Laughter is...

We know that images and laughter both reinforce learning. Or, as Alice nearly said: "What's the use of a lesson without pictures or conversations?" Every month in The Lighter Side, Spotlight brings you a cartoon from The New Yorker as well as a Peanuts strip.

You might not laugh out loud at each one, but they may still be thought-provoking, topical, or even surreal. If you display them in your teaching room, you'll have something to keep early birds occupied, to keep students thinking in your coffee breaks, and to use as a ready-made energy-raiser for when you feel your students should stretch their legs a little.

Who it's for:
All levels

What it's for:
Energy-raiser; warmer or break between parts of a lesson

What you need:
Cartoons from The Lighter Side, copied and cut out

What you do:
Choose a number of cartoons and put them up on the walls of your teaching room before the lesson or while the students are busy with something else.

Make sure the students know the words "drawing", "caption" and "thought/speech bubble". Put them in pairs and ask them to walk around the classroom, looking at and discussing the cartoons. If necessary, write phrases on the board, such as "That's funny", "I don't get this one. Do you?", "That's clever" and so on.

Encourage the students to discuss and comment on the cartoons.

At the end of the lesson, ask them if they can remember any of the cartoon captions.