IDEA 2. QUESTIONS I LIKE, QUESTIONS I HATE
I often use the exercise for different reasons: 1) to practise questions and answers, 2) to practise target vocabulary, 3) to practise note-taking and summing-up skills, 4) to make language study a personally motivating experience, 5) to establish good cooperative atmosphere in the class, 6) to intrigue learners, 7) to create authentic communicative situations, 8) interpersonal socializing skills. Now, about the details: 1) Prepare three slips of paper per student. Ask students to write at least three questions of any kind to the teacher on these slips of paper. 2) Explain that you will answer any of the questions they ask. Help students write the questions correctly and check grammar. Depending on the language level and the type of students, the questions can be different or grammar focused, e.g. only general or alternative, etc. 3) When the questions are written, ask them to read out the questions in the order they prefer. This will give them time to practise reading from memory. 4) Get the students work in groups of four or five. The students take turns to ask their questions one at a time. They ask each other but not the teacher. They all try to guess the real answers the teacher may give. They take notes of their answers for later comparison. 5) Meanwhile, the teacher walks around taking notes of language mistakes, correcting their grammar or pronunciation, asking them to repeat, thus helping the students to do the task well. at this stage the teacher DOES NOT ANSWER. The students answer for their teacher.
6) (Optional!) You can ask students to re-group and start the procedure again. For weaker learners that will be a good chance to practise more.
7) When the students have finished asking and answering their questions, tell them that you are now going to answer their questions in person.
8) So, students take turns to ask the teacher their questions. The teacher starts answering the questions. But: each time the teacher says, "I like your question' and gives the answer. The students compare it with their version. If the teacher hears a question that he/she doesn't like, he/she says, "I don't like the question' and gives no answer. But the students give their version. 9) Meanwhile, there should be at least two students who will be taking notes of the asked questions and given answers for later summary.
10) When everyone has asked at least one question, the teacher can stop the activity and ask the note-takers to sum up the information in the third person: 'Our teacher....". The summary format can be prepared as a fill-in activity.
Variations:
- This procedure can be done quite regularly. Choose and change the students for the role of the one who answers questions.
- the slips of paper with questions can be collected for further use.
- this can turn into a good project work named 'Class Interviews'.
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