Sudheer Kumar.

N 1

Humour as an Effective strategy in Teaching English for the Students from Rural Backgrounds.
N.Sudheer Kumar. M.A; M.Phil Assistant Professor of English Anurag Engineering College, Kodad-508206, Nalgonda (DT), A.P. ____________________________________________________________________

Abstract
People with good sense of humour are always accessible and make the others feel comfortable. In this paper, I would like to explain how humour helps the students in making them feel comfortable in the language classroom. In the second part of this research paper, the various benefits of using humour in the language classroom are illustrated. Some of them are: Humour eases the tension in the classroom, gets and maintains the attention of the students; helps the students in understanding and memorize some difficult concepts. The benefits may appear quite obvious for the teachers. In spite of knowing all the benefits, the teachers are reluctant to use the humour in the language classroom. The reasons for the reluctance to utilize such an effective strategy are given and critically evaluated in this paper. In the later part of the paper, some tips and techniques to utilize humour in the classroom are elucidated with examples. The last part of the paper deals with effectiveness of using humour from the real life experience in teaching various concepts in the language classroom.

Sudheer Kumar.N 2

Introduction:
It is essential for us as the teachers of English to consider the psychological aspects that would act as the obstacles for the students in the process of learning English. One of those biggest obstacles is the classroom anxiety. I hope everyone agrees with me in the statement: Language is caught not taught. (Anonymous) Hence, if the language is to be caught, the student should participate in the classroom activities without feeling shy. The problem with the students of Andhra Pradesh and especially who have come from the rural areas and Telugu medium backgrounds is that they are reluctant to open their mouths in class because of their introversion I have been teaching for the students from the rural backgrounds for the last five years and I have found this strategy of using Humour in the class room for making the students feel comfortable in my class and thereby to make them to participate actively in the classroom activities especially in the language laboratory

Benefits of Humour in the ESL Classroom:

Eases Tension in the Classroom:
Change management and adapting to a new environment is not that easy. If a student moves from the rural area to city for the first time to study, we can just imagine the kind of the culture shock that he /she would receive. I know some students who have discontinued and flew away back to their villages. Here the teachers should play a major role in making the students feel secure in the classroom. I know many English teachers who are bothered about exhibiting their verbosity in the classroom rather than being understood by the students. For e.g., Although Abhor, detest, loathe, despise and hate are the synonyms, the verbose teacher prefers to use any other word except hate because it can be understood by everyone, which the verbose teacher does not like at all. It creates a lot of tension in the classroom because the student considers the teacher as an alien. If a teacher really wants the students to understand what he/she teaches, first

Sudheer Kumar.N 3 thing that he/she should do is to speak Plain English and then he/she should use humour to ease the tension in the class so that student would feel that the teacher is not an alien but a human being. Once the student realizes that the Teacher knows how to laugh and make others laugh, then the Student would automatically get ready to interact with the Teacher and with the fellow students.

Gets and maintains attention of the students:

Never go to the blackboard directly
Prof. Venkata Rajaiah, Professor of English, College of Engineering, Osmania University.

It is very common for us as the Teachers of English to be right on the business from the very first minute of the class, which is the biggest blunder that a teacher commits according to Prof. Rajaiah. Just place ourselves in the shoes of the students and imagine, just one minute before, a Chemistry teacher or a mathematics teacher has left out the class and the very next minute another teacher comes and starts some other lesson. Can we expect the students to tune their brains immediately to listen to our class? According to Prof Rajaiah, we should enter the classroom with a cheerful expression and exchange some pleasantries then start the lesson. An English teacher need not play a joke intentionally; the humour arises naturally in the context provided that the teacher should have the willingness to have the cheerful attitude. Here I would like to share an example of using Humour to draw and maintain the attention of the students. While I was doing my M.A., One of our professors wanted us to realize the importance of Accent Neutralization. She could have given a long lecture about the importance but that did not happen just she had told a joke: One student goes to his English Professor and says that He has a problem in his bowels, then the professor says, Then why did

Sudheer Kumar.N 4 you come to me, you should approach the doctor. No professor not those bowels, I mean to say bowels, consonants, those bowels. (The narrator of the joke does not want his/her identity to be reveled) We know that a particular region people pronounce /b/ instead of /v/ hence all the confusion that took place between the professor and the student. She could immediately draw our attention towards accent neutralization.

Helps the students to remember for a long time:

The earlier example that I have given was told by our professor around five years back but still I am able to recall it and share with you. Our mind remembers all the experiences in the form of images and memorizes the funny incidents longer than the other (Anthony Robbins 133) Hence humour aids in great deal in helping the students memorize the concepts. When we teach with the help of the funny examples or associating it to the real life experience, it helps the student to memorize for a long time.

Why some of the teachers are reluctant to use Humour: Problems with controlling the class:
The noisiest classroom is the best classroom in the campus Dr. Chukka Ramaiah, Educationalist. It is indeed quite correct. When the students involve in the lesson, they do speak up and hence there will be some noise. I do not know about the other subjects, but when it comes to English

Sudheer Kumar.N 5 language teaching, it is necessary to have the students being interactive. During the interaction some noise in the classroom tend to happen, which is really a good sign. As long as we do not cross the line while using the humour, students do not cross the line. For example I have given an example earlier about accent neutralization that was decent and just make the students laugh, noting else but consider the following examples Please shit down (the speaker cannot pronounce /s/) (Elizabeth Clarie 22) In the example above there is no decency or decorum that kind of humour has to be avoided.

