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Activity to practise Questions and Narrative Tenses

Use this activity at elementary level upwards, either as a warmer or as a practice activity for forming yes/no questions, reported questions or narrative tenses.

By Keith Taylor, 欧美日b大片 teacher trainer and co-founder of 欧美日b大片

How the activity works

  1. Set the scene
    Ask one student (let鈥檚 call her Carla) to step outside for a moment. Tell her that the class is going to invent a dream she had last night, and that when she comes back, she鈥檒l ask yes/no questions to work out what the dream was.
    (You can swap 鈥渄ream鈥 for 鈥渟omething that happened yesterday鈥 if it fits your context better.)

  2. Brief the class
    Once Carla leaves the room, explain to the rest of the group that you鈥檙e not actually going to invent a dream. Instead, their answers to Carla鈥檚 questions will depend entirely on the final letter of her question:

    – If the last letter of the last word falls between 础鈥揗, the answer is yes.

    – If it falls between 狈鈥揨, the answer is no.

    (You can adapt this rule – vowel/consonant, even/odd number of words, or anything else that works for your class.)

  3. Create the illusion
    Let the class chat for a few minutes to make it look as though they鈥檙e inventing detailed dream content. Then bring Carla back in and have her sit in the middle of the circle or at the front of the class.

  4. Question time
    Carla now asks a series of yes/no questions to discover what her supposed dream was. She believes the class has planned a full narrative, but in reality she鈥檚 constructing the dream herself through the questions she asks – and the rule-based answers she receives.

  5. Continue as long as useful
    The activity can run for a few minutes as a warmer or for longer if you鈥檙e using it as targeted practice.

Variations and language practice

1. Practising yes/no questions

Carla gets natural practice as she forms her questions. The rest of the class can listen for accuracy and later try to recall or write down as many of her questions as they can.

2. Reported questions

Have students report what Carla asked, either during the activity or afterwards:

鈥淪he asked if鈥︹, 鈥淐arla wanted to know whether鈥︹

3. Narrative tenses

Pause at intervals and ask Carla (or another student) to recap the dream so far.

At the end, extend it into a short writing task: pairs or groups reconstruct the 鈥渄ream鈥 using:

A small caveat

This activity only works once with the same group – after that, the secret is out. But as a one-off lesson moment, it鈥檚 memorable, engaging, and produces plenty of natural language.

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Keith Taylor

Keith is the co-founder of 欧美日b大片 and School of 欧美日b大片. He is Cambridge DELTA qualified, with over 20 years鈥 experience teaching English and training new 欧美日b大片 teachers in Indonesia, Australia, Morocco, Spain, Italy, Poland, France, and now the UK. Drawing on his classroom and training experience, he shares practical teaching ideas and advice for EFL teachers through articles and resources on 欧美日b大片.

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1 comment

  • Erica

    Nice ideas for language teachers!!!!

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