When a pupil makes fun of you, it’s tempting to try to wipe the smile off their face. But one teacher took the opposite course - made them keep on laughing until they couldn’t laugh any more.

The unusual punishment was dished out when the boy mocked his teacher, claiming he had been having an affair after the teacher and his wife had a stand-up row in the classroom, at an English-language school in Taiwan.

The boy’s father claimed his son was then forced to stand and told he would have to keep on laughing. After an hour of this forced laughter, the boy started crying and was sick, the father said.

The island’s Apple Daily reported that the teacher denied that the punishment had lasted as long as an hour, but said he had resolved the issue with the parents.

As punishments go it’s a little more ingenious than making pupils stand in the corridor, but it’s unlikely it’s going to catch on over here.