Learn English Laughing

Humor and Learning

Humor is important in learning a language. Not only does it enable the student to learn new vocabulary in context but it also is a motivating force. When a student understands a joke she begins to feel like she is in the world of the new language. Puns are especially valuable because they stress meaning. We’ll give a few jokes and puns as examples and hoope that they will move other teachers to use this powerful resource.

Puns

Laughing? Well, maybe not. Puns usually make people groan. They say that for a pun to be good, it has to be really bad. As a matter of fact, they are called “groaners”. A pun is a little word game, playing with language. Most puns use a word that has two meanings, or use two words that sound almost the same.

Here are some puns. Use your knowledge of English, and your dictionary if necessary, to explain the pun.

Example: Why is an empty purse always the same? Because there is never any change in it. In this pun, the word “change” has two meanings: 1. coins and small bills, 2. alteration.

1. Do you know why its easy for a hunter to find a leopard? Because a...