Cogs in a machine: Interrogative adverbs + indirect questions

Okay, so it’s possible you haven’t specifically covered interrogative adverbs before, but they come up in other target language like indirect questions and relative pronouns. We decided to separate them from the interrogative pronouns, like what, who, whose, which, etc. because the way they function in student’s first languages can be different. English is easy, so we basically just use switch them in and out without any thought. But I think it’s better if we focus on them separately. That being said, I hope this interrogative adverbs speaking activity will help your students with a few different things:

1. Asking indirect questions: These are a big deal in English and learners just don’t seem to want to use them in their speech. Let’s fix that.
2. Using interrogative adverbs: While this activity is presented as an indirect question structure, you could have your students work on regular questions by converting each prompt into a regular direct question, thus using the interrogative adverbs in two different ways.
3. Questions and responses: This activity works as a great speaking activity, demanding your students to both ask and answer questions about themselves in a specific way. You could use the “Would you mind telling me…” prompt that comes on the poster, or you could have students switch up the indirect question structure for each question.
4. Speaking time: This activity, along with switching pairs every few minutes, will give your students ample speaking time while they focus on knowledge retention and usage of the target language.
5. Icebreaker: Use it as an icebreaker for students to get to know each other in a fun way!

This interrogative adverbs speaking activity is incredibly intuitive. Display it on the board or on your screen or hand out an A4 sheet to pairs or small groups. Students will take turns asking and answering questions by using the prompts on the poster.

Looking for something with a bit more creativity involved?

Ask the perfect question for each scenario.