lesson plan

Speaking Skills - Asking Questions

Many post beginner to lower intermediate students are quite capable of expressing their ideas reasonably well. However, they often run into problems when asking questions. This is due to a number of causes: i.e., teachers are the ones that usually ask questions, the inversion of the auxiliary verb and subject can be especially tricky for many students. This simple lesson focuses specifically on the question form and helping students gain skill while switching tenses in the question form.
Aim: Improving speaking confidence when using question forms
Activity: Intensive auxiliary review followed by student gap question exercises.
Level: Lower-intermediate
Outline:
• Focus on auxiliary verb usage by making a number of statements in tenses the students are familiar with. Ask students to identify the auxiliary verb in each case.
• Ask a student or students to explain the underlying scheme of the object question form (i.e., ? word Auxiliary Subject Verb). Have students give a number of examples in different tenses.
• Split students up into pairs. Distribute worksheet and ask students to ask an appropriate questions for the given answer taking turns.
• Follow-up check of questions either by circulating through the student pairs or as a group.
• Ask students to each take the second exercise (one for Student A the other for Student B) and complete the gaps by asking their partner for the missing information.
• Solidify question forms by quickly playing a verb inversion game using the various tenses (i.e., Teacher: I live in the city. Student: Where do you live? etc.)
Asking Questions
Exercise 1: Ask an appropriate question for the response
• A steak, please.
• Oh, I stayed at home and watched tv.
• She is reading a book at the moment.
• We are going to visit France.
• I usually get up at 7 o'clock.
• No, he is single.
• For about 2 years.
• I was washing up when he arrived.
Exercise 2: Ask questions to fill the gaps with the missing information
Student A
Frank was born in ______ (where?) in 1977. He went to school in Buenos Aires for ______ (how long?) before moving to Denver. He misses _______ (what?), but he enjoys studying and living in Denver. In fact, he _____ (what?) in Denver for over 4 years. Currently, he _________ (what?) at the University of Colorado where he is going to receive his Bachelor of Science next ______ (when?). After he receives his degree, he is going to return to Buenos Aires to marry _____ (who?) and begin a career in research. Alice ______ (what?) at the University in Buenos Aires and is also going to receive ______ (what?) next May. They met in _____ (where?) in 1995 while they were hiking together in the ______ (where?). They have been engaged for ________ (how long?).
Student B
Frank was born in Buenos Aires in ______ (when?). He went to school in _______ (where?) for 12 years before moving to ______ (where?). He misses living in Buenos Aires, but he enjoys ________ (what?) in Denver. In fact, he has lived in Denver for ______ (how long?). Currently, he is studying at the ______ (where?) where he is going to receive his _______ (what?) next June. After he receives his degree, he is going to return to _____ (where?) to marry his fiance Alice and begin a career in ______ (what?). Alice studies Art History at the ________ (where?) and is also going to receive a degree in Art History next _____ (when?). They met in Peru in _____ (when?) while they _______ (what?) together in the Andes. They have been engaged for three years.
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Helping Students Write a Creative Story
Once students have become familiar with the basics of English and have begun communicating, writing can help open up new avenues of expression. These first steps are often difficult as students struggle to combine simple sentences into more complex structures. This guided writing lesson is intended to help bridge the gap from simply writing sentences to developing a larger structure. During the course of the lesson students become familiar with the sentence connectors 'so' and 'because'.
Aim: Guided Writing - learning to use the sentence connectors 'so' and 'because'
Activity: Sentence combination exercise followed by guided writing exercise
Level: lower intermediate
Outline:
• Write a sentence with 'so' and a sentence with 'because' on the board: Example: We needed some food so I went to the supermarket. | He studied all night because he had a difficult test the next day.
• Ask students which sentence expresses a reason (because) and which sentence expresses a consequence (so).
• Now, write these variations of the sentences on the board: Example: I went to the supermarket because we needed some food. | He had a difficult test so he studied all night.
• Ask students to explain what has changed in the sentences. Check the students understanding of the differences between 'so' and 'because'.
• Give the students the sentence matching exercise. Students should match the two sentences that logically go together.
• Once students have completed this exercise, ask them to combine the two sentences in each pair using 'so' or 'because'. Check their answers as a class.
• Read the example story to the class as a listening exercise which also sets the tone for the follow-up exercise. Ask students some comprehension questions based on the story.
Example Story:
A young Swedish man named Lars met a beautiful young French woman named Lise. They met in a cafe in Amsterdam during the afternoon. As soon as Lars saw Lise, he fell hopelessly in love because she was so beautiful and sophisticated. He wanted to meet her, so he introduced himself and asked her if he could speak to her. Soon, they were talking about their two countries and having a wonderful time. They decided to continue their discussion that evening so they made a date to have dinner in a wonderful restaurant. They continued to see each other every day because they had such a wonderful time together. Five months later, Lars moved to France and they married and lived happily ever after.
• Have students write a similar story using the guided writing prompts provided on their worksheet. Tell them they should be a creative as possible as that will make their story all the more enjoyable.
• Circulate around the room helping students with their short compositions.
• As a follow-up listening exercise which can be a lot of fun, have students read their stories aloud to the class.
• Results and Reasons

1. I had to get up early.
2. I'm hungry.
3. She wants to speak Spanish.
4. We needed a vacation.
5. They're going to visit us soon.
6. I went for a walk.
7. Jack won the lottery.
8. They bought a CD. A. I needed some fresh air.
B. She takes evening courses.
C. Their friend had a birthday.
D. We went to the seaside.
E. I had an early meeting at work.
F. He bought a new house.
G. We haven't seen them in a long time.
H. I'm cooking dinner.
Writing A Short Story
Quickly answer the questions below and then use the information to write your short story. Use your imagination to make the story as enjoyable as possible!
• Which man? (nationality, age)
• Loved who? (nationality, age)
• Where did they meet? (place, when, situation)
• Why did the man fall in love?
• What did he do next?
• What did the two do together that day?
• What did they do after that day?
• Why did they continue to see each other?
• How does the story end? Do they get married, do they separate?
• Is your story a sad or happy story?