You Know Me So Well

a project for Question Tags

 
This is a great project for a class of students who know each other pretty well (say, they’ve gone to school together for years), though it could be adapted otherwise* (see the note at the end of this post for more). Based on The Newlywed Game, students are asked questions about themselves and each other, and they get points when their answers match. We’ll put a spin on this so that students use Question Tags for their answers.
 
Let students put themselves into pairs (or possibly trios) according to who their closest friends are to play the game. But first, students should write questions as individuals.

 

Writing Questions

Give each student eight notecards, and on the board write the following topics:

    • Notable Experiences (over their life)
    • Interests & Favorites
    • Home & Possessions
    • Family
    • Friends
    • School
    • Dreams & Goals
    • Recent Experiences

Students should write one question on each notecard, using at least five of topics (for the remainder, they can repeat topics or come up with their own topics). These questions, by the way should not be question tags; subject and object questions work best for this part. The questions should address things that best friends should know (not necessarily that they are likely to know), but that other people who aren’t close to them wouldn’t know.

For example “What’s your favorite color?” is too easy, but “What color is your favorite dress?” is something that most people wouldn’t know, but your best friend might. Also consider questions like “What is your mother’s middle name?”, “What was the last movie you saw?”, “How many pets have you had?”, “What’s your dream job?”, etc. You may need to make sure some of the questions aren’t too specific or embarrassing.

Once they’re done, collect the note cards and shuffle them. Student can now get into their pairs/trios.

 

The Game

Put about 3 teams at the front of the room, and give each participant either a mini-whiteboard or a large notepad. They’ll also need markers. Whoever isn’t a participant for this game will be an audience member for now, and they can be a participant in a later game. In The Newlywed Game, pairs sit next to each other, but to avoid shenanigans, you may want to place one person from each team on one side of the room and their partners on the other side. If they do sit next to each other, they should be angled such that they can’t see what the other is writing.

Each team should select one person to be the target for this round, which means all the questions will be about them. Draw one of the question cards and ask it to all the contestant. Each person on a team should answer according to their team’s target for that round. (For example, suppose the question is “How many cousins do you have?” Chloe and Jane are on a team together, and Chloe is the target. Both of them should consider “How many cousins does Chloe have?” Chloe’s answer will be the correct one, and hopefully Jane’s answer will be the same.) The participants have thirty seconds to write their answers down (these do not need to be full sentences). When time is up, one team at a time should reveal their answers, with the target going last.

Here’s how the answer reveals will go. The non-target(s) will hold their mini-whiteboard/notepad up for everyone to see. (Jane reveals that she wrote “6”) Then, they speak their answer in the form of a sentence with a question tag. (Jane says, “Chloe, you have six cousins, don’t you?”) Remember that their voice should go up at the end if they aren’t sure, but down at the end if they’re confident. Next, the target reveals their answer and addresses their friend. (Chloe shows that she’s also written “6” and says “Yes, I do!”) If their answers match they get a point! If the question tag was expressed correctly, they get another point, which means each team can have a maximum of two points per question.

Do four questions in a round, then switch targets for the next round. The team with the most points at the end wins.

*If you class doesn’t know each other all that well, first do a get-to-know-you game, perhaps in an earlier lesson. Then the questions that students write in the first part of this project should be easier ones (like “What’s your favorite color?”).

If most of the class is paired up with their close friends but you have a team or two of no-so-close friends, give them time to ask each other questions in preparation. Perhaps they can prepare as other games are happening and will only participate in the last game.

Check out Insights’s Question Forms Series to view our videos on Question Tags and related topics.  In these videos, we share innovative teaching methods to make it easier for students to understand and remember grammar points.

Go beyond the videos with printouts, slideshows, bonus notes, and much more by joining with Insider Access or by downloading a Grammar Guidebook.  Visit our About Insider Access page to learn more!

Get more with Insider Access

INCLUDING

Advanced Features in Student Projects

search and filter

planning info

AND

Extra Video Content

more How-to-Teach grammar videos*

with intros, instructions, and summaries

*compared to free resources

AND

Exclusive Supplemental Resources

slideshows

posters & handouts

bonus notes

Class-Wide

Customized Apples-to-Apples

Have your students compile all the nouns and adjectives they’ve learned over the past year, then put each on its own card. Play a customized Apples-to-Apples game tailored to your own class’s knowledge, skill level, culture, and interests.

Read More »
Topic-Based

Sillylympics

This project is for practicing GERUNDS. Students design and participate in silly activities in the style of the Olympics.

Read More »
Stories

Fairy Tales Interrupted

This project is for practicing PROGRESSIVE/CONTINUOUS TENSES. Students will first conjure a backstory to a fairy tale character and lay out a scene, then investigate the scenes that other teams have put together to determine what was going on.

Read More »
Topic-Based

Another Time, Another Place

This project is for practicing REPORTED SPEECH. Teams design a scenario, a setting, and a quote. Then other teams are challenged with reporting it in other settings/scenarios. See how many they can do in under a minute.

Read More »
Topic-Based

For the Good

This project is for practicing ADVERBIAL CLAUSES. Students engage in a webquest to learn more about an activism event or campaign, building awareness of social, environmental, or economical causes while practicing grammar!

Read More »
Popular

Surveys

Creating, administering, and reporting surveys can be a great way to practice a number of grammar points, such as question forms, expressions of preference, comparatives and superlatives, quantifiers, and reported speech.

Read More »

Share This Post