Understanding jokes is part of the process of native language acquisition, and jokes
are part of the charm that belongs to any language. Learning to
understand jokes in a new language is both a cause, and a consequence,
of language proficiency.
The benefits:
1-It can help students feel more comfortable in their new language.
2-A
shared moment of humor lowers the effective filter, that invisible barrier that makes learners feel awkward and uncomfortable.
3-If a class can laugh together, they are likely to learn better together,
4-They
build meta-linguistic awareness, or conscious awareness of the forms of
language, and this, in turn, helps in learning more language
Puns:
Puns are a special form of humor based on double meaning. They
require processing the sound and meaning of words twice, puns demand
considerable language agility. The humor of puns is based on language
play.
1: Soundalike puns
Soundalike
puns are based on homophones, words that sound the same, but have
different spellings and meanings (e.g., hair/hare; to/too/ two). An
example of a soundalike pun is the sign for a daycare provider that
reads “Wee Care Day Care.” The words we and wee are homophones, which
gives “Wee Care” two meanings.
On the one hand, the phrase “we care”
serves as a statement of philosophy by the business to show that they
care about the children they take care of.The meaning of the compound
noun, which can be paraphrased as “care of little ones,” adds an
appealing dimension to the name of the business.
2-Lookalike puns
Polysemous
words are spelled and pronounced the same and have related meanings
(e.g., “ruler” as a measuring stick or a king; “mole” as a burrowing
mammal or a spy). Polysemous words create lookalike puns.
3: Close-sounding puns
When
one word is substituted for another that sounds like it, whether the
substitution is for a single word or part of a phrase, that can create a
close-sounding pun. An example of a close-sounding pun is a sign seen
on a van in Chicago: “Ex-stink Sewer and Drainage.” This humorous title
for a plumbing business is based on the close pronunciation of
“Ex-stink” and the word extinct.
4: Texting puns
(alphabetic,
numeric, and simplified spelling) Alphabetic, numeric, and simplified
spelling can create texting puns. These are based on the increasingly
common practice of using the sound and/or spelling of alphabet letters,
numbers or symbols, or simplified spelling as a way to represent or “spell” a word. Examples might be “cre8” for the word create, or “@mosphere” for atmosphere.
English Teacher Puns
English teachers get lit
Reading is lit
Let's eat Grandma. Let's eat, Grandma. Comma's save lives.
English teachers are always write!
The past, the present, and the future walked into a bar. It was tense.
When I was a kid, my English teacher looked my way and said, "Name two pronouns." I said, "Who, me?"
Why are apostrophes terrible to date? Because they are possessive
Which dinosaur knows a lot of synonyms? A thesaurus
7 days without a pun makes one weak
Metaphors be with you
Science Teacher Puns
I make horrible science puns, but only periodically
Think like a proton and stay positive
I love the way the earth rotates. It really makes my day
I don't think you understand the gravity of this science lesson
Once I told a chemistry joke. There was no reaction.
When I heard oxygen and magnesium were dating, I was like O MG
You matter! Unless you multiply yourself by the speed of light...then you energy.
My head hertz from the frequency of these puns
That was sodium funny. I slapped my neon that one.
I'm out of chemistry jokes, but I should zinc of a new one
Math Teacher Puns
Why is the obtuse triangle upset? Because it's never right
Not all math puns are horrible. Only sum
y=mx+b is my favorite one-liner
Think outside the quadrilateral
Too much pi gives you a large circumference
Oh you have graph paper? You must be plotting something
My math teacher called me average. That was mean.
You have to be odd to be number 1
Math teachers have problems
You know what seems odd to me?
Numbers that aren't divisible by 2
History Teacher Puns
Do you think ancient Mesopotamians went on Sumer vacation?
Who built King Arthur's Round Table? Sir Cumference
There's no time for Stalin when you're Russian to industrialize
History. History. Did I just rewrite history?
Civil War jokes? I General Lee don't find them funny
History teachers live in the past
If anyone Khan, Genghis Kahn
I read the constitution for the articles
As a history teacher I like to Babylon
What kind of music did the Pilgrims like? Plymouth Roc
2-Puzzles:
Parents
and teachers often underestimate the effectiveness of puzzles in
teaching children skills and concepts.
There are many types of puzzles,
including those that teach spatial skills, hand-eye coordination, math,
language, social science and science concepts, as well as logic and
thinking skills.
Children as young as one year of age can use simple
puzzles. There are puzzles for all ages, including adults.
The best
quality of puzzles is the enjoyment experienced by the user as they
solve them.
Wooden Puzzles
Puzzles
made of wood or very heavy cardboard help young children ages 1-8 learn
motor skills and hand-eye coordination as they fit the pieces
together. They learn
spatial concepts and how to problem solve. These puzzles teach the
alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes, and concepts about animals and
nature. Wooden puzzles have 2 to 30 pieces.
