What’s So Funny? Jokes for Teaching and Learning English

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.