Did you know that roosters make a different sound in different languages? Most animals do, actually. And the sound they make is called onomatopoeia.

Years ago, a student told a joke as part of an assignment and in that joke her rooster said, “Kkokio.”

…And this is what I loved about the classroom. My plan almost always went in a different direction, and I always learned something from my students.

We ended up having a lengthy discussion about onomatopoeia and wound up learning animal sounds from probably 14 different countries, some more similar than others. But by far, the Canadian or English rooster makes the strangest sound by comparison.

With permission, I borrowed the joke from my student, and adapted it for an icebreaker that got folks laughing and engaged with language learning on day one.

Here’s how it goes:

First, if you can, show a picture of a rooster and ask:

“What sound does a rooster make?”

You might have a few different ones pop up like:

Kkokio (Korean), Quiquiriqui (Spanish), Cocorico (Portugese), Wowowo (Chinese), SiYaah (Arabic), and so on…

It’s important to do this to illustrate the different sounds, and to get students engaged with each other on a light topic. Then you can ask:

“Does anyone know what the English rooster says?”

You might have someone who knows, but most often not. Now, you can write or display:

“Cock-a-doodle-doo”

*Pro tip: shout it like a rooster.

Students tend to laugh and say, “What?!!” and then you can have them say, “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”

After all of this, you have built the necessary background knowledge, with the added benefit that they’re already laughing and primed for a joke.

And so the adapted version of my student’s joke goes:

There are three cats.
The first cat says, “Meow.”
The second cat says, “Meow.”
The third cat says, “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
The first cat and the second cat look at the third cat, very confused, and say, “What’s wrong with you? Why did you say, ‘meow’?”
And the third cat replies, “I’m learning a second language!”

I have been lucky enough to learn bits and pieces of different languages, but none really well enough to communicate fully. I think my wish would be to one day immerse myself in another country and culture and learn a language that way. It doesn’t matter where, or which language, but I’d love to understand a language deeply enough to be able to tell a joke.

Do you have any jokes you’d like to share? What sound does your rooster make?

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Written for Bloganuary prompt 26: What language do you wish you could speak?