It’s in the Book, but Should It Be?

Overview:

This is for an intermediate writing class. It is a lesson based on the first comedy record to sell one million copies, which happened in 1952. It is a lesson on removing redundancy.

Media:

Audio recording: 1952 HITS ARCHIVE: It's In The Book (Grandma's Lye Soap) - Johnny Standley (a #1 record)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poCWRJTgMQU

Video recording: Johnny Standley.wmv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdaeQLCTa6g

Note: If you use the second one, you may have to change the transcript slightly.

The audio recording can also be found at http://turoks.net/Cabana/ItsInTheBook.php by a fan whose transcript I have used here.

Little Bo Peep:

Inform students that today they will edit the text of a written passage to make it shorter.

Show them this text. Explain any key words.

Apologies to this lady ahead of time, for what we will do to your rhyme.

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,

And doesn't know where to find them;

Leave them alone, and they'll come home,

Wagging their tails behind them.

“There is too much information here. Cross out any extra words.” Have them cross out words.

It’s In the Book:

Set the scene. Show the pictures. Get them to say what they think is going on. It is important for them to speak about their hypotheses before you give your context. Do not use the captions underneath the photos at this time.

Done with that? Move on. “Today, we will listen to a recording of a man from a religious revival in the US in the 1950s. He will be speaking to a large group of Christians. He will read from a very important text. What text do you think he will read from?” [Elicit Bible.]

Audience at a religious revival in the 1950s

John Standley, playing the part of a revivalist preacher

Play them the first bit of the recording.

I have a message for you - a very sad message! My subject for this evening will be Little Bo Peep.

Stop here. Ask them if they were correct.

“Now listen again. What words would he have removed? Why?”

It’s possible to use the remainder of this transcript for lower-level learners. Use your best judgment for whatever else may need explaining.

Continue playing:

It says here, "Little Bo Peep"—who was a little girl—

                        has lost her sheep,

            And doesn't know where to find them”

Now that's reasonable, isn't it? It's reasonable to assume if Little Bo Peep had lost her sheep, it's only natural that she wouldn't know where to find them.

That, that basically is reasonable, but, uh, "leave them alone". Now that overwhelms me—completely overwhelms me. The man said she lost her sheep, turns right around and boldly states, "She doesn't know where to find them". And then has the stupid audacity to say, "Leave them alone!" Now! Now, now think for a moment! Think! If the sheep were lost, and you couldn't find them, you'd have to leave them alone, wouldn't you? So, "Leave them alone". "Leave them alone". It's in the book!

"Leave them alone and they"—they being the sheep—"they will come home". Ah yes, they'll come home. Oh, there'll be a brighter day tomorrow, they will come home! It's in the book.

                        “they'll come home,

            Wagging their tails”

Pray tell me what else could they wag?

“they'll come home,

Wagging their tails behind them.”

Did we think they'd wag them in front? Of course, they might have come home in reverse. They could have done that, I really don't know. But, nonetheless, it's in the book.

End recording. There is more but it is not relevant to the lesson.

Now compare your answers to those of the speaker. Were they similar?

A good follow-up would be this paragraph, which they can edit out for redundancy. “There are seven words or phrases that can be removed to make this smaller and more powerful. What words would those be?”

Let me tell you about my personal friend, Roger. He’s American and bald-headed. Nowadays, he is on a diet. Today, he ate a salad with tuna fish in it. The next time he and I meet together, I think he will be thinner. His birthday is March 3, and that is coming soon, so I should give him a free gift and plan in advance what to give him. The reason is because he gave me a gift on my birthday.

Answers in boldface:

Let me tell you about my personal friend, Roger. He’s American and bald-headed. Nowadays, he is on a diet. Today, he ate a salad with tuna fish in it. The next time he and I meet together, I think he will be thinner. His birthday is March 3, and that is coming soon, so I should give him a free gift and plan in advance what to give him. The reason is because he gave me a gift on my birthday.

If they have a portfolio of their own written work, they can look for redundancies after that.

Appendix: The rest of “It’s in the Book” (Not part of the lesson). Perhaps some day I will come up with a lesson for this part.

      So now if you will, kindly pick up your books, and turn to page 222. We'll ask you all to sing. You'll find your books on the backs of your seats. Are we ready?

      Everyone, 222. Let's really enjoy ourselves, let's live it up. All together.

Do you remember grandma's lye soap?
Good for everything in the home.
And the secret was in the scrubbing,
It wouldn't suds and couldn't foam.

Then let us sing right out of grandma's, of grandma's lye soap
Used for - for everything, everything on the place,
For pots and kettles, the dirty dishes,
And for your hands and for your face.