The Teachers ego state:

Guru

Brahma, Guru Vishnu, Gurudevo Maheshwaraha- Ancient Indian Scriptures

In India, Teacher is compared to the god. Obviously, God is above the human beings .The Teacher always wants to be one step ahead of the students. That ego state of the teacher is a big hurdle in using the humour in the classrooms. The moment the teacher uses the humour, he/she appears friendly to the students, which many teachers so not like. In the book Body Language by Allan Barbara Peace, there is a description about the person who looks above their spectacles, while talking to others. The author of the book describes that kind of body language displays the dominating personality of the person and as an example; the author puts the English teacher as the person who tends to have such body language. Now it is the time to deconstruct all the older beliefs and ideas. Let us take a leaf out of the book of the corporate trainers, who refuse to be addressed as Sirs/ Madams. Sachin Tendulkar was addressed as Sir by a reporter once to which he had objected to it immediately. I dont mean to say that we should refuse to be addressed as Sir/Madam, which is not going to happen, but at

Sudheer Kumar.N 6 least we should do away with the idea that the Teacher should always be one step above the students.

Some tips to generate humour in the classroom:

Don't try too hard. Let humor arise naturally, encourage it. Do what fits your personality. Don't use private humor or humor that leaves people out of the topic. Make humor an integral part of your class, rather than something special. Humor works best as a natural on-going part of classroom learning.

Be careful not to over use it, it could loose its value and effect. Using humor, like teaching, has to be well prepared (Chiasson 2002)

Use movies and experiences:

Knife is invented not to cut the throat; if somebody does it is neither the fault of the inventor nor the Knife. - Dr.Akash N.Patwari, Principal, Anurag Engineering College and former scientist in IICT.

Talking about the movies is considered a taboo in the classroom but one must agree to the fact that Movies have become indispensible part of the lives of the youngsters. If we can draw parallels between the movies to the lessons, it will have a long lasting impression on the students. The story writers of the movies are mostly influenced by the English Literature. for example the classic Telugu movie Suvarna Sundari Katha is influenced by the drama Macbeth, the block buster movie, Nuvvu Vasthanante Nenu vaddanta s script is mostly influenced by the

Sudheer Kumar.N 7 drama The Tempest. For that matter, the television serial Anhtarangalu that had become very popular during the late 90s in A.P is a carbon copy of Hardys Novel The Mayor of Caster bridge. In the textbook Inspiring Speeches and Lives prescribed by the JNTU, Hyderabad for the I B.Tech students, there is a lesson about Sam Pitroda. While teaching the lesson I were to explain about the word Red Tapism. I did not try too hard to explain the word; I have just taken an example from the movie Sivaji. In the movie the protagonist comes from USA to establish a University to provide free education to the students. In spite of having the noble intentions, the protagonist faces so many problems from the officials who enumerate all the rules and regulations and delays the process of establishing the university. I could see their eyes lit up as soon as I have started to draw a parallel between the two words, they have got what I meant to say by the word red Tapism. Using personal experiences is not a bad idea to employ humour in the classroom. While explaining about Indian English to the MCA students, I have given the following example to my students. during the International Seminar held at Nagarjuna university, I was serving food to Prof. Gordon Tucker, renowned linguist; He asked me what was that curry. I said it was ladies finger; He said I am not a cannibal to eat lady fingers. He was just kidding. After all he is a linguist. He knew it was an Indian expression to okra but he just wanted me to realize that it was not a Standard English expression. I could create interest at the same time I could make my point clear to the students.

Conclusion:
The use of humour in the English language teaching classroom has so many advantages. The teachers should get rid of the idea that the using humour disturbs the serious academic

Sudheer Kumar.N 8 atmosphere. Seriousness about teaching is not about being reserved or inaccessible by the students. If we are serious about the language teaching, we should use humour to get the maximum benefits in the language teaching classroom. At the same time we need to be careful in overusing the humour. Teaching English associating it to the entertainment media is always useful, as it creates a lot of inteterest among the students.

Sudheer Kumar.N 9
Works Cited

Clarie, Elizabeth. Dangerous English. Los Angles: Delta Publishing Company, 2000. Robbins Anthony. Awaken the Giant Within .London: Simon Schuster Ltd, 1992. Chiasson, Paul-Emile, Humor in the Second Language Classroom; It's not a Laughing Matter! [Online], http://caslt.org/research/humor.html Dr. Chukka Ramaiah, Speech given in the college day celebrations at Anurag Engineering College Kodad, 2008. Dr.Venkata Rajaiah, Guest Lecture given during Faculty Orientation Programme, Anurag Engineering college, Kodad, 2010. Dr.Akash N.Patwari, College Academic Committee meeting, Anurag Engineering College, Kodad, 2010.