Making questions in the target language.
Here are a couple of games that are NO prep and a lot of fun that get students creating complex questions. The more complex and clever the question, the funnier it is and the better practice it is for the students. Win! Win!
Game 1: Sitting in our class circle I write a word in French on the board. Students give questions out loud in French for which that word is the answer. The questions can be intellectual, funny, ridiculous-- there answer must simply the word on the board. An example from yesterday's class was the word "onions" - questions created by the class were "what vegetable do I hate?" "what makes you smell bad" "what vegetable is used in a famous soup?" and my favorite "what kind of vegetable is Shrek like?" - Once all the questions have been said, I choose my favorite and award that student a point. They like trying to guess what kind of question will get me, I tend to vacillate between the funny, punny, or intellectual.
Each time use a different kind of word so that you elicit all the different question words: a location for where, a name for who etc.. Its also fun to just write "oui" or "non" on the board so that they can practice est-ce que questions.
The game is really facilitated by having all the question words on a poster on or near your board.
Game 2: Good old headbands. I just use a post it note that the students put on their heads and ask questions to their classmates to find out who/what they are. You can do in partners, small groups, or as a whole class.
Game 3: Guess who-- it doesn't just have to be for people or animals! You can make guess who boards with any kind of vocabulary you want--practice questions, vocabulary and descriptions!
Game 4: Student or teacher hot seat. If you have a safe and positive classroom environment. A student or you can sit in the hot seat for 5 mins and every one can ask them questions.
What kind of activities do you do to practice question making?
