[mpuech]

I am currently teaching English in Japan. I have a group of 8th graders that do not understand how to answer simple questions. I have tried different activities to help them practice but I am getting frusterated. Does anyone have any game ideas to help and to motivate?

[Eric]

hmmmm... i think we need a bit more info. what are you teaching them? (ie. book, grammar, structure...) how many students are in your classes? what are the things they can't answer?

eric

[mesmark]

I take 5 minutes at the beginning of JHS classes and have all the students remain standing (they stand for greetings at the beginning of each class.) I ask a question and the students have to raise their hand and answer the question to sit down.

With simple questions this goes really quickly, even with large classes.

The benefits are that students listen to 30 or so questions and answers each class. Also, doing it as a group and not individually means the students are always involved. The stronger students will answer first and they will generally keep listening and learning. The weaker students are 'forced' to stay in the activity because they'd like to sit down.

Help the students out by giving example answers and keeping the questions appropriate. I'm not trying to challenge students with this activity, I'm trying to increase competence.

I use harder questions (wh- questions requiring full sentence answers) in the beginning and then eventually work towards yes/no questions.

It has really helped a lot of my JHS students.

[mpuech]

Sorry. I guess I should have given more information. My class is small, only 9 students. I was refering to answering questions about stories they have read. I think it part of it is not understanding the story. Let me give you a specific example:
We (my team teacher and I) taught a short story (it was actually a letter about a girl's summer vacation) and I made up a sheet of 5 simple questions about the story for them to answer. They couldn't answer any of them. We even translated the main words like who, what, where, why, when and how. The next day, I made up another sheet with the same questions and answers. I turned it into a matching activity. I thought it would help but it didn't. Now, I am at a loss.

[Eric]

did you try pre-teaching any of the vocab in the book before you started teaching the book. sometimes you could spend a whole day/lesson (maybe more) just pre-teaching what the students are going to be reading about.

in your example, i might start with making sure the kids understand what 'vacation' and 'summer' is. if they know that, move on to more difficult vocab from the book.

play games with the vocab &/or structure (present, past tense, etc..). make sure the students really have a good feel for what they are going to be getting into. this could take 30 minutes or 3 classes. no need to rush into the book when everyday you pre-teach the material for the book is a great learning for the kids.

once you feel like the students are ready for the vocab and structure of the book, read it once together and get a sense of their understanding of it. ask comprehension questions as you go like 'where did she go on her summer vacation?' and 'What did she do?'. if they aren't getting it, stop reading and pre-teach some more or move to an easier book. you don't want to ruin reading for them.

after you have successfully got through the book then you can do book reports, quizzes, storyboard drawings, etc...

i hope this helps
eric

[mpuech]

It does help but I guess I should also explain that we did go throught the vocabulary and the other steps. The story was only one page, large print. Is there any games we could play that mat help them recognize the different structures of questions?

[mesmark]

Well, I think the answer and question time will help with what you're talking about.

It sounds like they might have shut down on you (it's not a matter of degree of difficulty.)

Do they function well in other areas of the class? Do they do well on the printouts designed to go with the text and on the workbooks. (the workbook is hard to really judge since the answers are usually right in the back.)

[mpuech]

I think a lot of the problem is lack of motivation. I am trying to put more fun into the lessons and less grammar and note taking but some of the stuff just isn't fun. I find when we are playing games the little light bulbs turn on but when it comes to grammar and note taking, they lose all interest. That's why I am looking for game ideas.

[Eric]

You mean to get the students to recognize the different 'wh' question structures? I spend days teaching each structure one at a time to my university students. I don't recommend lumping 'wh' questions into 1 or 2 lessons. There are so many different ways to ask questions using those words and so many other things to teach along with it like third person pronouns, verbs, past tense, etc...

My suggestion, focus on one question at a time until the students have a good feel for it then move on to the next question.

Eric

[mpuech]

I will try that, thanks a bunch.

[Eric]

Here are some games you might try:

How to get them talking
Jeopardy (great for practicing asking questions)
Freeze Game - Past continuous
Race to the board and write question or answer
Questions BINGO
Dealing with the apprehensive/shy/quiet class

[mpuech]

Thanks so much! I have looked the games over and they sound like a lot of fun. I will give them a try and let you know how it works out.

[emile]

Maybe the questions are too difficult or worded in a way that seems odd to the Japanese students. Generally, if I'm not mistaken, Japanese students prefer questions that have definite answers. Also, you could try giving the questions as a worksheet that they do overnight, so they have time to think about it.

[sibel]

I play a game with my students to motivate them to ask questions. I write some words, names, numbers on the board. I tell them that these are about me. They try to find what these words are about by asking questions. For example I write
26, Deniz, 50, picnic.....
Tey should ask the questions "How old are you?, What is your brother!s name, How old is your mother?, where did you go at the weekend?
You can choose the words according to the level of the classroom. As these are about the teacher's private life, they are really engaged in the activity to find out more about you.
I works well. Try it.