Everybody loves jokes. We like to hear them and we like to tell them. Nothing reflects a culture more than its jokes. It’s how people within a family, group, community, institution, and even a nation share their common knowledge and beliefs.
Some people are natural comedians. They really know how to tell a joke. But most of us just like hearing them. As a teacher you don’t need to be a comedian unless it’s something you already like doing and are good at. You should eventually encourage your students to be the comics and have them bring their jokes into class, with your guidance.
We rarely think about the language we use in jokes. Many jokes rely on puns and idioms and other forms of word play to get their point across. When you laugh at a joke, it shows that you understand the joke. That’s why some people will laugh even if they don’t get or understand the joke. They don’t want to appear ignorant. They don’t want to be thought of as an outsider. But language learners, are by definition, “outsiders” because they are not yet fluent in communicating or in understanding their new language. That is a big reason why language learners love learning jokes and idioms. It makes them sound and feel like an “insider.”
So, should you use humor in your classroom? Should you explain jokes and idioms to your students? Absolutely yes! The classroom is the perfect place for this because it’s designed for explanations and analysis. You can make jokes and idioms a part of your curriculum, daily, weekly, every now and then. But, you should not give students lists of idioms to memorize; or give them a collection of jokes.
I am not advocating special joke and idiom classes. Use jokes and idioms to reinforce existing lessons. This is possible regardless of what aspect of language you are teaching, whether it be grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, reading, writing, etc. As far as language level is concerned, this approach will work for intermediate and higher.