OVERVIEW & OBJECTIVES

This ESL lesson plan on sense of humor in English offers engaging activities, PDF worksheets, and digital materials designed for intermediate B1-B2 students. In this lesson, students will:

• Discuss their own sense of humor and how humor changes across cultures.
• Explore vocabulary for reactions, jokes, and different styles of humor.
• Watch a video about humor, wordplay, and how to show a funny side in English.
• Learn and use terms such as dry, sarcastic, witty, goofy, and playful.
• Share funny experiences and explore how they express humor in real life.

PREVIEW & DISCUSSION

Students begin by imagining that a friend arrives 20 minutes late for dinner. They choose how they would react, such as feeling annoyed, making a joke, accepting the apology, or giving another response, and then explain their choice.

Next, they read Laura’s humorous response to her late friend and discuss why she may have used a joke in the situation. The questions lead students into a wider conversation about sarcastic and playful humor, where a sense of humor comes from, and how they would describe their own funny side.

To finish the preview, students react to statements about understanding jokes and expressing humor in English. They decide whether they totally agree, agree to some extent, or disagree, then explain their opinions and compare how humor may vary across languages and cultures.

VIEWING ACTIVITY

Students watch a short video about why humor can be difficult to understand in another language. English speakers and students explore wordplay, cultural differences, jokes, and practical ways to show personality and a sense of humor in English. Before watching, students also consider what advice they would give someone who finds it hard to express their funny side in another language.

In the first part, students answer questions about why missing a joke can feel uncomfortable, what wordplay is, and why cultural differences can affect what people find funny. The activity checks listening comprehension while introducing key ideas from the video.

The second part focuses on practical ways to show humor in English. Students match sentence halves to complete advice about personality, simple language, facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice, vulnerability, and humorous content such as sitcoms or YouTube videos.

As a bonus task, students complete two knock-knock jokes from the video and explain the wordplay behind them. The examples use the sound connections between “Isabelle” and “is a bell,” and between “lettuce” and “let us.”

VIEWING FOLLOW-UP

After the video, students discuss how easy or difficult the knock-knock jokes were to understand and whether they found them funny. They also evaluate the tips from the video and identify which ideas they found most useful or interesting.

Students then build vocabulary for different types of humor. They read short descriptions of five people and match each person with terms such as goofy, sarcastic, witty, dry, and playful, with one extra option included.

Finally, students read and/or listen to a conversation between two friends about a bad date. They identify the types of humor used in the exchange and explain their choices, with examples of sarcasm, wit, teasing, and playful humor in a natural conversation.

EXPLORE YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR & YOUR FUNNY SIDE

In Option A, students choose from several discussion topics connected to humor. They talk about a funny experience, someone who shares their sense of humor, a funny person or piece of content they enjoy, and humor in their country or culture. A bonus challenge asks them to try to make their partner laugh through a joke, funny story, or another form of humor.

Option B gives students sentence prompts to complete and discuss. They share funny experiences, describe people they find amusing, talk about things that crack them up, explain who they tease or joke around with, and describe situations in which their funny side comes out.

BENEFITS OF USING THIS SENSE OF HUMOR ESL LESSON

• Helps students discuss humor through relatable, real-life situations.
• Builds useful vocabulary for six common types of humor.
• Gives teachers a clear mix of listening, vocabulary, and conversation work.
• Supports cultural discussion without requiring advanced background knowledge.
• Gives students practical language they can use in social conversations.