Drama and Asking Questions

Asking Questions

To prepare my students to write an interview as one of their language assignments, I used a few fun activities to explore developing character voice and asking good open and close ended questions

Hot Seating

Starting off, I told my students I would act like Cinderella’s step sister and they were reporters. I would only answer their questions as they asked them, open or closed. Prior to this, we had discussed the difference between open questions and closed questions. So, I got into the role and played a ditzy, pompous girl who didn’t really like Cinderella. The kids LOVED it!

So then I turned it around on them and gave them a choice of two different scenarios, also fairy tale stories they would be familiar with. The students came alive. Those who usually never participate in class were excitedly asking their peers questions or even taking the role themselves.

This was a useful exercise because it not only had students practicing the language skills we were working on developing, but also allowed those who I lose when explaining things through text or discussions to understand the concepts in a fun, hands on way.

I found the idea from a Teacher Candidate group presentation in Drama class. Below is the slideshow I used in class to teach the lesson.

Be exploring asking good questions and finding a character role and voice, this activity strongly helped my students in their next assignment to write an interview from the perspective of an Olympic athlete. When struggling to find questions to ask, I was able to prompt them by thinking of their audience. Who are the reporters and what do they want to know? Are they a sports magazine journalist? A celebrity scandal paper? Depending on their goals, the questions are influenced by their intentions. By using the hot seating activity as reference, students were able to make the connection between the types of questions needed for the situation.