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1、Humor-A Dynamic Performance in English Class英语教学中的幽默方法应用AbstractAs we know, most of the college students acquire and master systematical knowledge of English language only via having the English course; whats more, English is the basic obligatory course in university in china. However, many a studen
2、t find English class so boring and so difficult to learn that they take little interest in English; therefore, they make little progress in English learning. So how to make students English-learning become relaxing and exciting has always been a heated topic in the foreign language teaching research
3、 field. Obviously, many research studies have regarded humor as a good way for English teachers to employ so as to inspire students to think, to imitate and to be creative.Key words: humor, English teaching, principles, functions 摘要目前，英语是中国大学生学习和掌握这门语言的必修科目。然而，很多大学生发现英语课堂非常的枯燥和乏味因而他们失去了对英语学习的兴趣；因此，他
4、们在英语上很难获得进步。所以如何使英语课堂变得轻松而又有趣一直是外语教学研究的重点课题。当然，很多研究已经将幽默作为英语老师用来激发学生思考，模仿，并变得富有创造性的好方法。在这篇论文中，将通过对幽默的理解，幽默可能表现形式的探讨来激发学生的学习英语的兴趣，提升老师在英语课堂中的个人魅力以及形成良好的课堂氛围的幽默方法。同时本文还针对幽默的使用原则以及它在英语教学中的功能进行了阐述。本文并不仅仅是为了呼吁人们能够对幽默在英语中的重要作用有一个很好的理解，同时，希望这篇文章能够给英语教学带来一点新鲜感和教学帮助。关键词：幽默；英语教学；原则；功能Contents1. Introduction12
5、. Demonstration22.1 Definitions of humor22.2 Applications of English class humor32.2.1 Establish the ingenious analogy32.2.2 Use body language42.2.3 Use self-ridicule52.2.4 Take advantage of homophonic method52.2.5 Make full use of context72.3 The principles of humor in English class72.3.1 The princ
6、iple of elicitation82.3.2 The principle of moderation82.3.3 The principle of naturalness92.3.4 The principle of practicality102.3.5 The principle of elegance102.4 The functions of humor in English class112.4.1 Stimulates the students interest112.4.2 Vivifies the classroom atmosphere122.4.3 Harmonize
7、s teacher-student relationship132.4.4 Improves students personality133. Conclusion14Works Cited15Bibliography16Humora Dynamic Performance in English Class1. IntroductionAt present, English teaching is a very important course in college teaching. Most of the college students acquire and master system
8、atical knowledge of English language only via having English course. And the CET4 and CET6 have been acting as two invisible swords on the shoulders of college students. Nowadays, more and more employers regard English as a measure of capacity of university graduates. We must break the traditional m
9、odel of teaching because the teachers and students are to be friends- learn and work together, so that teachers and students can learn from both sides and achieve maximum results with little effort. But how to make English classes become lively, interesting and sustain students motivation effectivel
10、y? For my part, humor is one of the ways of effective teaching. Although the classroom should be a solemn place, it also should be a place full of laughter. A teacher can not only reflect the wit and agility through his humor, but also can make the classroom atmosphere become lively, thereby narrowi
11、ng the distance between teachers and students, enhancing students interest and confidence in learning a foreign language. Therefore, teachers should try to use humorous language to attract the attention of students so that they can learn English better in a relaxing environment. This funny way of te
12、aching can make students accept a lively ideological education, keep the knowledge in mind, and master them in an unconsciously way. With the development of society, language teachers will inevitably continue to improve their teaching to meet the requirements of new times and new situations, especia
13、lly in the case of the same teaching material, more should be changed in the old unscientific methods of teaching concept. Because the teachers need to enable students to master the language and to maximize the ease of learning and using, in this way, the students will be trained to meet the new dem
14、ands in todays society.Humor is one of the most interesting, powerful and significant arts. How to apply this art to our English teaching class? What are the principles of it while adopting the art? What are the functions of this art if it is properly used in the classroom teaching? This thesis aims
15、 at a tentative analysis of the above-mentioned questions.2. Demonstration 2.1. Definitions of humorBefore answering what is teaching with humor, lets first take a careful look at some understandings, definitions and interpretations of “humor” from various countries and regions. Table 1: Definitions
16、 from different resources. Various resourcesDefinitions refer to humorMerriam-Websters Unabridged DictionaryThat quality in a happening, an action, a situation, or an expression of ideas which appeals to a sense of the ludicrous or absurdly incongruous.Oxford English Dictionarya. That quality of act
