BK5b
GETTING QUESTIONS FROM YOUR STUDENTS
AQ - Answer, Question
This form is useful for finding out if a student can use certain question forms which he is supposed to know but which he may have forgotten. It is thus more for revision than for systematic drill. An example might be:
T Peter is seven years old. A question
please ....
S How old is Peter?
T He's seven.
This finds out if a student knows the expression "How old?"
another example:
T It's 450 km from Paris to Lyon. A
question please ....
S How far is it from Paris to Lyon?
T It's 450 Km.
to see if he knows "How far?"
Notice that the teacher says "A question please", instead of a prompt as the appropriate prompt "How old ..." or "How far ..." would give the game away and defeat your purpose.
Of course the student might come up with something quite wrong or nothing at all but that is what you set out to find and in this case you would then use QAQ to drill the forgotten form.
Sometimes a student doesn't catch on to what you want but you don't have to give up and use the prompt. You can switch to a variation of the "I don't know" technique (q.v.):
T It's 450 km from Paris to Lyon. A
question please ....
S Er .. Pardon ... It's ....
T (Interrupting) It's 450 Km. from Paris to Lyon, Right?
S Yes, it is.
T And from London to Manchester?
S I don't know
T Question please.
S How far is it .... (or whatever)
© Mark Yates 2000