Do you get it?

Do you get it?

Pencil and paper
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
This task is about understanding idioms and humour in a text.
Cartoon of a man and a parrot

PARROT JOKE

A man bought a talking parrot and found it talked too much, and he didn't like what it said. The parrot was always swearing at him and abusing him. He tried covering its cage, but the parrot just went on swearing and making rude personal remarks. At his wits' end, the man thought he would try putting it in the deep-freeze, just for a few seconds, to see if that would "cool it down". So he opened the deep-freeze, put in the parrot, and shut the door.
     After a few seconds, there was silence. "Oh, no!" the man thought. "I hope I haven't killed it!"
     He opened the door and took the parrot out. "Sir," said the parrot, "I would like to apologise for all the rude things I have said to you and the bad language I have used. I promise it won't happen again. Just tell me one thing."
"What is it?" asked the man.
"Well," said the parrot, "what did that chicken do?"
 
Read the story and answer the questions that follow.
a)
What does "at his wits' end" mean?
 
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b) What are two ways you can interpret "cool it down"?
   
i)
 
ii) 
 
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c) Write down the punch line of this story.
 
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d)
Explain the humour in the punch line.
 
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Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper.
Copyright: 
Material from Parrot Joke first published in Choices by Learning Media Limited for the Ministry of Education,
Illustrations Copyright © Crown, 1998. Author unknown.
 
Level:
5
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Thinking
Keywords: 
humour, inference, comprehension, idiom, choices, language features
Description of task: 
A joke about a parrot is the context for this resource that assesses understanding of idioms and the interpretation of humour.
Curriculum Links: 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading:
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • use comprehension strategies
  • recognise language features
as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions.
Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Making sense of text: processing system, sets 6-7
Making sense of text: vocabulary knowledge, sets 7-9
within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
 

Y10 (11/2000)

a)

Any 1 of:

  • He was desperate.
  • He didn't know what to do.

easy

b)
  • Make it cold [freeze].
  • Calm down the parrot.

2 correct – moderate

1 correct – very easy

c)

"Well" said the parrot, "what did the chicken do?"

easy

d)

The humour is the parrot's response to seeing the frozen dead chicken, which was not the intention of the man.
The parrot thought he was living with a killer of birds and he was in great risk of ending up like the chicken.

easy