedy video and teacher briefly explain what they learned today, using the expressions in the video as materials.

 

 

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

powerpoint presentation, background music, and handouts

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

   What worked:

Students enjoyed talking and making gags. They successfully made their original ones and in the process students activated their own vocabularies and sense of humor through Japanese.

   What did not work:

How could this class be improved/ modified?

 

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