Got Ya!

Humor is not necessarily constrained by language. And some students thrive on the “got ya” moments. I was teaching a group of two students, a husband and wife. Now, you have to understand that the husband had a general tendency to be a bit reserved.

We were in the midst of a pronunciation exercise, which consisted of practice at a slower speed, (classroom English), then at native speed, after some explanation of particular pronunciation quirks. The students had finished pronouncing the target sentence at native speed rather well. The ensuing dialogue went something like this:

Teacher: “Are you American?” (Asked in Russian for the fun of it.)

Husband: “I have been there a long time.”

Teacher: “You were there a long time? Really? Interesting.”

Wife: “He is big lier.”

Husband: “I have been there for three weeks.” (Amid a lot of laughter.)

On the one hand, you had to be there to fully appreciate the “got ya” moment in that little exchange. You would have had to see the likely gullible expression on my face, and read my student’s mind as he quite probably thought the Russian equivalent of “got ya” amid inward and outward chuckles.

Moral

The main point of this little sort of tale is that this student, though at about an intermediate low level, was ready and willing to try a bit of dry humor on his poor teacher. Language doesn’t stop our students from messing with our heads, so let’s not allow it to get in our way as we teach. Relax and have a little fun with your students; online or offline. If the context allows and a “got ya” moment presents itself, use it. It’s a teachable moment, and it lightens the mood of the class. And, hey, it’s just plain fun; as teaching should be, right?