If you find your students struggling to ask questions in conversations, you’re not alone. Asking questions is a complex skill for students who are new to any language. In ASL, it is even more difficult since students must not only remember the vocabulary but also the non-manual signals that are associated with a question asking.
Question War is your answer to this problem. It is a “game” that requires students to use only questions in response to a question. Question War allows students to practice the structure of asking questions in a low-stress environment.
How to play
The class will be divided into two groups. If the groups are not equal, this is OK. Just try to keep the teams about the same number of students on each side. The teams will sit in front of each other so they can see their own team and the other team. Team 1 will ask team 2 a question. Team 2 will respond with a question. The questions do not have to be on the same topic. For example, team 1 can ask, “What is the capital of Montana.” and team 2 can respond with, “Who is your math teacher?” This continues until a team stumbles or does not ask a question quickly enough.
Students can’t respond with anything except a question. Teams have 5 seconds to respond with a question or the other team gets a point. Questions can’t be repeated so it is important that all students are paying attention. All team members must ask a question before someone goes again.
Variations to the game
of course, there are always ways you can modify this game to better serve the needs of your students or what you are studying. Here are a few modifications you can use for this game:
Stay on topic
More advanced students can be given a topic and all the questions must stay on this topic. Some examples can be winter sports, the weather, how people fall, or pets. Students will have to ask questions on the topic assigned. If not, the point goes to the other team. This works well with themed units.
Story Question War
Use Question War after a story. All questions asked during the game will have to be about the story you told in class. As long as the questions connect to the characters and information in the story, they can be used in the game. If the question is off-topic or was information not from the story, the other team gets the point.
Using a word from the question
This version is a bit tougher and for more advanced students. Team one will ask a question and team two must ask a question using at least one word from the question asked to them. For example, team one will ask, “What should I cook for dinner on Friday?” and team two will respond with, “What did you cook for breakfast?” Cook is the common word. Team one can respond with, “What did you eat for breakfast yesterday?” If a team does not use a word from the question asked to them, the other team gets the point. Tip: I do not allow the WH question to be the repeated word.
Random questions
As stated above, the easiest version of this game is to play any question can be asked. There would be no theme or repeated word. Just ask a question.
Types of questions
You can assign specific question structures to be asked. Students can only use WH questions or yes/no questions during the game. You can even say only rhetorical questions can be asked.
I hope you can use this question-asking activity in your classroom with your students. It makes a great addition to a lesson plan, as a class started, or a way to fill in a few minutes at the end of class. It is even perfect for the end-of-year review.
Here is a free rules graphic to post while you play! The last box is blank for you to fill in with which version of the game you are playing.
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