Yesterday I gave my students a "find someone who" task. They did a fantastic job of getting to know each other better and there was no problem with a lot of the language they used in their conversations. BUT....
But I noticed that in almost every case my students didn't actually pay much attention to how they used question forms. They tended to just make a simple statement and then kind of 'turn it into a question' through gesture or a hopeful smile at the other person.
The task wasn't supposed to be about using question forms - it was about social media - but I ended up spending much of the lesson drilling question forms with them.
WHY are question forms so important?
Flexibility
Interaction
Development
Cohesion
Management
Register / style
Questions help us manage a conversation (steer it, control it - make it GO where we want it to).
If we lack the ability to quickly form questions then it can be really hard to develop the conversation fully. It ends up getting stuck in the mud.
Think of questions as the keys that open the conversations up. Or the crane that lifts you out of the mud.
Mechanics (or Grammar)
I believe we pay insufficient attention to questions. They take many different forms grammatically speaking and there are lots of other things to consider about them, such as how exactly to phrase them, and how to get the most out of them. Grammatically speaking, the more certain you are of how you form questions (in all the different tenses and in relation to all the "types" of questions there are), the more you will be able to have conversations that are flexible, interactive, and linguistically rich.
But it's no only about grammar. Asking questions is above all an attitude and a habit.
A well-known English teacher I once knew always used to ask this at the end of a lesson:
"What questions did you ask today?"
Questions are the secret of learning, communicating, thinking, building knowledge, building relationships. In terms of learning a language they unlock doors which otherwise feel impenetrable.
They also keep you mentally focused and active in a conversation.
And they are NOT actually hard to form. Simply use these words with a ? and they will open many doors:
But it's no only about grammar. Asking questions is above all an attitude and a habit.
A well-known English teacher I once knew always used to ask this at the end of a lesson:
"What questions did you ask today?"
Questions are the secret of learning, communicating, thinking, building knowledge, building relationships. In terms of learning a language they unlock doors which otherwise feel impenetrable.
They also keep you mentally focused and active in a conversation.
And they are NOT actually hard to form. Simply use these words with a ? and they will open many doors:
Who?
When?
What?
Why?
How?
Where?
Which?
And offer words that ask people to enlarge, go into more detail...
Really?
Interesting.
Go on.
Okay.
Yes?
Great.
Perfect.
Nice.
How terrible.
Oh.
And?
So?
Crazy!
Amazing.
No!
You're kidding.
Funny.
Good one.
Good for you.
Of course.
No way!
Ha ha.
Yeah.
Yeah?
Yeah!
Phrases like these are really invitations for more input from the other person.
But to widen the scope we do need to return to grammar. Take a look at the common blocks non-native speakers tend to have in using questions. Do you make some of these mistakes? Watch these two videos and do some grammar exercises to help you out of the mud!
Watch Emma's class:
Now Watch Jade's class:
Did you forgotten the keys?
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