Simple
number puzzles can be created using one inch (1/2 cm.) ceramic
tiles. Use a permanent marker to write numbers from 1 to 100 on the
tiles. Children start by putting the first ten in order and then add ten
at a time until they can put all 100 in order. Teachers can make
multiple sets by first painting each set of tiles a different color and
then adding the numbers.
Jigsaw Puzzle
Jigsaw
puzzles are usually made of heavy duty cardboard and have any number of
pieces. Jigsaws teach spatial concepts and problem solving as the
pieces are examined to see how they fit together.
Jigsaw puzzles teach
concepts about science, geography (i.e.; maps), social science, and even
foreign languages. Children learn to work cooperatively as they
complete a puzzle.
A jigsaw in progress is a great way to keep
children occupied during a break in homeschooling lessons or on a rainy
day. Mark the back of each puzzle piece with a different color of felt
marker so that the pieces are easy to sort.
Hidden Picture Puzzle
Hidden
picture puzzles are those with elaborate, background pictures that
contain specific pictures the player must find. This type of puzzle
teaches figure ground perception and detailed observation skills, as
well as vocabulary.
A variation on the hidden picture puzzle is the
puzzle in which two pictures appear to be the same, but the player must
find the discrepancies between the two.
Word Search Puzzles
Word
search puzzles are puzzles made up of letters in which words are
spelled horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. (Spelling them
backwards is not recommended for children.) The player must find
specific words and circle them in the puzzle.
These puzzles help teach
spelling and figure-ground perception. Figure-ground perception is the
brain’s ability to see objects or words hidden in a background of
pictures or letters.
Crossword Puzzles
Crossword
puzzles may be quite simple for children as young as 7 or very
difficult for adults. Crossword puzzles teach vocabulary, reasoning
skills, spelling, and word attack skills.
The player must use word clues
to determine the correct word to fit into the crossword, either across
the puzzle or up and down.
There are excellent software programs which
allow teachers to create crossword puzzles using spelling, reading, or
vocabulary words.
Logic Puzzles
Logic
puzzles are basically of two types – word puzzles or mechanical
puzzles. Logic word puzzles come in many varieties, such as “Don is 6
inches taller than Harry. Harry is 2” shorter than Jan. Rich is 5’8”
tall and is the same height as Jan. How tall is each person?”
These
puzzles can be simple for children and range up to very difficult for
adults. In many ways, geometry problems can be considered logic word
puzzles.
Logic
mechanical puzzles consist of mechanically interlinked pieces. The
puzzles challenge the player to explore the interlocking pieces in order
to assemble or disassemble the puzzle, put the pieces in sequence, or
use dexterity to move the pieces.
Such puzzles include: Rubik’s cubes,
sliding tiles or blocks puzzles, impossible object puzzles, etc.
Patterns
Pattern
puzzles may be colors, shapes, numbers, letters, or any combination of
them. The challenge is to create a pattern, determine what comes next in
a pattern, or discover how the pattern was created. Patterns teach
logical progressions, deductive and inductive reasoning, and spatial
concepts.
Mazes
Mazes require
the player to find a way through a maze on paper, in virtual reality, or
in real life. Mazes teach spatial concepts, logical progression, and
deductive reasoning, as well as directionality. Mazes are often
considered to be art themselves.
Using Puzzles in the Classroom
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The other day a well-meaning teacher
made a comment that went something like this: “I wish my centers could
be as easy as just adding puzzles and games.” I had to take a deep
breath, count slowly to 10 and then I chose to smile and walk away.
{I’m pretty sure she did not want to hear my thesis on the benefits of
puzzles and games.} But it got me thinking and evaluating my classroom.
I don’t ever want to be filling my learning time with “just puzzles” or
“just games” or any fluff activities. Instead I want my students to be
participating in activities that are rooted in learning academic and
life skills.
2. Shape Puzzles
I love, love, love using pattern blocks and shape puzzles in my
classroom. Not only are students exposed to important shapes, but these
puzzles come in a variety of complexity levels making it easy to
differentiate for the needs of my students.
Using pattern blocks as the
pieces also teaches spacial recognition skills and geometric thinking –
both of which are important to their future success in math. Without
even knowing the mathematical term, your students will be practicing
skills like rotation and reflection.
I love creating these to coordinate with themes and holidays in our
classroom. It doesn’t change the important skills the students are
learning, but it definitely adds an element of engagement.
The other thing I really love about these is the ability to
differentiate. Each of the puzzles comes in three versions: a full
color version, a black and white version that shows the outline of each
piece and a black and white that only shows the shape outline. These
varying degrees of difficulty allow my to keep each of my students
challenged. Here’s a sample of the different levels from the
transportation set:
It’s not JUST a Puzzle
I love using puzzles in my classroom and my students love them too.
