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adapt
If students need additional help using context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words, write sentence frames such as the following on the board and read them aloud: A is a kind of loud yell. When you are , no one else is around. Then hand out note cards with different words on them (e.g., squeal, alone). Have students use context clues to complete each sentence with one of these words.
Using Foundational Literacy Skills
Students whose first language is Chinese, Haitian Creole, Hmong, Korean, or Vietnamese may exhibit difficulties with language transfer issues involving verb inflection because in these languages, verbs are not inflected for person or number. For example, instead of saying Notably means especially, they may say Notably mean especially. If this happens, simply rephrase the sentence using conventional English form.
DaYTWO Teach
1 Warm Up: Before class, draw a horizontal line on the board with points labeled 1–5 for ratings. Explain to students that you are going to tell two jokes and that they should just listen. Tell the first joke. Ask them to tell you how funny it is, using the scale on
the board. Explain that 5 means very funny, but 1 means not very funny. Have students raise their hands for each rating 1–5, and write the number of hands raised above each rating. Then repeat with the second joke, writing the number of hands raised under each rating. Ask: According to my “Goggleometer,” which joke does our class think is funnier? Allow a few seconds to figure out the answer, and then call on a student volunteer.
2 Have students recap the main information from paragraphs 1–7. Before moving on to paragraphs 8–9, alert students to the fact that they will encounter quite a few idioms and collocations in this selection. Remind
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Interpret the Text Using Close Reading
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15 Gary Gulman, a finalist in Last Comic Standing, a reality TV show and comedy competition, gave specifics. “Sometimes it’s a keen observation about something you thought you lived through. Sometimes it’s a juxtaposition of words. Sometimes it’s a gesture or a sound. An encyclopedia couldn’t do this question justice.”
What Are You Laughing At?
16 Yet laughter is not always a planned response to a joke. One study found that
80 percent of the time, we laugh at something that just happens. People often laugh just because someone else does. Like a yawn, a laugh is contagious. That’s why some sit- coms use laugh tracks.
17 Laughter is also social, a way to bond with others. After all, how often do you laugh alone? When two or more people laugh at the same thing, it is as if nature reminds them of what they have in common.
18 Behavioral neuroscientist Robert R. Provine conducted a 10-year experiment
in which he eavesdropped on 2,000 conversations in malls, at parties, and on city sidewalks. He found that the greatest guffaws did not follow intentionally funny statements; people laughed hardest at everyday comments that seemed funny only in a certain social context.
19 “Do you have a rubber band?” is not in and of itself humorous, but it is if it’s said in response to “I like Amelia so much. I wish I could get her attention.”
Theories of Funniness
20 There are three main theories about humor.
21 Release theory—Humor gives a break from tension. In a horror movie, as a
character creeps through a dark house (often idiotically) to follow an eerie noise, he might open a door to find a cat playing with a squeeze toy. The audience laughs in relief. Humor also lets us deal with unpleasant or forbidden issues, such as death and violence. People are often more comfortable laughing at something shocking said by someone else, though they would never say it themselves. Comedian Keenen Ivory Wayans
once said, “Comedy is the flip side of pain. The worst things that happen to you are hysterical—in retrospect. But a comedian doesn’t need retrospect; he realizes it’s funny while he’s in the eye of the storm.”
22 Superiority theory—Audience members laugh at those who appear to be more stupid than they judge themselves to be. Slapstick humor, such as seeing a guy slip on a banana peel, often falls into this category. This theory dates back to Plato in ancient Greece and was prominent in the Middle Ages, when people with deformities were often employed as court jesters.
23 Somecomediansexploitedthistheorybybuildingaroutine—orevenapersona— around the idea that they were losers who couldn’t catch a break. Larry David, David Letterman, and Woody Allen are comedians who have done this, each in his own way.
24 Incongruity theory—People laugh when things that are not normally associated with each other are put together. Many comedy duos, from Laurel and Hardy to David Spade and Chris Farley, feature a thin man and a fat man, a visual contrast.
25 People also laugh when there is a difference between what they expect to happen and what actually occurs. They are being led in a certain direction, and then that direction abruptly changes, and the unpredictability makes them laugh. Children see birds all the time without reaction, but if one flies into their classroom through an open window, they will probably explode in giggles.
my notes
Unit 4 • The Challenge of Comedy • Part 1: Made You Laugh 147
224 SpringBoard® English Language Development Grade 8
© 2017 College Board. All rights reserved.
© 2017 College Board. All rights reserved.