Inside: Are you looking for the best Spanish jokes for class? Learn how to use jaja jueves class routine, with funny jokes in Spanish class, to increase student engagement.
What is Jaja jueves?
Many years ago, I started using themed Para Empezar class starters as a weekly class routine. As a department of 1, I was always scrambling to transition between 4+ levels of Spanish class during the four-minute passing time. Having a specifically themed class opener that I used for every class and every level was sanity-saving. These weekly themed routines were typically the following:
- Monday – Weekend Chat
- Tuesday – martes del mapa/martes del meme (or FVR for upper levels)
- Wednesday – Música miércoles
- Thursday – Jaja jueves! funny Spanish jokes (or FVR for upper levels)
- Friday – Baile viernes!
Usually, in upper levels, we tried to start class with free reading on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I needed a class starter for my early novice Spanish 1 & Exploratory Spanish. This is where jokes in Spanish jaja jueves came from.
Why Use Jokes in Spanish Class?
Humor is a positive way to start any class. It builds classroom community and supports social-emotional learning. A joke or meme can be a conversation starter or check-in to see how students are doing. Funny Spanish Jokes and memes are a way to connect with students and get to know them better. Seeing how students smile or groan at a silly dad joke in Spanish, gives you a better window to understand their personality. Jokes are especially helpful to have projected as students enter a virtual or online class to help lighten the mood.
Using funny jokes in Spanish helps expose students to authentic culture. Jokes bring up regional variations and expose students to new vocabulary in context. Additionally, deeper thinking is involved regarding puns using a new language. Using jokes and memes with pictures helps support the comprehension of learners of all ages.
How to Use Funny Jokes in Spanish Class
Step #1 – Find the Best Spanish Jokes
I started collecting jokes in Spanish that I found on a Pinterest Board. Instead of having to scramble each Thursday morning to find a meme or joke in Spanish to use, I started putting them all together in a jaja jueves slideshow, along with questions to discuss. Each slide has an appropriate image with a joke in Spanish & 3 questions to complete in Spanish. So if you want to skip step 1, I have multiple sets of slides of ready-to-go jaja jueves jokes. Here are the three most popular.
- Jaja jueves Bundle – every set of jokes altogether, enough for 1 every day of the year!
- NEW Jaja jueves 2023 – my newest, clean, comprehensible jokes
- Jaja jueves 22 – new, clean joke set for elementary-conservative high school. (You can get it as a part of the NEW Para Empezar 2022 for a year too).
- 1 year of jaja jueves – enough memes for every Thursday of the year, the most popular version
Step #2 – Project a Joke in Spanish
There are so many ways you can use joke slides in Spanish class! Here are just a few ways to use them.
- Project one joke slide each Thursday (or any day) as students enter in person or virtual class.
- Insert one slide into a Google forms daily check-in for online classes.
- Project one joke slide in the middle of class as a brain break.
- Project one joke slide as students leave class as an exit ticket.
Step #3 – Discuss the funny joke in Spanish
In my joke slideshows, each slide has an image with a joke in Spanish. Plus there are usually three questions to complete in Spanish. These questions are typically the following (but in Spanish)
- Explain what the joke means
- Is the joke/meme funny?
- A question related to the content of the joke
Depending on how you do your class starters, maybe students write the answers to these questions down. Or maybe, your students digitally answer these questions right in their daily slides. When I was Deskless we just discussed the questions as a class. So, no there was no grade involved and it was just a part of class participation and Interpersonal Communication Skills.
Ways to Mix Up Jaja jueves
As with any routine, if you keep it exactly the same week after week, it can get a little stale. Here are a few ways to mix up your weekly jokes.
- Have a student lead the discussion of the joke.
- Have partners or small groups discuss the joke and then come together to all discuss.
- Students vote if they think the joke is funny by moving to different sides of the room.
- Assign a few jokes or the whole slideshow as interpretive reading practice or a sub plan.
- Have students make their own memes and slides in Spanish as an extension. You could use the student created submissions in later weeks.
Try Jaja jueves!
If you are looking for a way to add humor to your classes and connect to build a positive classroom community while staying in Spanish, using Spanish jokes is for you. Just find jokes, project them, and discuss in Spanish. Here are resources to save you time!
- Jaja jueves Bundle – every set of jokes all together, enough for 1 every day of the year!
This new joke set my most squeaky clean joke set for elementary-conservative high school. Both below are jokes with graphics like the ones in this blog post.
These joke sets are mostly memes/jokes in Spanish for junior high & high school
- 1 year of jaja jueves – enough memes for every Thursday of the year, the most popular version
- Jaja jueves 2 – 22 memes/jokes in Spanish
- Jaja jueves 21 – 22 more memes/jokes in Spanish
These joke sets are specifically focused on the Super 7 & Sweet 16 verbs. These are great if you want more repetitions of these specific verbs (here is more info about using these High Frequency Verbs)
- Memes using the Super 7 (present, imperfect & preterite)
- Memes using the Sweet 16 verbs (present)
Plus, try out a free week of my Para Empezar Classroom Routines, including jaja jueves.
Now go try out some Spanish jokes for class to increase student engagement. If you use jaja jueves class routine, with funny jokes in Spanish class, let me know!
