July 1st is International Joke Day, a day dedicated to laughter, humour, and, most importantly, corny jokes. While stand-up comedy and funny stories require cultural awareness and personal experiences, there is something that is evergreen and much simpler – wordplay. In this English wordplay ESL lesson, students explore how double meanings and similar-sounding words can create humour and confusion at the same time.
Many English learners can understand every single word in a joke and still completely miss the point. This is because jokes often rely on words with multiple meanings, homophones, or idiomatic expressions that can be interpreted in more than one way. Understanding this type of humour requires more than vocabulary knowledge – it requires understanding how the language works. This is exactly what I wanted to achieve with this lesson. Rather than simply tell jokes and make students laugh, I wanted to encourage learners to become language detectives and discover the linguistic tricks hidden behind some classic (and very corny) Reader’s Digest jokes.
I think that this B2 Wordplay ESL Lesson can be a nice escape from everyday lessons and, if you agree with me, go ahead and scroll to the end of the post to download the worksheet, teacher’s notes, and presentation. However, if you are looking for something a bit more exam-focused, check out Cambridge PET Writing Part 2, in which students write an article explaining what makes them laugh.
Warmer: One Word, Two Pictures
I think it’s safe to say that I love this warmer. The lesson begins with six pairs of pictures. Students work in pairs and try to identify the word that connects each pair. For example, students see a lightbulb and a feather. The answer is light. As the activity progresses, learners discover words such as bat, bark, ring, bank, and jam. The idea behind this stage is to get students to start thinking like joke writers.
Reading: Matching Jokes and Punchlines
Next, students are introduced to ten classic Reader’s Digest jokes from the article 85 Corny Jokes Everyone Will Laugh at to Celebrate National Tell a Joke Day. Before analysing them, they complete a matching task by pairing each joke beginning with its correct punchline. Some of the jokes are immediately understandable:
Why did the scarecrow win an award?
Because he was outstanding in his field.
Others require a bit more thought and language knowledge.
Why did the Clydesdale give the pony a glass of water?
Because he was a little horse.As they compare the answers, they naturally begin discussing which jokes they understand and which ones leave them confused.
Guided Analysis: Why Is This Funny?
The next stage focuses on two jokes in detail. Students examine the horse/hoarse joke and the scarecrow/field joke and answer multiple-choice questions about the key words that create the humour. This stage introduces two important concepts: words that sound alike but have different meanings, and words that have multiple meanings. By analysing the jokes step by step, students gain a framework that they can apply independently in the next part of the lesson. They then revisit the remaining jokes and explain why they are funny.
Vocabulary Practice: Finding the Original Word
I thought that, in order to help students remember some of the words from this lesson, it would be a good idea to include a vocabulary retrieval activity. In this task, students are given sentences containing short definitions and must replace the definitions with the original words or expressions from the jokes. For example, in the sentence The karate instructor demonstrated a powerful strike, students replace strike with chop. This activity reinforces the vocabulary while encouraging students to remember the wordplay that made the jokes work in the first place.
Discussion: Funniest or Worst?
At this point, students understand the jokes perfectly. The next question is whether they actually like them and find them even a little bit funny. Students rank the jokes from 1 (funniest) to 10 (least funny) and compare their answers with a partner. This naturally leads into a discussion about humour and wordplay. Students compare their rankings and discuss whether any of the jokes became funnier after an explanation, as well as which of them would work in their native languages.
Creative Task: Writing Original Jokes
The final production task challenges students to become joke writers themselves. Using a set of classic joke structures, students create their own jokes based on words with two meanings or similar sounds. For example: Why did the __________ cross the road? Because __________. Students work in pairs and try to complete as many joke structures as possible. The goal isn’t to create genuinely funny jokes, but rather to allow students to practise noticing and manipulating language creatively.
Joke Voting
The lesson finishes with a class joke vote. Pairs present their favourite jokes to the rest of the class, who vote for the funniest joke, the best punchline, and the most confusing joke. This final stage usually produces a mixture of genuine laughter, terrible puns, and (hopefully) enthusiastic explanations of why a joke should have been funny.
This B2 English wordplay ESL lesson combines reading, vocabulary, language analysis, discussion, and creative speaking practice while helping students understand one of the most challenging aspects of humour in a second language – wordplay. After all, understanding a joke is one thing; explaining why it is funny is a much greater challenge.
Do you enjoy pun jokes, or do they simply make you cringe?