17、ion, speech, or writing, which excites amusement; oddity, jocularity, facetiousness, comicality, fun. b. The faculty of perceiving what is ludicrous or amusing, or of expressing it in speech, writing, or other composition; jocose imagination or treatment of a subject.Longman Dictionary Of Contempora
18、ry EnglishThe quality in something that makes it funny or the way that a particular person or group find certain things amusing.WikipediaHumour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement.Modern Chinese DictionaryHumor refers to the interest
19、ing, funny and meaningful words.Taiwans Chinese Great DictionaryHumor is the one which ridicules with a tone of speech and the irony meaning.Ci HaiHumor is interpreted as a kind of art practice. Its main aesthetic features are characterized with a relaxed, joking and a profound laugh and manifested
20、as the serious and comical attitude that the awareness takes toward the aesthetic object.Correspondingly, from the perspective of teaching, one important special education expert named Hersholt, in his The Art of Teaching defines the humor as a necessary quality and capacity for a good teacher. He s
21、pecializes in the systematic study of teaching humor (Jiang 168). Unfortunately, he doesnt make a more acceptable definition. Humor, however, is still popular among the educators, domestic or abroad, because it has the high esthetic appeal and the remarkable teaching effect. I believe that if you wa
22、nt to define something, you must grasp the essential characteristics of it. Otherwise, you may always give the one-sided definition, incomplete or inaccurate. In short, on the basis of the sayings of the numerous schools, I believe that teaching humor is to use some interesting, meaningful, and wise
23、 means to teach students the knowledge, the development of capacity. And it is a teaching art form to develop the sense of humor and optimism of students.2.2. Applications of English class humor Today, most teachers and scholars are advocating the use of teaching humor and nearly no one can deny tha
24、t humor plays an important part in English teaching. There are many, many different applicable ways of class humor and every teacher has his own ways of using humor, so it brings about different kinds of effects. Here are some of the more common ones. 2.2.1 Establish the ingenious analogyIn Longman,
25、 you can see the definition: a comparison between two situations, processes that seem similar, or the process of making this comparison. (Longman 57) To make it short, through the vivid metaphors, abstract things can be understood easily so that the students could understand and remember things easi
26、ly.For example, we all know about Einstein and his theory of relativity. One day, when a group of young students asked him what the theory of relativity is, he answered: “when you sit with a nice girl for two hours，you think it is only a minute but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute，you think
27、it is two hours. That is relativity.” (Jiang 168)Through the ingenious analogy, the complex theory could be so clear and easy for the students to understand. After hearing this story, everyone will feel the humorous comparison between the beautiful girl and a hot stove. Due to the vivid comparison,
28、the students can get a brief understanding of relativity which is a theory based on the principle that all motion is relative. How wonderful the analogy is! So our English teachers may as well explain one certain complex sentence or concept to their students by telling some interesting stories about
29、 the famous.2.2.2 Use body language Body language refers to the facial expressions, head movement, eye rotation and gestures of this kind of non-linguistic means. Teachers take advantage of body language to provide students with information or give directions, which helps to trigger students learnin
30、g enthusiasm and attract their attention on what they have learned. Thus the whole class will be very interesting. I remember one said that once in the classroom, the foreign language teachers should be the actors, should be able to perform and dance. As a teacher, it is proper for him to use gestur
31、es, movements, facial expressions and various tones of voice but it is not proper to be gentle or perform mechanically before his students or just walk around because such a teacher will not succeed in getting students attention and arousing their interest. For example, when a teacher explained the
32、word “hijack” to his students, he acted as Jack in such a situation: in a flying plane, a young man named jack suddenly stood up, drew his gun at the passengers and shouted: Dont move! Or Ill kill you! then asked his students what he was doing and all the students would burst into “hijacking” togeth
33、er (Guo 109). In this way, the students remembered the spelling, meaning and collocation of the word “hijack” easily after the big laughter, which can be described as three birds with one stone. This example shows that sometimes it can be easier for a student to understand what the teacher has said
