Web International Beginner Salon 1

Beginner Salon 1

Asking Questions

Goal for the lesson: Students must practice and improve making and answering questions.

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Main points:
• Practice basic question and answer skills

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• Use all interrogative questions
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Work on follow-up questions

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Classroom Activities:

I. Warm Up al
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 Elicit interrogatives from the students. A typical list should include the following:
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What, Where, Why, When, Which, Who, How

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 On a separate line give these:

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Do, Did, Is, Are, Was, Were, Can.

 Explain to the students that English questions can always start with one of these question
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words.
 Ask the students for one sample for each of the question words. Prompt if necessary. Then
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ask two or three of the better students to answer some of the questions in the group as a
sample. For example: “Can you cook a fish?” or “When do you go to bed?”
 Divide the class into groups of 2 or 3 students each. The students must ask each other the
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questions listed on the board. The teacher should mingle with the students and answer
questions/prompt as necessary.
 After 3 to 5 minutes the teacher should call time! Ask the students for examples of their
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partner’s answers: “She can cook a fish.” Or “Tom goes to bed at 11.” Allow the students
to self-correct mistakes or correct as necessary.
 Repeat the process, but now ask the students to make their own questions.
 Students ask each other questions.
 The teacher should mingle and prompt the students.
 Call time after 3 to 5 minutes and ask for examples from several students.
 Allow a moment for the student to self-correct, prompt, then correct if needed.

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II. Main Activities:

Activity 1
Questions about yourself
 The teacher gives answers based on his/ her own life and the students are asked to build
‘backwards’ from this to form the question ala the game show ‘Jeopardy’.
 Ensure that the students note that many of the words required for the questions are present
in the answer and vice versa. I like basketball! Do you like basketball?

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 If the group struggles the teacher should first give the interrogative to be used and then
add a word at a time whilst continuing to ask for the question.

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Example:
Q: ______________?

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A: I’m fine.

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Q: ____________________?
A: My name is Jackson..

Q: ____________________?
A: I am from America. I am American.
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Q: ____________________?
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A: I am 28 years old!
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Q: ____________________?
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A: I live in Shanghai.

Q: ____________________?
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A: I like Shanghai.
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Q: ____________________?
A: Yes I am married / No I am single.
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Controlled Practice 1
 The students work in pairs with controlled answers.
 Give each student Answer Sheet 1.
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 The students then fill in the blanks.

 The teacher should mingle as necessary to correct problems.
 After 3 minutes or so the teacher should ask the students to make this a short dialogue
with a partner.
 Finally the teacher should ask two students to stand up and present a short dialogue based
on the questions they have produced and the formatted answers.

Controlled Practice 2
 The students work in pairs with controlled answers. If there is a small number of students

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 Web International Beginner Salon 1

the teacher should join them as one group.

 Each student is given Answer Sheet 2. The student should fill in the blanks with both the
questions to ask and their answers.
 The teacher should circulate to help with problems.
 After 3 to 5 minutes the students should pair up and ask the questions to their partners.
The teacher should circulate to help with problems.
 Finally, one pair of students should be chosen to produce a dialogue for the class.
 During the role play the teacher makes notes on the board about the answering student’s

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personal information.
 After each role play refer to the interrogatives listed at the beginning of the class and
invite students to ‘follow or chase’ the answer with more questions to promote asking

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follow up questions. The teacher may have to select the interrogative and will have to

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guide students to form the question.

The students answer is, ‘I live in Shanghai.’

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The teacher should say. ‘He says he lives in Shanghai but it is a big city. What
question can we ask him now? The choice will be between ‘where’ and ‘which’.

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The teacher may have to build the question word by word.
A complete question might look like this:
Q: Which part of Shanghai do you live in?
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A: I live in the Pudong.
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 He says he came here three years ago. Let’s ask him a ‘Why’ question.
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Q: Why did you come to Qingdao?

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A: To study English.

Activity 2
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 The teacher should divide the students into pairs, making sure all have a new partner. The
teacher may have to move students to do so.
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 The students should then choose two questions from their Answer sheet two; each student
must write three follow-up questions for a total of six student written question.
 The teacher should mingle with the students to correct as necessary.
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 After five minutes the teacher should call time and ask for two or three sample questions
from students. The teacher should write these on the board.
 Afterwards the teacher should ask two or three questions to students, and follow each up
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with another follow up question.

 The students should then be given 5 minutes to ask these questions with each other.
 The teacher should mingle and correct as necessary.

Activity 3
 Students should practice making questions and answering questions for others to practice
the third person singular.
 Distribute one picture card to each group of 2 to 3 students.

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 Web International Beginner Salon 1

 Using the information in the pictures below students make questions and then attempt to
think of answers. Emphasize that we do not know anything about the people or things in
the pictures so guessing is important. Students are encouraged to lie as necessary! Use the
interrogative list as necessary.
 The students should ask each other some questions alternately.

Example
The question for the married woman might be ‘Do you love him?’ And the

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answer might be, ‘No, but he is rich.’ The question for the dog could be “Do you
like him?” And the answer might be “I like him when he buys me steak!”

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 The teacher should mix with the students to help, prompt answers or questions, ask

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follow-up questions, or correct mistakes as necessary.
 After five to ten minutes the teacher should call time and ask one or two groups to repeat
some of their questions and answers for the class.

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 The teacher should encourage the class to ask some follow-up questions to the chosen
group or ask the questions, if needed.

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III. Warm-Down

 The teacher should ask some basic questions with the group in a question weaving style.
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 Web International Beginner Salon 1

Beginner Salon 1 Picture Card 1

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 Web International Beginner Salon 1

Beginner Salon 1

Answer Card 1

Q: _____________________________________________________?
A: I’m ok, thank you.

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Q: _____________________________________________________?
A: My name is Leslie.

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Q: ____________________________________________________?

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A: I am from Canada.

Q ____________________________________________________?

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A: I am thirty-seven years old.

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Q: ___________________________________________________?
A: I live in Dalian.
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Q ____________________________________________________?
I like the beach.
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Beginner Salon 1
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Answer Card 2.

Q: ___________________________________________________?
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A: Yes I am married OR No I am single.

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Q: ___________________________________________________?
A: I live in ___________________________________.
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Q: ___________________________________________________?
I am a ______________________________________.
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Q: ____________________________________________________?
Yes I like dogs. OR No, I don’t like dogs.

Q: ____________________________________________________?
A: On Saturday I like to __________________________.

Q: _____________________________________________________?
A: I usually get up at __________________.

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 Web International Beginner Salon 1

Beginner Salon 1 Student Preparation Sheet

Vocabulary
Question interrogatives married single fine usually

Practice Questions
Wh- questions are important to learn information. Wh- question words are who, what, when,

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where, and why. It is important to be able to ask and answer many different questions with these
words.

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Some typical questions include:

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Who are your parents?
What time do you usually get up?
When do you go to bed?

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Where does your mother live?
Why do you study English?

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After you have answered the questions above, please write two questions for each Wh-question
word in the spaces below:
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1. Who _____________________________________________________________?
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2. Who _____________________________________________________________?
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3. What _____________________________________________________________?
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4. What _____________________________________________________________?
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5. When _____________________________________________________________?

6. When _____________________________________________________________?
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7. Where _____________________________________________________________?
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8. Where _____________________________________________________________?

9. Why _____________________________________________________________?

10. Why _____________________________________________________________?

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