Shall we now sing the second verse? Let's get it with great exuberance, let's live it up. It's not raining inside tonight. Everyone, let's have a happy time. Are we ready? All together, the second verse.

Little Herman and brother Thurman
Had an aversion to washing their ears
Grandma scrubbed them with the lye soap.
And they haven't heard a word in years.

Then let us sing right out of grandma's, of grandma's lye soap.
Sing all out, all over the place.
For pots and kettles, the dirty dishes,
And for your hands and for your face.

Well, let's sing what's left of the last verse. Let's have a happy time, everyone. The last verse, all together. Every one!

Mrs. O'Malley, out in the valley,
Suffered from ulcers, I understand.
She swallowed a cake of grandma's lye soap.
Has the cleanest ulcers in the land!

Then let us sing right out of grandma's, of grandma's lye soap.
Sing right out. All over the place.
The pots and - the pots and pans, oh dirty dishes,
And for your hands and for your face.

Interviewing a 2000-Year-Old Man

Hi everyone,

The following is based on a comedy routine called the 2000-Year-Old Man. This was a routine between Carl Reiner, the interview, and Mel Brooks, the 2000.Year-Old Man. The animated 24-minute film is a classic. However, at least four albums of comedy were made with this idea.

"Sir, it seems hard to believe."

What would ask a man who is 2000 years old? Think of questions you would ask him about any of these topics:

1. history
2. science
3. famous people
4. life centuries ago
5. keeping healthy
6. having a philosophy of life

Write down your questions, then ask a partner who pretends to be 2000 years old.

You could practice with the real questions Carl Reiner asks Mel Brooks in this video. Here are some questions that Carl Reiner asked:

1. Could you give us the secret of your longevity?
2. What was the means of transportation in the past?
3. How did singing start as a custom?
4. How was the handshake invented?
5. How did dancing start as custom?
6. What did you do for a living?
7. What other jobs were there in the past?
8. What language did you speak?
9. What kind of factory did you have?
10. How did you make [your product]?
11. Do you remember any of the ancient Hebrew?
12. Are you married? 
13. Do you remember all your wives?
14. How many children did you have?
15. People are very interested in someone like Joan D'Arc. [What did you know about her?] How did you feel about her being burned at the stake?
16. Did Robin Hood really steal from the rich and give to the poor? 
17. Would you discuss with us someone like William Shakespeare?
18. Do you remember any dialogue from [a lost Shakespeare play]?
19. What did you do 2000 years ago for entertainment?
20. In your 2000 years you've lived, you've seen a lot of changes. What is the biggest change you have seen?
21. We all here would like to know your code [your philosophy of life].

You can compare the answers your partner gives to the answers in the video.

And you'll never see Saran Wrap the same way again.

All my best!

Keep teaching, keep laughing,

Roger

From the Exciting World of ... Teaching!

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note. I plan to do this once a week, this blog, but in January I'm teaching seemingly around the clock. So for your consumption, I may post quick videos with little commentary.

Key & Peele - TeachingCenter combines what if with parody, particularly a parody of sports news shows in the US. It may go a little fast for non-native speakers, but check it out. 

This video is good, but other Key & Peele videos may be unsuitable for children or not safe for listening to at work. Wear your headphones in the faculty room.

So, in your opinion, do you think teaching should be like what happens in the video? Why or why not? And what was your favorite part? Share your thoughts in the comments section.

See you next week!

Roger

Speech Circle: A Group Listening and Conversation Activity

Hi everyone! Welcome to Let's Humor, the blog that takes concepts from humor and humorous performance and applies them to the classroom.

For this post, let's examine one improve-based activity in detail. Improvisation, or improv for short, is a kind of acting where the dialogue and the action are created spontaneously by the actor, without any preparation or scripting. It is often funny but does not have to be.

In this kind of acting, it is important to develop listening skills. Here, I will present the listening game Speech Circle, which is suggested by the activity Communal Monologue.

Procedure

Everyone listens and contributes when the follow a simple procedure.

1.      Put your students in a circle.

2.      Ask for a speech topic. This could be any topic the students could participate it. It could also be a monologue from a character’s point of view. This should be a kind of speech, public address, or monologue that students have encountered. Topics can range from the concrete (e.g., dogs) to the abstract (e.g., self-esteem).

3.      In the middle of the circle, one student starts a speech. Allow the speaker enough time to develop some discourse that is meaningful, not just one or two sentences.

4.      Other students jump in and continue the speech. Encourage all students to speak.

5.      The game can end once the monologue is finished. It’s important for the game that everyone listen all the time. Even if students speak in sequence of who is standing in the circle, the others will need to listen.

