Here’s another activity that I found pretty fun. Can be a warm up or activity in and of itself. Get a comic – New Yorker, far side, Pbf comics (obviously not a risqué one) – and have them explain why it is funny. I teach at the uni level and they’re very good at this. Would likely work for high school and maybe even middle school students. Can also do with short skits but comics work better I think.
I’ve also shown them videos on the New Yorker caption contest and explained how that works. Then had them try to come up with their own punchline. This they are… not good at. Part of that I think is the New Yorker tends to dry humor which isn’t huge in Japanese culture and perhaps doesn’t translate as well. But it’s fun to see what they come up with.
by TheChaddingtonBear