The Lighter Side

[Ali Boumoussa]

I have always believed that a good dose of humour in the classroom always helps a great deal. Using your textbook, you may want, for instance, to develop a thread or just one session with the multiple objectives of reviewing some vocabulary (adjectives), some grammar (e.g. tenses), some communicative functions (describing people's appearance and character), and try integrating more than one skill in your activities. There are a hundred and one options (I love this word) of going about it. I am sure that we all have our shwaris -not just bags- of tricks. But My best options are always options where students are also allowed to have some fun. That lowers their affective filter, Krashen would say. Now here's the lighter side (sorry to have kept you waiting!):

Famous kids... you won't believe how people change.

http://www.eatliver.com/celebrities-kids/index.html

Now , if you are serious at all about lowering your students affective filter and establishing a human rapport with them, why don't you think of a couple of options to share with us here?

[Mourad KACEM]

Humor is an important characteristic in the classroom and I think that there are a lot of teachers who neglect it because they still stick to the tradtional way of teaching where no action can be performed without the teacher's permission.students should be given some freedom of expression in the classroom .F.A.A(Free Anxiety Atmosphere) is very helpful in learning.

[Hk]

Hi there, I still remembr this phrase from my childhood in the middle schools when we were introduced to learn Engish, which says: Laughter makes everything happen.I think that it is a matter of belief. When teachers include this component in their everyday lessons, the routine and the stress just go away. These are things that we take for granted in the Maghreb. However, in the Anglosaxon countries, tons of literature and research were conducted to understand this seemingly natural and human feature. People, such as Carl Rogers, the father of Humanistic approach, has extensively studied the phenomenon and its effects on learning. Lot of thoughts ahead folks !!!!!!!!!!
Katia