Reading B1+: Why Do We Laugh More with Friends?

Objective & content

A B1+ reading about why a video that makes you smile alone makes you cry with laughter with your friends. The text presents the work of two scientists. The American Robert Provine found that we are about 30 times more likely to laugh with other people than alone, and that people usually laugh after very ordinary sentences, not jokes. The British scientist Sophie Scott explains that we laugh to show people that we like them and that we belong to the same group, and that a real laugh is harder to control than a polite one. Along the way, the text explains why TV comedies used to add recorded laughter. It ends on a warm note: when you can't stop laughing with your friends, your brain is making friends. By the end, pupils can follow a short popular-science text, report what a scientist said, and talk about a funny moment of their own. It is part of the Reading B1+ set: six one-text readings with the same layout.

Pedagogical guide

The sheet has one text of about 320 words at B1+, with no sentence longer than 20 words, and a word box with six words explained in English (laughter, likely, ordinary, catching, recorded, polite). The ten questions go from finding information to explaining it: three choices or true or false first, then "What did Robert Provine say about laughter? Begin: 'He said that ...'" and "Why do you think we laugh more with friends than alone?" The text models reported speech (He said that laughter was not really about jokes; She explained that we laugh to show ...), with a little used to, so it works well after a lesson on reported speech. The speaking task puts it into practice: pupils tell their partner about a time they couldn't stop laughing, then report it to the class with "My partner told me that ..." Every fact comes from published research on laughter.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Warm-up: show the two photos and ask "Who is having more fun? Why? Do you laugh more alone or with friends?"
2. (10 min) Pupils read the text alone. They can use the word box.
3. (10 min) Pupils answer questions 1 to 10, then check in pairs. Correct together with the key; for 9 and 10, take two or three answers.
4. (10 to 15 min) Speaking task: in pairs, pupils tell each other about a time they couldn't stop laughing. Then a few pupils report their partner's story to the class with "My partner told me that ..."

Adaptations

[S] Go through the word box first. Before question 9, write "He said that ..." on the board with one example from the text. Pupils can answer questions 1 to 8 only, and report one sentence of their partner's story.

[A] Pupils turn three sentences from the speaking task into reported speech in writing, changing the tenses. They can also do Provine's experiment for a day: what did people say just before they laughed?

Materials & prerequisites

The sheet in colour or low ink (the low-ink version has no pictures), one copy per pupil: pages 1 and 2 are for pupils, page 3 is the answer key. A screen to show the photos for the warm-up. Pupils should know the past simple and have met reported speech.