Why does a teacher ask questions?
1. To check understanding
2. To provide students with the opportunity to speak and interact
Watch out because some students could feel intimidated and clam up if you pick them out. You could avoid this by putting them into pairs, and writing the question on the board and giving them all say 2 minutes to discuss the question. This would provide a chance for everyone to use the language, and may generate some useful language too. Then you could ask a less shy student for the answer/s and write them on the board. Then you could ask for feedback and ask if everyone agrees or if anyone has other ideas.
When you ask a question or give instructions, make sure you use structures and language that they can understand. So you have to “grade” your language. Also, use the “KISS” approach.
Keep It Short and Simple
Don’t forget to give students time to answer. If there is a silence, it’s probably because they’re thinking. Give them time, don’t rush them. If they take ages, then you could ask another student.
The more language you use the more chance they have of getting confused.
If a student asks you a question, and you don’t know the answer, just tell them you will cover that in the next class. Then take a note of it, and check your grammar books for the next class.
After every lesson, it is useful to evaluate yourself. This will help you to develop into a caring and successful teacher. Some questions you could ask yourself after each lesson are:
Explain clearly:
Just because you know something, doesn’t mean you can present it.
Think about the language you will use when speaking and giving instructions.
Write down key words/phrases on the board.
Make explanations brief.
You could even practice on a friend.
When presenting something, make sure you have students’ attention.
Repeat if necessary.
Ask concept questions to check understanding. Or ask them to explain it again, but to each other in pairs. This also generates language.
Don’t say: do you understand. They will probably say yes, even if they don’t.
If need be, use students’ mother tongue.
When explaining something, you could go on and on, and still not get the meaning across. Look at these two words:
Fat Thin
Try describing them to someone.
Now do it another way using body language. Imagine you had a flashcard/picture to show this. It would be understood right away, and the visual image may stick and create a memory hook for the word. There are many visual learners.
The importance of giving clear instructions cannot be overstated; the most interesting, well-thought out activity will flop unless the students know what they are supposed to be doing.
Use concise imperatives.
CORRECT: "Work with the person on your left."
INCORRECT: "If you don't mind, I'd like you to work with a partner."
Keep your instructions as short as possible. This is a difficult habit for English speakers to break when asking people to do things. We tend to use long and complicated sentences such as "Okay, what I'd like you to do now, if you don't mind, is to…" Don't worry about sounding impolite. You can say "Listen!" with a smile and use non-threatening body language (paralinguistic). This is more effective and economical. Make an effort to take in the whole class. Scan the whole group when speaking and avoid staring at any individuals in particular. Sometimes it's easy to focus on a friendly face. Use eye contact for selecting a student. This also keeps students constantly engaged.
Avoid phrasal verbs and colloquialisms.
INCORRECT: "Okay, let's go through this together."
INCORRECT: "If you get stuck, give me a shout!"
CORRECT: "Now we'll look at the answers."
CORRECT: "If you don't understand anything, ask me."
*Of course it’s ok to use these if the student is of an advanced level.
Demonstrate.
Wherever possible, try to demonstrate activities. This is much more effective than a lengthy explanation. It's always a good idea to do the first question in an exercise together as a class. With games and role-plays demonstrate using a strong student to model the activity.
Check for understanding.
Check that the students have understood your instructions by watching their faces or checking with simple questions, e.g. "What are you going to do next?”
Concept Questions.
When we teach our students what a grammar structure means, how do we know if our students have understood? One way, of course, is to ask them and it is very tempting to propose something like “Do you understand?” or “Is this clear?” The problem with these questions is that despite feeling unsure about what they have just been taught, most students when confronted with a question like this are unwilling to admit they don’t understand. They will most likely answer “yes”. As teachers, it is our job to check if students have understood rather than simply ask them.
Concept questions can prove very useful in establishing how well students have grasped a concept that has been introduced. They are designed to highlight (for the students) the meaning of the new language item, be it vocabulary or a grammar structure. To work out what concept questions you should ask in order to teach a particular structure/word, you, as the teacher, must first identify the concept (including register, if applicable) for yourself.
Imagine you are teaching the meaning of the verb “organised”. You might present it to students in a sentence like this:
a. I organised the party.
This sentence means: I set up and prepared the party.
So your concept questions need to address this meaning. You could ask:
• Did I set up the party? (Yes)
• Was I responsible for the party? (Yes)
b. I’m going to the pub tonight.
• Is the speaker talking about the future? (Yes)
• Is this a plan? (Yes)
The following questions do not help students to understand the meaning of the structure or when it is used and cannot be answered using the information provided in the model sentence. Therefore, these questions are not useful:
• Where’s the pub?
• Is it expensive?
By nature, concept questions should be simple to understand and to answer and they should contain familiar structures, or as we say in the ELT world, they should be “graded”. They should not contain the structure/word being taught! Most concept questions probably have Yes/No answers.
How does learning take place?
Learning will only take place if students get the chance to practice. This means the teacher should provide as many opportunities as possible for students to use the language. To help with this you could provide as many student centred activities as possible, where the teacher is minimally involved. Some could be:
Role-plays, debates, discussions, pair/group work, etc
The teacher could walk around and monitor and take note of errors for error correction (using the board) afterwards. That way, it is the students who are doing all the hard work, not the teacher. This is a student centred activity, and allows them to experiment with the language.
Of course teacher centred activities are important too: i.e. a grammar presentation. However, these should be kept to a minimum. Remember that too much TTT (teacher talking time) is boring for the students. They are not there to listen to the teacher talking; they are there to practice talking, and to learn a language. It is them who need to engage in the language, not the teacher.