But in my quest to make sure I was doing my students justice I set off
to confirm what I already knew: Puzzles have so many wonderful academic
and life skills associated with them that they are a perfect classroom
activity!
Puzzles have been shown to help students with fine motor development,
hand-eye coordination, problem solving skills and so much more. There
are lots of different types of puzzles. Here’s just a few that I use in
my classroom:
1. Jigsaw Puzzles
There are times when I have a puzzle center in the classroom using
jigsaw puzzles. At the beginning of the year we may start with smaller
puzzles that have 24-36 pieces. But as the year goes on we increase the
complexity of the puzzles. I have stocked up on puzzles of all shapes
and sizes from the Dollar Store and Garage Sales.
I always love finding
puzzles that connect to our learning themes or concepts, but that does
not always happen. Although the picture might not be academic in
nature, I know that my students are working on important thinking skills
and building analytical thinking patterns that will later help them
academically.
2. Shape Puzzles
I love, love, love using pattern blocks and shape puzzles in my
classroom. Not only are students exposed to important shapes, but these
puzzles come in a variety of complexity levels making it easy to
differentiate for the needs of my students.
Using pattern blocks as the
pieces also teaches spacial recognition skills and geometric thinking –
both of which are important to their future success in math. Without
even knowing the mathematical term, your students will be practicing
skills like rotation and reflection.
I love creating these to coordinate with themes and holidays in our
classroom. It doesn’t change the important skills the students are
learning, but it definitely adds an element of engagement.
The other thing I really love about these is the ability to
differentiate. Each of the puzzles comes in three versions: a full
color version, a black and white version that shows the outline of each
piece and a black and white that only shows the shape outline. These
varying degrees of difficulty allow my to keep each of my students
challenged. Here’s a sample of the different levels from the
transportation set:
3-Riddles
Benefits of Riddles
1-They introduce intellectual humor to learners.
2-They help learners to work their minds.
3-They make learners read for comprehension.
4-They expand learners' vocabulary.
5-They give learners the chance to learn riddles and teach them to others.
6-They make a bond with the learners in their future life.
Examples:
What goes up and down stairs without moving?
Give it food and it will live; give it water and it will die.
What can you catch but not throw?
I run, yet I have no legs. What am I?
Take one out and scratch my head, I am now black but once was red.
Remove the outside, cook the inside, eat the outside, throw away the inside.
What goes around the world and stays in a corner?
What gets wetter the more it dries?
The more there is, the less you see.
They come at night without being called and are lost in the day without being stolen.
What kind of room has no windows or doors?
I have holes on the top and bottom. I have holes on my left and on my right. And I have holes in the middle, yet I still hold water. What am I?
I look at you, you look at me, I raise my right, you raise your left. What is this object?
It has no top or bottom but it can hold flesh, bones, and blood all at the same time. What is this object?
The more you take the more you leave behind.
Light as a feather, there is nothing in it; the strongest man can't hold it for much more than a minute.
As I walked along the path I saw something with four fingers and one thumb, but it was not flesh, fish, bone, or fowl.
What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?
I went into the woods and got it, I sat down to seek it, I brought it home with me because I couldn't find it.
What can fill a room but takes up no space?
It is weightless, you can see it, and if you put it in a barrel it will make the barrel lighter?
No sooner spoken than broken. What is it?
Only two backbones and thousands of ribs.
Four jolly men sat down to play, And played all night till the break of day. They played for cash and not for fun, With a separate score for every one. When it came time to square accounts, They all had made quite fair amounts. Now, not one has lost and all have gained, Tell me, now, this can you explain?
Jack and Jill are lying on the floor inside the house, dead. They died from lack of water. There is shattered glass next to them. How did they die?
Why don't lobsters share?
A barrel of water weighs 20 pounds. What must you add to it to make it weigh 12 pounds?
Big as a biscuit, deep as a cup, Even a river can't fill it up. What is it?
Clara Clatter was born on December 27th, yet her birthday is always in the summer. How is this possible?
He has married many women but has never married. Who is he?
If a rooster laid a brown egg and a white egg, what kind of chicks would hatch?
If you have it, you want to share it. If you share it, you don't have it. What is it?
You can't keep this until you have given it.
Take off my skin, I won't cry, but you will. What am I?
What book was once owned by only the wealthy, but now everyone can have it? You can't buy it in a bookstore or take it from the library.
What can go up and come down without moving?
What do you fill with empty hands?
What do you serve that you can't eat?
What do you throw out when you want to use it but take in when you don't want to use it?
What goes up and never comes down?
What has a foot on each side and one in the middle?
What has to be broken before it can be used?
What kind of coat can be put on only when wet?
What question can you never answer "yes" to?
What's the greatest worldwide use of cowhide?
Which is correct to say, "The yolk of the egg are white?" or "The yolk of the egg is white?"
You answer me, although I never ask you questions. What am I?