Students

This is good for a class of five students, and it is ideal for groups of six. Fewer than five students, students can take even turns without standing in circles.

With lower-level students, the teacher can alternate, giving bits of the speech to help students out. In such a situation, you may want to do the game a second time with an easier topic.

Language

This is discourse-level communication, so it may help if students have already learned transitions for time, sequencing, or reasoning, depending on the levels. If the speech is an improvised anecdote, storytelling transitions or phrases may be useful. Any needed language can be taught before or after the activity, but teaching needed language during the activity should be avoided to avoid interfering with fluency or done briefly and with the utmost sensitivity.

If you want to develop monologue skills in your students, skills where they must project a character in an extended speech, guidelines on the structure of a character monologue should be taught over time.

Expansion

After this activity, students can do many things.

• Each can summarize the speech to consolidate what they heard.
• They could change the form of the speech into another form, such as changing a monologue into a dialogue. They can perform the dialogue.
• Students can work in pairs on a related speech, monologue, or dialogue in response to the one done whole class. If the speech was about dogs, students could do a rebuttal to that speech’s opinions, a continuation of the same topic, or a parallel speech, such as on a pet other than dogs, but following similar structure or points. Allow for spontaneity on this stage, too, and give feedback after the speeches have been shared.

That is the activity of Speech Circle. If you use this activity or have any comments or suggestions, please join in and converse about it below.

Happy New Year!

Roger

New Hypotheticals Made Logical

People ask “What if?” as part of life. Science asks “What if?” A few examples from this site:

1. What if another advanced species existed?
2. What if Earth were twice as big?
3. What if a giant asteroid hadn't wiped out the dinosaurs?
4. What if all the cats in the world suddenly died?
5. What if you only ate one type of food?

We call these hypotheticals and they are important to our lives. But comedy, too, uses hypotheticals. Funny people form a hypothetical then create something interesting based on the question. Then they answer the question (as seen in the links). 

1. What if a cat became a businessman? 
2. What if a man lived to be 2000 years old? 
3. What if airlines were extremely cheap?

The trick of asking “What if?” is to identify how to ask the questions. The grammar may look something like this:

What if	noun phrase	past verb	etc.	?
		was
		were

But, as usual, there’s more to this than just the grammar.

Step 1: Think of a hypothetical. This is surprisingly easy. You don’t have to worry here about logic. You can take the above hypotheticals, and mix and match different parts. Examples:

1. What if another species became businessmen?
2. What if all cats were 2000 years old?
3. What if airlines had wiped out the dinosaurs?
4. What if you ate only food that was extremely cheap?

Try this yourself. Look at these: http://iteslj.org/questions/whatif.html. Mix and match a few of these. You can also make up your own, if you like.

Step 2: Now think of a paragraph that summarizes the results. This time, take the illogical idea and make it seem logical. “If airlines had wiped out the dinosaurs, there would be fossilized remains of buildings that crashed into T-Rexes. Scientists would be finding wrecked planes with the materials.”

Step 3: Make a dialogue or script using ideas from your paragraph. You can change things if you like. The point is to explore the humor of the original idea.

Now, there's more to humor than that, but this gets people started. The important goal here is to ask a new "What if?" and explore the logic of the idea. If it's not so funny, don't worry. That will come in time and with experience.

And if you do try this in class, let me know how it works. OK, if it works. And if it doesn't, let me know that, too!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Roger

Christmas Parodies Step by Step

So, with the season of Christmas parodies, you may be wondering how to make a Christmas carol.

Yeah, I know this is probably a little late for your classes, but if it is late, you at least have something for you to do next Christmas. Thank you year-end obligations and Star Wars: The Force Awakens for making my holiday season interesting.

For fun, you may first want to look at some parodies of carols in English and perhaps use them.

One kind of parody is the changing of lyrics while keeping the rest of the song. For examples of this, classic parody lyrics from MAD Magazine are an excellent source. My favorite is this collection.

Another kind of parody is one not of a particular song but of the entire genre. This kind of parody is sometimes called a pastiche. A good example is Tom Lehrer’s “A Christmas Carol,” which mixes pastiche with brief song parodies. Hear Tom Lehrer sing it and consult the transcript of the entire bit he did.

Now you are in the Christmas parody spirit, so you can find some ways of approaching the parody.

One way to do this is to bring in the original and have students compare it to a parody. Find opposites or differences. I recommend going over the original on its own, to identify its overall feeling and attitude. Brainstorm how students can change the lyrics to make the song funny.

