Teach Primary Issue 18.6

In this lesson, children will take part in discussions about how comedy is an important tool for wellbeing. Pupils will also spend time thinking about the pitfalls that can occur when trying to make others laugh. After collecting their funniest jokes, the children will hold their own comedy show, helping develop performance techniques and teamworking skills. They’ll also learn how to look for the unexpected in images and scenarios to make an audience laugh, and be encouraged to use art to create humorous characters to feature in sketches and stories. 1 | COMEDY CLUB Create a display board in the classroom, where children can stick up their favourite jokes. Encourage the class to look for jokes to share from books, TV shows, family members and friends, as well as funny pictures. From the display board, begin to pull out some comedic styles to examine further, watching age-appropriate clips online to illustrate the technique, e.g. slapstick, sketch routines, impersonations, play on words, puns, farce and parodies. Once the children have learnt some of the comedy styles, ask them to select their favourite joke to perform aloud in front of the class, either solo or in small groups. Set up the classroom as a comedy club: 2ith the help of costumes and props, stage a comedy performance so that all pupils can share their best joke and a comedy style that they have enjoyed exploring. You could give out awards, such as the silliest costume, best use of a prop, funniest slapstick moment, most engaging performer or best example of teamwork to motivate pupils further. 2 | VISUAL CUES Put the children into pairs and hand out a selection of printed images. Ask pairs to work together to create funny captions or dialogue for the pictures. Get them to talk about what the objects or people in the image could be thinking or doing, before brainstorming ideas and narrowing their thoughts down into a short caption or START HERE MAIN LESSON WHAT THEY’LL LEARN l How laughter is a tool for wellbeing and connection l How to use images to inspire comedy writing l Communication and public speaking skills when performing l Different comedy styles and to think about what makes them laugh English, art, wellbeing People say laughter is the best medicine. Discuss what the children think that means, and if they can think of real-life examples where using humour has helped them. Invite pupils to vote on whether they agree with the saying. If not, why not? Following the discussion, show two images: one that depicts people laughing together , and then one with a group of people laughing at someone. Talk about the children’s reactions to the images, and pull out the differences between laughing with or laughing at people. As a class, agree how you should use comedy in the classroom. Ask pupils to write down the dos and don’ts. Funny ways to boost wellbeing and creativity Emily Azouelos shows how you can explore comedy and laughter in the classroom through performance KS2 LESSON PLAN emily-azouelos-227502220 86 | www.teachwire.net