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Geoff Tranter
Geoff Tranter has been involved in German and English language teaching for many years in a number of further and adult education institutions both in Britain and Germany. For nearly thirty years he was Head of Department at the College of Adult and Further Education (Volkshochschule) in Dortmund, West Germany. He has been involved in language examinations for over 25 years and was a member of the team that produced the revised specifications for the European Language Certificates (TELC). Since 2002 he has been a full-time member of staff for the WBT, responsible for the development of examination materials, examiner and teacher-training, implementation of the CEFR in testing and teaching. One of the main areas is the development of TELC School - tests for pupils still in full-time education, for which he is Product Manager.
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"A funny thing happened to me on the way to the classroom this morning"
Recognizing, Appreciating and Creating (?) Humour The C1 level definitions include: "Can use language flexibly and effectively for social purposes, including emotional, allusive and joking usage." But how many course books, teaching materials etc. provide opportunities for doing this in the classroom, regardless of the level? And the definition itself begs the question whether you have to be C1 to appreciate humour in another language. There is also the question as to whether and how we can use a more humorous approach to teach the language. This workshop will look at a number of types of humour and attempt to provide teachers with a skeleton for attacking this quite difficult area of teaching, hoping that you will be able to go back to your classes on Monday and ask your learners: "Do you know the one about .....?" |