A Lot of Questions, Novice-Mid, English Foundation
A Lot of Questions Activity
Theme: Conversation-Based Grammar Practice, Hobbies, Answering simple questions
Description: This activity will help students practice initiating conversations in your language with someone. They will use phrases and vocabulary that will help them gather information from a person as well as giving information about themselves.
Relevant Can-Do statements:
- I can introduce myself and provide basic personal information
- I can answer a variety of simple questions
- I can make simple statements in a conversation
Materials Needed:
The following materials are needed for this activity
Activity Overview Powerpoint: This helps you move smoothly throughout the activity
Verb Cards (should be posted around the lab and left up for the week) (Print & Laminate)
Discussion Cards(Print & Laminate)
Location Cards (should be posted around the lab on Friday and left up for the week)(Print & Laminate)
Whiteboards
Envelope Covers(Print & Laminate)
Can-Do Statement Card(Print & Laminate)
Warm-up
This is kind of like mad-libs!
- For the warm up students should be in pairs, or divided into three groups, and each pair must have a whiteboard. Each group will be assigned with specific tasks. One group should write a subject (person). Another group write a verb, and one more group should write a place.
- Instruct the students to work together and form the sentence that conjugates the verb! (Do 3-4 of these, having them change roles each time.
“We are going to work together to form a phrase/sentence with an object, verb and place, and we are going to conjugate a verb.” - Go around the room and see how much they have completed before switching the jobs of each student. Once all of the students have finished the activity, switch papers.
“Okay, now we are going to switch papers. You will write an object, you a verb and you a place.” - Ex: Panda Express, Dance, Shakira. -----------
Shakira dances in the Panda Express.
Main Activity
- Put the students in groups of 2 or 3
- There will be 6 stations located around the room. (See Lab Assistant Notes Below for Setup Instructions)
- Each group will start at a different station. Groups will have 3 minutes (more or less) to respond to the questions at each station. There are verb suggestions on the wall, but the students can use others if they want. The objective is to practice responding to the questions in each station. There is not a right answer! The only rule is that you must use your language.
“We are going to practice responding to questions. Each group will begin with a different place. There are six different places and you are going to have more or less 3 minutes to respond to questions about that place. There are a few ideas for verbs on the wall (gesture to wall), but you can use others if you would like. There is no right answer! The only rule is that you need to speak ___(your language) (ex. Spanish).” - Make sure students visit at least 3 of the 5 stations.
- Students will first pull out one discussion question from the yellow envelope at a time. They will read the card aloud to their group and each group member will respond in Spanish for themselves.
Example: "What activity do you do in Boise during the winter? My favorite activity is to walk the Greenbelt." - Make sure each student has the chance to answer 2-3 questions about themselves.
- They should circulate through the remainder of the stations this way.
Wrap-up
Wrap-Up Questions:
Walk around the room and ask the students to share something they learned about one of their group members.
- "We are going to share something new about a person in your group."
- Ex. "______ likes to go to Roaring Springs in Boise during the summer."
End of lab: Can-Do statement check-in... “Where are we?”
- Read can-do statements and have students evaluate their confidence with cards
- Encourage students to be honest in their self evaluation
- Pay attention, and try to use feedback for future labs!
Lab Assistant Notes:
Setup 6 stations around your room, giving enough space for a small group to collaborate and answer the activity questions. Make sure that each station has a location card, (related) verb suggestions, and an envelope containing the discussion questions.