1. To check understanding
2. To provide students with the opportunity to speak and interact
Watch out because some students could feel intimidated and clam up if you pick them out. You could avoid this by putting them into pairs, and writing the question on the board and giving them all say 2 minutes to discuss the question. This would provide a chance for everyone to use the language, and may generate some useful language too. Then you could ask a less shy student for the answer/s and write them on the board. Then you could ask for feedback and ask if everyone agrees or if anyone has other ideas.
When you ask a question or give instructions, make sure you use structures and language that they can understand. So you have to “grade” your language. Also, use the “KISS” approach.
Keep It Short and Simple
Don’t forget to give students time to answer. If there is a silence, it’s probably because they’re thinking. Give them time, don’t rush them. If they take ages, then you could ask another student.
The more language you use the more chance they have of getting confused.
If a student asks you a question, and you don’t know the answer, just tell them you will cover that in the next class. Then take a note of it, and check your grammar books for the next class.
After every lesson, it is useful to evaluate yourself. This will help you to develop into a caring and successful teacher. Some questions you could ask yourself after each lesson are:
Explain clearly:
Just because you know something, doesn’t mean you can present it.
Think about the language you will use when speaking and giving instructions.
Write down key words/phrases on the board.
Make explanations brief.
You could even practice on a friend.
When presenting something, make sure you have students’ attention.
Repeat if necessary.
Ask concept questions to check understanding. Or ask them to explain it again, but to each other in pairs. This also generates language.
Don’t say: do you understand. They will probably say yes, even if they don’t.
If need be, use students’ mother tongue.
When explaining something, you could go on and on, and still not get the meaning across. Look at these two words:
Fat Thin
Try describing them to someone.
Now do it another way using body language. Imagine you had a flashcard/picture to show this. It would be understood right away, and the visual image may stick and create a memory hook for the word. There are many visual learners.
The importance of giving clear instructions cannot be overstated; the most interesting, well-thought out activity will flop unless the students know what they are supposed to be doing.
Use concise imperatives.
CORRECT: "Work with the person on your left."
INCORRECT: "If you don't mind, I'd like you to work with a partner."
Keep your instructions as short as possible. This is a difficult habit for English speakers to break when asking people to do things. We tend to use long and complicated sentences such as "Okay, what I'd like you to do now, if you don't mind, is to…" Don't worry about sounding impolite. You can say "Listen!" with a smile and use non-threatening body language (paralinguistic). This is more effective and economical. Make an effort to take in the whole class. Scan the whole group when speaking and avoid staring at any individuals in particular. Sometimes it's easy to focus on a friendly face. Use eye contact for selecting a student. This also keeps students constantly engaged.
Avoid phrasal verbs and colloquialisms.
INCORRECT: "Okay, let's go through this together."
INCORRECT: "If you get stuck, give me a shout!"
CORRECT: "Now we'll look at the answers."
CORRECT: "If you don't understand anything, ask me."
*Of course it’s ok to use these if the student is of an advanced level.
Demonstrate.
Wherever possible, try to demonstrate activities. This is much more effective than a lengthy explanation. It's always a good idea to do the first question in an exercise together as a class. With games and role-plays demonstrate using a strong student to model the activity.
Check for understanding.
Check that the students have understood your instructions by watching their faces or checking with simple questions, e.g. "What are you going to do next?”
Concept Questions.
When we teach our students what a grammar structure means, how do we know if our students have understood? One way, of course, is to ask them and it is very tempting to propose something like “Do you understand?” or “Is this clear?” The problem with these questions is that despite feeling unsure about what they have just been taught, most students when confronted with a question like this are unwilling to admit they don’t understand. They will most likely answer “yes”. As teachers, it is our job to check if students have understood rather than simply ask them.
Concept questions can prove very useful in establishing how well students have grasped a concept that has been introduced. They are designed to highlight (for the students) the meaning of the new language item, be it vocabulary or a grammar structure. To work out what concept questions you should ask in order to teach a particular structure/word, you, as the teacher, must first identify the concept (including register, if applicable) for yourself.
Imagine you are teaching the meaning of the verb “organised”. You might present it to students in a sentence like this:
a. I organised the party.
This sentence means: I set up and prepared the party.
So your concept questions need to address this meaning. You could ask:
• Did I set up the party? (Yes)
• Was I responsible for the party? (Yes)
b. I’m going to the pub tonight.
• Is the speaker talking about the future? (Yes)
• Is this a plan? (Yes)
The following questions do not help students to understand the meaning of the structure or when it is used and cannot be answered using the information provided in the model sentence. Therefore, these questions are not useful:
• Where’s the pub?
• Is it expensive?
By nature, concept questions should be simple to understand and to answer and they should contain familiar structures, or as we say in the ELT world, they should be “graded”. They should not contain the structure/word being taught! Most concept questions probably have Yes/No answers.
How does learning take place?
Learning will only take place if students get the chance to practice. This means the teacher should provide as many opportunities as possible for students to use the language. To help with this you could provide as many student centred activities as possible, where the teacher is minimally involved. Some could be:
Role-plays, debates, discussions, pair/group work, etc
The teacher could walk around and monitor and take note of errors for error correction (using the board) afterwards. That way, it is the students who are doing all the hard work, not the teacher. This is a student centred activity, and allows them to experiment with the language.
Of course teacher centred activities are important too: i.e. a grammar presentation. However, these should be kept to a minimum. Remember that too much TTT (teacher talking time) is boring for the students. They are not there to listen to the teacher talking; they are there to practice talking, and to learn a language. It is them who need to engage in the language, not the teacher.