First, identify features of the song or genre you wish to parody. Look at the actual serious song first. You will notice key words and important themes. In the case of some Christmas songs, there is a lot about being old-fashioned and simple. Also, many songs have a soft touch to them. I recommend “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”

Second, identify key phrases or words you want to imitate from the original. So, for example, look at the Mad Magazine parodies. “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” becomes “Hark! The Carol Singers Choke.”

Bring in the parody and ask questions to the students to contrast it. In this case, they can make a simple chart. Example:

	“Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”	“Hark, the Carol Singers Choke”
Content	Angels singing to the baby Jesus	Carolers dealing with pollution
Emotions	Reverent and peaceful	Dark and unhealthy
Opposites	Soft and traditional	Harsh and modern
Etc.	Calls people to praise Jesus	Warns people of the dangers of pollution

(By the way, this is an example. If you would rather do this with a different song, then just notice the approach and pattern and apply this to that situation.)

Next, notice how the song is built around that phrase. It describes the whole song, which is all about dealing with pollution while singing Christmas songs. Often parodies revolve around the parody song’s title. A parody of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” called “Eat It,”  is a good example.

Then point out the features of a good song parody:

1. It’s never too long, just long enough to communicate the idea, then it finishes.

2. It imitates the structure, phrases, rhythm, and rhyme scheme as much as possible.

On the second point, do not ask them to be so close that they lose track of the premise of their song. The premise is more important than imitating the original song.

Now you can give them other famous Christmas songs that they may know already. From these, they can make a parody in small groups, in pairs, or solo.

Then, of course, the students can share their work.

And that's all for now. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

-- Roger

Spontaneous role-plays using a board game

Hi everyone,

Before we begin this one, a quick definition of role-play: spontaneous speech involving pretended situations. A role-play is not a written dialogue that students develop and perform.

Let's say you want students to do brief role-plays based on suggestions for scenes, but the students themselves are slow to come up with suggestions, or that they want the element of choice. What can you do?

Using the principle of yes-and, students can come up with short dialogues based on suggestions provided on a grid.

They will have some ability to choose among these suggestions. The suggestions can be three different kinds of nouns: persons (and their relationships), places, and things. Each row on the grid allows you to choose among three choices, but for higher levels, students may combine suggestions on each row.

They can play a cooperative board game using a hexagonal pattern. Students can roll a die or flip a coin. The coin they flip allows them to move one space or two. Students work in pairs to create a short scene of five lines: A B A B A.

The competitive part can be based on a teacher's judgment about which was the best scene, or the quickest scene where each line yes-ands the reality provided.

This version is best done in groups of four: a yellow team and a blue team. Each team is limited to that color.

This one is geared toward children, but the same thing could be adapted to older ages.

The element of choice is important. Allowing them different directions to move gives them greater control over this activity, as does allowing them a choice of the topic. Choice within structure allows students to take control of their learning.

Here's a sample dialogue of the sort of thing I have in mind. Let's say that a team has three choices: fisherman and fish, the Eiffel Tower, computers. They can choose one:

A: All right! I caught you!
B: Nooooo! Please let me go!
A: I can't. I'm very hungry. I need to eat you.
B: Please don't. I'll buy you a hamburger.
A: OK. Let's go to McDonald's.

Or they could combine two or three of these ideas:

A: So, what are you doing on top of the Eiffel Tower?
B: I'm fishing for French fish.
A: Sorry, but there's no lake down there. Did you check the Internet?
B: No, but I'll use my computer now. [Click click click.] Oh, sorry. No lake.
A: That's right. Get down from the tower and go to ta nice French river.

Of course, the examples won't look as clean as those done above. As long as each player affirms the other's reality, that's enough.

Don't be too picky about the rules. If it goes to six, seven, or eight lines, great! That's fine. Your goal is fluency and fun, not total surrender to artificial rules.

Some adaptations that are possible:

• Vocabulary learned before is put on the grid.
• Local or regional references provided, such as a city in the country the game is being played, or a local business well-known to students in that country.
• Longer time to come up with role-plays may be allowed for lower-level students.
• Grids that mix nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
• Grids for other parts of speech that create scenes.
• This can be used as an assessment of fluency for a speaking test, particularly a placement test.
• A point system if one kind of clue is more difficult than another.
• No grid at all -- just choosing based on the color, and performing for the other group.
• Providing a rubric that allows for evaluation of the students, taught ahead of time, of course.
• Having students rate the best performance or best sketch from the group.

Even trickier suggestions include:

• Allowing the opposing team to choose among the three choices on a particular square, but only if the students are confident with this game.
• Having student complete the blanks for their own team or for the opposing team or for the class as a whole.

Let me know if you have any questions or concerns about this activity.

-- Roger