Sense of Humor

[CeilingofStars]

I find that my sense of humor gets misunderstood all the time here.  To be fair, it occasionally did in the States too, but I've stopped making jokes a lot because of the looks I get.  For example:

I was teaching my 6th graders that they need to write with spaces between words.  I wrote an improper example on the board, all messy and scribbly and scrunchedalltogether, and said, "Every time you write like this, a puppy dies."

I know they understood the literal meaning of my words, but they were all like.  :o  "Teacher...puppy...dies??  Why the puppy die??"
 :( ???

Any funny stories about your jokes being misunderstood?

[cracker]

Maybe stop making stupid, immature 'jokes' then! - esp in front of the children.

on a side note - Whats green and smells of bacon?


















Kermit's fingers           :D     

[thektulu7]

I think I sometimes tend to make puns in class and students don't get them. I guess it's understandable.

Maybe stop making stupid, immature 'jokes' then! - esp in front of the children.

on a side note - Whats green and smells of bacon?


















Kermit's fingers           :D    

WOW. I almost wasn't thinking and somehow thought of Kermit as a green pig but then...WOW. That's amazing.

[sunshinefiasco]

Puns are one thing, but how long have you been here? Sarcasm is barely a thing, never mind dead-puppy jokes (also, jokes in another language almost always have to be simpler). It's likely that that sort of joke wouldn't be fully gotten by a 6th grader at home either (they'd probably laugh, but they wouldn't get it ).

As an example: I'm unbelievably sarcastic, and I'm lucky to have a main CT who's pretty sarcastic too (especially in comparison to the other people we work with). She worked in embassies for over a decade, and her English is great, so we joke back and forth a lot. However, the "Why was 6 afraid of 7? (Because 789)" joke absolutely slayed her.

 With kids, I stick to clowning/maybe saying ME? when the kids answer the letter U.

[k.l.]

They like nonsense puzzles but humour is slapstick here. Watch Gag Concert to get an idea of what is going on.

Sarcasm, irony, etc. are generally not funny here.

[cowboy7]

I think you will find that in contrast to American comedians who often make fun of others, Korean comedians typically make fun of themselves.

[taeyang]

is saying something, or someone, will die really humour though? might just be me though.

[conorsean]

What's the hardest thing about microwaving a puppy?

My c*ck.

(you probably shouldn't use that one in class. or ever.)

[boeta777]

i asked my co-teacher to demonstrate a dance move in front of class together and she did ,that's a good sense of humour, no?

[chrisinkorea2011]

i think maybe that kind of joke is too high of a level for kids in korea, im sure even some adults would be like "wtf"? stick to easier jokes and then im sure u will get laughs

[conorsean]

I don't even think kids from English speaking countries have such a developed sense of humour to grasp the "deliberately insensitive hyperbolic consequences for relatively minor infractions' genre. 

[CeilingofStars]

Honestly it's not like I was thinking, "I know, I'll tell them this joke, they'll love it!"  That's generally just how I talk...with a lot of sarcasm and absurdism sprinkled in without thinking about it.  Like I said, there are people in America that didn't get it either.  I was once inhaling these appetizers at a party and this girl asked, "How do you like them?"  As I continued shoveling them in my mouth, I said, "Oh my god, they're so disgusting, right?"  The girl didn't speak to me for months.  Turns out she had made them and thought I was being serious.  Why would anyone say that seriously??

Anyway.  I was wondering if anyone else had gotten the blank stare, that's all.  I found it amusing.

[Jrong]

I teach elementary school (3-6th) and have found that any humour that requires "deep thought" is empty and useless. I've found that they love slapstick and humour that requires extensive and skillful use of your body -- like Jim Carrey humour. I'm no "Jim Carrey" but I try, lol, I love that style of humour and they love it too evidently...

[conorsean]

Honestly it's not like I was thinking, "I know, I'll tell them this joke, they'll love it!"  That's generally just how I talk...with a lot of sarcasm and absurdism sprinkled in without thinking about it.  Like I said, there are people in America that didn't get it either.  I was once inhaling these appetizers at a party and this girl asked, "How do you like them?"  As I continued shoveling them in my mouth, I said, "Oh my god, they're so disgusting, right?"  The girl didn't speak to me for months.  Turns out she had made them and thought I was being serious.  Why would anyone say that seriously??

Anyway.  I was wondering if anyone else had gotten the blank stare, that's all.  I found it amusing.

I used to get the blank stares all the time with my dark Irish sense of  humour. Just made it a little lighter and after a while they could tell when it was a joke and when it wasn't. Unfortunately I have made some students cry sometimes. You need to be careful.

[cepctheworld]

I just tell my students I will chop of their heads or throw them out the window if they do something I hate.  Also learn a few Korean phrases... like "jew gah lay" = do you want to die?
At first I was like...I will never say that to a student but then I did and everyone busted out laughing.  And I hear my teachers use it all the time (but they use it seriously).  Or Nah dae gee mar rah= it means Don't be so proud of yourself... but you should only use it if there is one student running his mouth and everyone wants him to shut it.  Keep in mind I teach Middle School boys so they are tough and say stuff like this to each other all the time.  And Christina Teacher using Hanguel is shocking and funny in itself.   

I also do the when they say U in hangman, Me?  ME? and when they say U again.  I say oh you and point at them.  It still works every time and I have been doing it for a year now.  Same thing when they guess Y,  I always shrug my shoulders and give a log, Whhhhyyyyyyyyy?  That one is not at funny as U but it gets a little laugh. 

[CeilingofStars]

Haha I use the "I'll throw you out the window," one too.  There's always one kid that cracks up, which makes my day.

I like your hangman one; I may use that. ^__^

I know a lot of kids like silly/slapstick humor, but I honestly hate it.  It's so boring and cheesy to me.  Like I would never begrudge another teacher/parent doing it because I think it's awesome to get the kids laughing, but I would NEVARRR do it because...yeah.  Ugh.  I don't even think I liked it as a kid.

[stevensteeler]

part of the reason they don't get the sense of humor is that they don't understand our English at the same speed, and they are processing what we are saying instead of understanding the underlying meaning it may have.

[LemonWater]

I had to learn to adjust my sarcasm here  .. .   it's not that they don't find it funny, they are just usually trying to process the language and  don't know when you are being serious or not.   When I make a sarcastic remark now, I really exaggerate it and say it with a smile . . . and, if they look confused, throw in an "I'm just kidding" at the end. Now they have learned not to take everything I say at face value.

[Cereal]

What's the hardest thing about microwaving a puppy?

My c*ck.

(you probably shouldn't use that one in class. or ever.)

I really don't understand this at all.

[suisse]

The "I'll throw you out the window" is a great one the kids enjoy, especially, I find, during some free talking between classes. It inspires to think a little differently, and there's always one who says "OK, me...I am superman" or something like that. There is a huge man-made lake in full view of my 4th grade class and there is always a running joke, on the colder/wetter days, of going swimming instead of teaching. This kind of humour would probably have you locked up at home, but the stupider, more monkeyish it is, the better the students will relate to it, and the more they'll like you. It is very, very easy to make a class of 28-35 students in Elem laugh. Anything from pretending to shoot them down or saying you're not drinking water, but it is in fact bondaegee juice will have them in raptures.

I thought at a shitty hagwon before moving public. I drew a picture on the board and one of the girls (11 Korean age) said "you're no Picasso, but your face is one". I can't for the life of me think that she thought of that (this must be in a movie or something) but the quality of the English spoken and the context it was used was utterly brilliant. What she said is absolute sense of humour.