Activities resulted from a combination of a joke and a tale

We could think that oil and water cannot disolve with each other. But we can always try to do the best combination. In today's post I propose you a lesson plann resulted from the combination of a joke and a tale:

Joke

One Chinese person walks into a bar in America late one night and saw Steven Spielberg.

As he was a great fun of his movies, he rushes over to him, and asks for his autograph.

Instead, Spielberg gives him a slap and says, “You Chinese people bombed our Pearl Harbour, get out of here”.

The astonished Chinese man replied “It was not the Chinese who bombed your Pearl Harbour, it was the Japanese”.

Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese, you’re all the same”, replied Spielberg.

In return, the Chinese gives Spielberg a slap and says, “You sank the Titanic, my forefathers were on that ship”.

Shocked, Spielberg replies, “It was the iceberg that sank the ship, not me”.

The Chinese replies, “Iceberg, Spielberg, Carlsberg, you are all the same”.

Tale: The Butterfly in your hands

Far away in China, an old man and very smart one lived in a village. Many of the villagers and nearby villages came to learn from him and get his advice. It was said that he never made a mistake and every question had an answer and every problem had a solution. One day some children decided to do a mischief, tried to outwit the old man and said, "Everyone always says that he is never wrong, and always knows the right answer. This time we'll beat him and he won't have a choice and he'll be wrong". They took a butterfly in their hands and said, "We'll keep the butterfly between our hands and we will ask the old man whether the butterfly is alive or dead? If he says that it is alive, we'll crush the butterfly and if he says that it's dead, we'll open our hands and release the butterfly. They went to the old man and asked him, "Dear old man, is what we have in our hands alive or dead?" The old man looked at them with his smart eyes and said, "It depends on your hands".

LESSON PLANN (ABSTRACT)

Level: Students of 1^st of Bachillerato

Time: 45 minutes

Method: Communicative Approach

Skills developed (mostly): reading, speaking, oral interaction, listening

Activity 1: Warm Up - Fly like a Butterfly (5 min.)

Students have to go around the class thinking they are butterflies and they feel free. While they are flying, encourage them to focus their minds on how they would like to feel during the lesson (positive aspects: happy, motivated, participative, relaxed/active...). Say the students out loud: how are you feeling today? How would you like to feel during the lesson? Are you feeling happy? Are you feeling motivated? Will you participate during the lesson?

Activity 2: Reading and questioning the joke and the tale (10 min.)

Once the students have woken-up, spare them in two groups. Give one group the joke and another group the tale. Ask them to read the texts for themselves in silence. Then tell them to write a list highlighting the things/ideas they found more interesting/funny. At the same time, ask them to write questions of what they didn’t understood regarding vocabulary or other aspects.

Activity 3: Talking about the joke and the tale (20 min.)

Encourage the students to talk among them about what they found interesting in the texts and share their thoughts and ideas. Tell the students to ask the questions they have formulated to their mates in order to know if they have the answer. Give the students a list of questions you would like them to take into account, such as: who is Spielberg? What is Pearl Harbour? It would be interesting if they have access to a paper version dictionary or an online one, or if they can search on the Internet what they want to know.

Activity 4: Changing chairs (10 min.)

Tell the students to pair with someone who has read a different text as he/her. Ask them to share their stories, spotlighting the thinks they have learned about the two texts, what they knew before and what they know now... Classify the two texts according to different categories given: funny, interesting, boring, sad...

As the students are leaving the class, ask them how they are feeling. It is always very important to take into account their feelings.