

What’s So Funny? Jokes for Teaching and Learning English
A live session with Andy Martin, hosted by Fluency MC
2 Weeks
Course Start Date: 27 Aug 2014
tutorial
live class
Non-native speakers of English often find themselves in situations where someone tells a joke and everyone laughs but them. English language teachers who are not native speakers can find it difficult-if not impossible-to explain a joke to a student who has heard it in a movie or on the Internet.
In this session, Andy will discuss the following questions: What makes people laugh? How do jokes in English compare to jokes in other languages and culture ? How can we turn a discussion of a particular joke into a broader language lesson, focusing on specific elements including grammar, vocabulary, functions, and cultural references?
Andy Martin learned English at the age of five when he moved to the USA from his native Hungary. He grew up bilingual, always fascinated by other languages and the people he met learning English. After college, he taught English in Ethiopia and New York City before earning an M.Ed. from Teachers College at Columbia University and becoming a teacher trainer. He has written three ESL reading textbooks and worked for eight different ESL publishers as a teacher trainer, editor, marketing manager, and sales manager.
Andy has enjoyed great success from Rolls Off the Tongue, his daily blog on Tumblr, which has over 300,000 followers, and What’s So Funny?, his podcast on Audioboo.
Language of instruction: English
- Live one-hour webinar on September 4 at 4:00 pm EST
- Meet renowned English teacher, trainer, author, and editor Andy Martin
- Learn to understand and analyze jokes in English
- Discover how to use jokes to teach elements of language and culture
- Class recording and slides available to all who join
Jason R Levine (Jase, for short) is Ambassador and Knowledge Entertainer at WizIQ, where he recruits teachers and develops online courses. He has fifteen years of experience as an English teacher, teacher trainer, and materials writer. Jase is the creator of ColloLearn, an approach to English language learning based on the songs he writes and performs as Fluency MC. He has led teacher training programs in fourteen countries in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East.
Jase teaches in the online MA TESOL program at the New School and writes songs and chants for several publishers, including Oxford University Press. He is chair of TESOL’s Video and Digital Media Interest Section and works as an English Specialist with the U.S. Department of State.
After earning an MA in TESOL from Hunter College in 1999, Jase taught at several schools before becoming the director of curriculum development for Embassy CES. In 2002, he co-founded a TOEFL preparation school for international students in New York City.
Jase maintains the ColloLearn YouTube channel and the Fluency MC Facebook page. He is an active administrator of over a dozen Facebook groups for English language teachers and learners, including How to Improve Your English, Jason R. Levine Fans,Innovative Teachers of English, and Teachers Teaching Online.
Schedule & Syllabus
