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from:
in English
Autumn 2002
'Tag questions with all the different endings
and varying intonation patterns can be tricky for learners of English'
At the time of writing, Ligia Lopes is a teacher at the British Council,
Miraflores.
©
authors and The British Council 2002
permission to reproduce articles from 'in English' will normally
be granted but must be obtained in advance from the editor. Views expressed
are those of the author and not necessarily those of the British Council.
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Tag questions with all the different endings and varying intonation
patterns can be tricky for learners of English. Here's a useful
practical idea.
Before you play
- Elicit the tag question form from the students. Review the
structure to make sure they understand the grammar
- Put some words on the board and have students make up some
tag questions. Make this fun! For example:
Beer | Beach | Love | Boyfriend/Girlfriend | Rich | Nightclubs
You drink beer, don´t you?
You like going to the beach in the summer, don´t you?
You´ve got a boyfriend, haven´t you?
Your girlfriend doesn´t love you, does she?
You are rich, aren´t you?
You don´t like nightclubs, do you?
etc.
- Review with students the rising and falling intonation and
the two different meanings.
Playing the game
- Put the cards (about 20) face down on the table
- On the board, write all the students' names and make columns
in order to add up the points
- Student A picks up a card. If it is a card indicating: Yes-35
/ No-5, the points will be allocated in the following way. A
asks student B or C or D, etc. a tag question. If the other
student answers Yes, then student A receives 35 points. If the
other student answers No, then student A receives only 5 points.
Rules
All students can lie. All questions have to be correct.
Objective
Get the highest number of points. Have fun.
Trick
Using rising or lowering intonation, get students to answer the
way you want them to. For example, one way to try to get 35 points
is:
You like me, don´t you?
The student may feel silly answering NO, even if he/she wants
to lie, so the probability that the other student will answer
YES is high.
Sample cards
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YES - 15
NO - 30
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YES - 5
NO - 15
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YES - 40
NO - 20
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YES - 15
NO - 25
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Ligia Lopes
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