Forming Questions

A tutor asked me a question about asking questions today. That concept seemed rather metaphysical, so I thought I’d share it with you. Here’s what she said:

From: Lauren Meyers

Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 12:43 PM

Hi Brian,

Things have been going great with Ali. He's so smart and so motivated… One thing he said he would like to work on is posing questions (in English). The format is confusing to him because of his French background - where all you need to do to form a question is use intonation.

Do you have any books in your resource library that might have some guidance?

Thanks!, Lauren

Lauren:

Very glad to read you're having a good experience. Forming questions—a very important topic. Most English questions are formed by inverting the subject-verb order of a helping verb. For instance, when you change the declarative sentence, "John has a long moustache" into a yes-no question and it becomes, " Does John have a long moustache?"

Since the helping verb is to do in many questions (and negative statements), you may want to start with a review of how the verb conjugates in English: I do, You do, he/she does (I digress: that word is pronounced “duzz” for no reason I can figure. Why isn’t it dos, pronounced “dooze?”)

IN sentences with the verb to be you invert that verb with the subject: "Pam is our sales rep. à Is Pam our sales rep?”

The book tutors receive in training, Side By Side, has some exercises in chapter 5. They cover the simplest questions, e.g. "Is Tom tall? Do you go to Stanley's restaurant on Tuesdays?" Chapter ten has some more exercises in this area. Otherwise, check out any grammar textbook in English. The table of contents is the place to start. Look for a chapter that includes “yes/no questions” or the like.

Here's another thought: use the other book you got in training, English for Everyday Activities for a substitution drill exercise. Take a page where all the verbs are in simple present tense, for instance page 16 and read all the sentences around the activity of Making Breakfast. After reading them all, ask him to practice transforming them into questions. So, "Pam pours some cereal" --> "Does Pam pour some cereal?" "She pours in some milk… -->Does she pour in some milk?" "..and sprinkles some sugar." --> “Does she sprinkle?"

That’s all for now. Coming at you next week: a post on health literacy.

Comparatives and Avatars

This tip message is about teaching compara- tives, words like bigger, shorter, darker, lighter, taller, hairier, bulkier, thinner and so on to give a description of a person. Police artists use software that lets them take a basic character and, with a few mouse clicks, modify it, making the hair fluffier or wavier; the glasses bigger or smaller, rounder or squarer. Recently I found something much easier to use, and better yet, free. Together, you and your learner can use a website to practice using comparatives, telling you how to create cartoon versions of yourselves.

I went to the website, www.simpsonsmovie.com recently and created an avatar* of myself as a Simpsons character. My wife Erika created avatars of herself and our son Simon. Below you can see us in our natural state and what we look like “Simpsonized.”

In your lesson you can introduce comparatives to your learner, then ask them to use them to tell you how to change the size, shape and color of certain features. Here is the main page of the website, and the page that opens up when you choose to create a new character.

Once you enter the site you will find a chance to create Simpsons avatars that look like you and your learner. Click the link near the top of the page. It first asks you to choose a male or female form.

From there you change one feature at a time. As you pick each part, click on the right arrow to change one feature at a time. Use the icons at the bottom to save, e-mail or print your creation You can save the final image and e-mail it to friends—in my experience it was easier to e-mail it to myself than to save it. To send it to several people, put in multiple addresses and just separate them with commas. One of the icons at the bottom of this page, the one that looks like a camera, lets you turn your own picture into a Simpsons character. This is a little harder to do. I’d recommend using the option where you just add parts one at a time, at least for the first time.

*Avatar: a stylized representation of oneself that exists in an artificial world, such as a computer game or Springfield, U.S.A.

Teaching Games

Today’s Tip comes courtesy of Eva Bellinger, Literacy Network super-tutor. A home schooler with long experience, Eva conducted an in-service workshop to teach tutors and teachers how to use and make teaching games. With limited time and space, I can tell you about a little bit of what she covered.

Take a look at one kind of item she showed us:

The idiom card pack lets you play games to teach the many colorful idioms of English. Here, take a look at a few of them. The cards below teach the idioms, “He’s blowing his own horn,” “She’s pulling my leg,” and “She has a heart of gold.”

The other card pack pictured, “Pragmatics,” teaches language and behavior specific to North American culture. Learners discuss with their tutors what to say when, for instance, someone offers an invitation or tells them bad news. Categories in the pragmatics deck include “Politeness, Problem Solving, Expressing Feelings, Giving Information, Asking Questions and Telephone Manners.” Eva has donated these two card packs for our library—thanks again, Eva! Look for them with the games on top of the middle bookshelves.

Visit here if you’d like to buy these card decks or other resources for yourself and your learner: http://www.superduperinc.com/whats_new.asp