The questions hat

This game gets students using question forms in an authentic context. The questions are repeated often, thus reinforcing learning, and students learn things about each other into the bargain. It is infinitely adaptable to the level and needs of your learners and requires minimal preparation.

Who it's for:
All levels

What it's for:
Practising question forms, energy raising

What you need:
A class of at least three students; lots of small pieces of paper and a hat or some other receptacle for them; any issue of Spotlight

What you do:
Before the lesson, establish the questions you want the class to ask each other. You probably need between four and six questions. From Spotlight 3/11, for example, based on various articles and dialogues, I've come up with:

What's the name of your nearest train station?

Which supermarket do you usually go to?

Where did you go on your last holiday?

Where's your favourite walk/hiking trail?

You can either present the class with the questions, or, using prompts, get them to build the correct questions themselves first. For example, to elicit the above questions, I might write up the words "Pasing", "Tengelmann", "London" and "around the Nymphenburg park". I would explain that these are my answers and ask the class what the questions would be.

Now distribute the pieces of paper, four per student (i.e. one for each question). Ask the students to write their own answers to these questions, one on each piece of paper, legibly. In my experience, you have to say this a few times. Even then, there will be a student who doesn't understand that the point is to write his or her own answers, or at least answers that he or she is prepared to take ownership of in the game.

Ask students to scrunch up their answers and to put them in the hat. Tell them that they are going to play a game in which they have to ask each other the questions on the board. It is then up to you to decide whether you are going to keep the questions displayed, remove them, delete words from them one by one and so on.

Explain the game: Everybody runs to the hat, takes out a piece of paper and reads what is on it. If it is the student's own answer, he or she should put it back again and take another one. Students then ask the appropriate question to another class member that should elicit that answer. If the answer given is the same as the one on the piece of paper, the student keeps the piece of paper — they will be counted up at the end — and goes to collect another slip. If the answer is different, the student tries the question out on somebody else, or puts it back and takes another one instead, and so on until all the hat is empty. The student with the most slips of paper wins.

It is a good idea to establish the rule that students only need to answer questions that have been formulated correctly, and to join in the game yourself, so that you can monitor the language. All you should be able to hear is either questions or answers. That's the idea!

*The next "Try It Out" will appear on 11 April 2011.