GRAMMAR - with LAUGHTER PHOTOCOPIABLE EXERCISES FOR INSTANT LESSONS George Woolard uuneuare i STRAIGHTFORWARD, EASY-TO-USE MATERIAL FOR BUSY TEACHERSLanguage Teaching Publications 114a Church Road, Hove, BN3 2EB, England Tel: 00 44 (1) 273 736344 Fax: 00 44 (1) 273775361 ISBN 1 899396 01 2 © LTP 1999 Copyright This book is fully protected by copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the copyright owner. Permission to Photocopy All of the students’ material in this book is intended for photocopying. Permission is hereby given to photocopy all such pages for use by individual teachers in their classes, No private or institutional copying which could be construed as re-publication is allowed without the permission of the copyright owner, The Author George Woolard is an experienced ELT teacher and teacher trainer who has worked in Greece and Malaysia. He now teaches at Stevenson College, Edinburgh. His first book for LTP was the highly successful Lessons with Laughter. The Mlustrator Bill Scott is a well known British cartoonist. His work has appeared in many magazines and newspapers. Sales of his books of cartoons exceed two million, He has spent the past 30 years teaching, drawing and living on Merseyside. He is a distinguished after-dinner speak Acknowledgements Cover design by Anna Macleod Cartoons by Bill Stott Printed in England by Commercial Colour Press, London E7UUM Introduction Humour and motivation Grammar with Laughter is a book which uses jokes to highlight grammatical patterns Humorous learning materials have a number of advantages. Firstly, they increase motivation by being potentially amusing. Secondly, they are memorable and can help the learner to remember grammar, Lastly, they lead to spontaneous practice and consolidation of grammar through the learner’s natural desire to share jokes with others. 82 worksheets Grammar with Laughter is intended for intermediate students although the material will be of use to the pre- and the post-intermediate student. It consists of 82 worksheets to be used to provide supplementary grammar practice. The worksheets are organised grammatically, consisting of a series of jokes which have a single grammar focus, Each worksheet ends with a task which is designed to help the learner personalise the grammar focus item of the worksheet. This generally involves learners in producing information about themselves, their attitudes and opinions, It is not intended that the worksheets be used to present grammar points. Once a class has completed a unit in their coursebook, the teacher can select the corresponding worksheet as humorous consolidation. Please note that some jokes appear more than once ¢o illustrate different grammar points. ‘Some techniques Here are some ideas about using the worksheets in class, There is no one set way of dealing with them. Ie depends on your students, your situation, and the kind of teacher you are! 1. Get students to do the exercise alone. 2. Get students to work in pairs to check their answers and decide on anything they did not understand. Do the follow-up activity at the bottom of the page. 4. Get students to go back over the exercise, this time underlining all uses of the grammar point 5. Ask students which jokes they did not find funny. Take a class vote on the bestworst joke on each sheet. 6, Cut up one (or more) pages and give each student one joke. They then have to learn the joke and tell it to another student without referring to the paper. Give each student one joke to translate into their own language. Is it still funny? Self-access Grammar with Laughter is ideal for Self Access centres, providing a light but ideal partner to the many self-study grammar practice books that are available. Students can be encouraged to move from the practice exercises in these self-study books to the corresponding unit in Grammar with Laughter. Many of my scudents find this an enjoyable addition to their use of these self- study books. George Woolard Edinburgh 1999