34、through body language than it is when they get only boring explanation because the body language can deeply impress the students.2.2.3 Use self-ridicule Yu Guangzhong is a master of humor and he once said that one, with true mind of humor, will not only play jokes on others but himself, will not onl
35、y laugh at others, but will be self-deprecating. A teacher often takes himself as an example, using self-ridicule to draw the attention of students and narrowing the psychological distance between teachers and students. For example, when a teacher tries to explain the use of when, he tells the stude
36、nts of his own experience. I was having a bath when the telephone rang; I had to rush out with one hand holding the trousers, one hand to take the phone. (Jiang 168) The sentence shows such a funny scene to tell us that the teacher was in an embarrassing moment, which achieves a better explanation o
37、f when. That is to say, we use when in a situation that two things are happening together. The teacher takes advantage of his own life experience so that his students can give some similar examples and make a good use of when.2.2.4. Take advantage of homophonic methodThe harmonic method is mainly us
38、ed to achieve peoples different understandings of the homonym of a word or a phrase which brought about a series of different sense of humor. In our daily life, I believe that we share the experience that we often make many jokes because of the various meaning of a word. Moreover, we find that the h
39、umor will be a very deep memory imprinted on our minds, so that every time you cannot help smiling faced with one certain word. Then, lets read the following story together:A drill sergeant ordered two young female recruits to paint a room in the barracks stressing that they could not get any point
40、on their uniforms. Doubtfully they could avoid ruining their clothes the women locked the door, stripped naked and painted in nude. After about an hour they heard a knocked at the door.“Who is it?” asked one of the women.“Blindman” came the reply.Seeing no harm in letting a blind man in, they opened
41、 the door.“Wow, what knockout!” the man said with surprise. “Now, where do you want these blinds?” (Jiang 169)In this story, as an adjective blind means blind or visually handicapped while it means curtains as a noun. Therefore, the sergeant who said blindman meant that he was a man who sent the cur
42、tain, while the word are understood to be blind by the two female soldiers, so the story resulted in a hilarious humor because of the contrast understanding of homophones word blind. Through this story, the teacher can lead his students to understand that the same word have different meanings in dif
43、ferent contexts, so that students may not form a mindset that a word may only has one meaning. Thus, students are conscious of other meanings of the frequently used words in their future English learning then enlarge their vocabulary and experience the joy of them.2.2.5. Make full use of contextThro
44、ugh the design of a number of vivid scenes, the teacher fully mobilizes the students positive emotional experience, so that students can obtain knowledge in a relaxing environment. This part includes a lot of methods：Take advantage of the existing materials, use pictures and description, act the rol
45、es and carry out games. In fact, teachers humor feelings are ready in classroom. For example, when a teacher is talking about an important point, or when teacher finds that his or her students made a big mistake, the teacher can draw a big eye as a warning on the blackboard. The gesture has more elo
46、quent suggestions than any words a teacher could have spoken. It may be appropriate to use one or two jokes to eliminate the embarrassment between teachers and students and resolve difficulties that students are faced with. In addition, it is inevitable for teachers to make mistakes, so if teacher d
47、ont correct it, he/she will mislead his/her students. But the teacher may say “maybe we can change our seats now, can you point out my mistake?”（Ma 95）after he finds his mistakes. With the initiative to exchange positions with the students, it does not need the teacher to point out his errors and ex
48、tricate himself with dignity but it reminds students of the error-correction, which fully demonstrates teachers wit and humor and change things into a harmonious way. In everyday life, the social communication ability to tactfully get rid of the most embarrassing situation is a kind of rare ability
49、and character. It is just where the power of humor can be felt.There are many and varied humorous teaching skills, the teacher must utilize nimbly in reality and create new methods unceasingly. As an English teacher, he should deeply love the life, have optimistic attitude and take an enthusiastic spiritual outlook. In
