Humour
Year 1: Some people use humour to hide the fact they need more help.
Core Story:
‘Is it because…’ by Tony Ross. A little boy wonders why his classmate Peregrine Ffrogg bullies him. In the end he concludes, correctly, that it’s because the bully is unhappy himself and is jealous of him. Before you read the story, explain to the children that this book is all about a boy (illustrated on page 1) talking to his dog Pepe, and trying to work out why another boy is bullying him.
Drawing out the virtue:
This story has been chosen to show children how, sometimes, when someone is struggling or unhappy themselves, they try to use humour to cover it up, instead of asking for help. Sometimes when people feel bad about themselves they are unkind to other people. Being mean to someone and getting others to laugh and join is a way that bullies try to make themselves feel better.
After you’ve read the story, focus in on two of the possible explanations the boy has for why Peregrine Ffrogg might be bullying him…
‘is it because he’s as thick as a log?’
‘Is it because he can’t ride a bike?’
Talk about the fact that everyone finds schoolwork difficult sometimes because we learn new things at school. How does it feel when we don’t understand something or we get the wrong answers?
Discuss the example of riding a bike. How many children in the class can ride a bike without stabilisers? Was it easy to learn? How does it feel when we can’t do something and everyone else can?
Imagine Peregrine was still learning to ride a bike when other people had already practiced enough. Why might he start bullying someone else? It takes attention away from the fact that he needs some more help.
What should he do instead? Tell the teacher he finds this hard and ask for help, or just practise more.
It also makes him feel better about himself to make fun of someone else. Emphasise that needing a bit more help or time to practise is nothing to be embarrassed about and it is much better to ask for help than to make someone else feel bad.
Finally ask your class “Is this a funny story, is it humorous?”
Yes, because the examples are funny. No because it’s about bullying. However, the boy uses humour to help him think about the bully’s actions and work out that actually Peregrine Ffrogg is the one who needs help.
Activity 1: Scenarios
PowerPoint Y1 Humour contains three bullying scenarios.
Read through the three scenarios with the children and talk about the fact that bullying can take lots of different forms and there are lots of different ways bullies try to put others down. The scenarios include teasing, physical bullying, name calling and other manifestations such as giggling and deliberately excluding someone. Ask the children to suggest why the bully might be acting in that way.
At the end, ask pupils if they can think of any further examples to add.