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Lesson plan 62: The train tunnel joke (part 1)

Thanks very much to Colleen Murray - an English teacher based in Switzerland - for sending me this clip and suggesting that I use it for a lesson plan.

  • Language level: Pre-intermediate (A2) +
  • Learner type: Young learners; Teens; Adults
  • Time: 30 minutes
  • Main activity: Writing
  • Topic: Jokes
  • Language: Verbs of thought (e.g. wonder, wish, hope)
  • Materials: Video clip; Worksheet

link-icon_pdf_05.png the-train-tunnel-joke.pdf

Part 2 of the lesson plan will look at different versions of the joke and examine it from a cultural and linguistic point of view. It will be uploaded next week.

Posted by admin on Monday, April 26th, 2010 at 9:44 am.

11 Responses to “Lesson plan 62: The train tunnel joke (part 1)”

Hi Jamie,

I’ve just finished watching the video and looking at the worksheet and I can’t wait to try them out with me pre-intermediate and intermediate students. I’ll let you know how I got on with it shortly after.

Keep up the excellent work Jamie and a thank you Colleen Murray for the very witty clip.

Left by paul berry on April 27th, 2010

Thanks Paul
Really glad you like it. I’m not in the classroom at the moment so haven’t had a chance to try it out myself. Would be really interested to hear how it goes.
Jamie :)

Left by admin on April 27th, 2010

Hi again Jamie,
I’ve just come back home after finishing the ‘train tunnel’ lesson, which, as always, went very well. The only snag I encountered was that out of the eight students in the class two of them still didn’t seem to get the joke. So, as a way of making absolutely sure they ‘got it’, we decided to improvise and do a roleplay of the same scene as a classroom activity and I must say it went down a marvel! Thanks once again for your hard work and creative output Jamide, it really does make the lessons bags of fun.

Left by paul berry on April 30th, 2010

Hi Jamie
I’ve use this lesson twice - once with an advanced group and once with a pre-intermediate group. Both times it went well. I especially like the way the lesson is structured. One small issue I had with it was that ‘I hope / wish / wonder / regret’ really aren’t pre-intermediate level structures. My students had a bit of a problem summarising the thoughts of each person with these. They really enjoyed the video though.
Thanks
Eoin

Left by Eoin Higgins on May 4th, 2010

Thanks Eoin
Very useful feedback.
Couple of questiosn:

* Did you feel that the rest of the lesson plan worked for pre-intermediate level?

* Is there any other language that arose with your pre-int class that we could use instead of the wonder/regret/wish verbs?

Thanks again
Really appreciate it
Jamie

Left by admin on May 4th, 2010

Dear Jamie,

Thanks for your wonderful website!!

I’ve used the panda lesson with lower intermediate students and it was a great success.

The structure of the lesson was well planned and worked well.

I used this lesson with my intermediate university students, and they were really engaged in process of speculation about the passengers thoughts. This lesson tied in very well with a previous lesson where I had the students explore theirs and other people’s thought’s or ‘innervoice’ - which was also both challenging and stimulating for the students.

For this lesson the concept of ‘deserve’ and ‘doesn’t deserve’ was new and interesting for the students.

I also thought it might be interesting, if two students were to draw what they think happened in the tunnel - and they then try and guess what they thought (including giving a reaction/response). E.g. A:Do you think the young boy kissed the girl? B: Yes, you’re right, I did. A: That’s interesting, but I was thinking something different.
Just an idea.

Great material, thanks again!

Jackie Suginaga.

Left by Jackie Suginaga on May 10th, 2010

Hello Jackie

Thanks very much for the feedback. I am always interested to hear what sort of language will emerge from the materials we use. In this case it is the verb ‘deserve’ - perhaps something that could be incorporated into the lesson plan.

Love the drawing idea. Someone already pointed out (it was Paul in a comment above) that a couple of his students didn’t understand the situation. It is worth taking some time to ensure that everyone gets it in the end. Drawing is one of the best ways to do this.

Thanks again
Jamie =)

Left by admin on May 10th, 2010

Hello Jamie,

Do you know when Part 2 will be posted? I’ve used this with my ESL learners and they loved it.

Left by Anna on June 11th, 2010

Hello Anna

Sorry I took so long to answer.

I will be uploading part II sometime but I had a problem: I needed to interview two particular friends for the lesson plan. Unfortunately, one of them decided that he didn’t want to be filmed :(

So we will have to wait while I find some other suitable interviewees.

Hope it’s not a big problem for you
Jamie

Left by admin on June 14th, 2010

Hi Jamie,

I used this lesson with some teenagers and it was great. I decided I wanted to extend it a little and explore the verbs of thought, so we did the thought bubble bit twice. The first time was before the slap, ie, what was each person thinking idly about on the train, and then the thought bubble you suggested after the slap. This worked really well as it got their creative juices going and there was more of an opportunity to practise the language and develop the characters. They seemed really motivated to use English to write silly, creative things.

Thanks for your clips, you’re doing an amazing job. Thanks to you the teenagers that I teach think I’m quite cool I think!

Left by Jemima Alexander on June 18th, 2010

Hello Jemima
That’s a lovely tip - great idea to get even more language out of your students! Thank you very much for sharing.
Really glad that the site has been useful to you. I know it is difficult to please teens! There will be a lot more lesson plans coming. Just need to get over this busy period!
Thanks again
Jamie =)

Left by admin on June 20th, 2010

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