1. Activity: TO ASK OR NOT TO ASK
Author: Biljana Pipovic
Level: intermediate (17-year-olds)
Time needed: 45 minutes
Resources needed: slips of paper
Aim: to revise yes/no questions; wh-questions and indirect questions in an amusing and creative
way
Activity 1 – Speaking (10-15 minutes)
The teacher asks questions like: Do animals have feelings? What are the Earth’s oldest living
things? Why do women live longer than man? Was Uncle Sam a real person? and similar.
Students answer the questions or if they do not know the answer they are instructed to use the
prompts: I wonder…I have no idea…I’d like to know… (The prompts are written on the board).
Activity 2 – Thinking and writing (5 minutes)
Students work individually. The teacher gives each student a slip of paper and students are asked
to think about an interesting question (similar to the questions from the previous activity) and
write it down on that slip of paper.
Activity 3 – Speaking (15-20 minutes depending on the size of the class)
The teacher collects the papers, mixes them and each student picks out one. Students are
instructed to read the question and change it into the indirect question using the already practised
prompts. Each student reads the indirect question aloud. The teacher monitors the activity
providing help, explanations and correct answers if students need them.
EXTRA IDEA (can be done at home by groups of students or by the teacher
him/herself)
Integrated skills (30+ minutes)
Students work in groups of four or five. They write down the indirect questions they consider
most interesting. They create a PowerPoint presentation using the pictures from the computer or
the internet and the available music. Students use a DVD maker to create a video. Eventually,
there is a whole class feedback – students watch each other’s videos before uploading them on
YouTube. Of course, students are asked to make comments or suggest changes.
The teacher monitors the activity providing help and correcting mistakes or the teacher collects
the most interesting questions and makes a video him/herself.
YouTube upload
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJYZuT1gxJM&list=UUPovT4bZgLCmMslGPLXnweQ&in
dex=20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcngY9SmOhk&list=UUPovT4bZgLCmMslGPLXnweQ&in
dex=6