Have you ever wondered how to ignite true engagement and create meaningful connections with your students while using the target language? In this post, I share with you the secrets behind the magic of Personalized Questions and Answers (PQAs) and how they can be used in your class as part of your daily routine but also to elevate your curriculum.
Personalized Questions and Answers
Personalized questions and answers, or PQAs, are just questions you ask your students about themselves in the target language with the purpose of knowing more about them or what they think about a specific topic. Sounds simple? It is, and it’s important because the purpose of asking these questions is not to practice language but to learn about your students. You want to ask yourself, “How can I connect with them? How can I have them connect among each other?”
A Good PQA
If I asked my students, “What is the color of my shirt or your shirt?”, that wouldn’t be such a great PQA. Why? Because it’s obvious; we can see it. With this, I would be trying to check for comprehension, which is perfectly fine. But, we really want to learn about the students.
We can ask instead, “What color do you prefer? Do you prefer blue or green?” Those questions are really more directed to finding out more about our students.
A Three Question Test for PQAs
I ask these questions because I want the PQA to be effective.
Is it comprehensible? Or, do my students understand the question? Because if they don’t understand the question, they will not answer the question.
Is this question relatable, is it something that they will say something about it? We don’t want our students saying, “What are you asking that for? What what did you mean by that?” Sometimes, it takes a little bit of creativity to ask a question that can seem relatable. I talk a little bit more about this in episode 48 of GWP The Podcast.
- What do my students need to answer the question? Because if I ask a question, and my question is comprehensible, they will have a ton to say to answer the question. But if they don’t have the resources to answer the question in the target language, then I’m going to have students lean into their first language, which is not totally terrible. So, what are other options? You can ask your students to answer your question by drawing where you ask them a question, and they will draw their answer. The second way is, can they do it by moving? So, if you have four corners, they can move to each corner depending on the answer. You can also have them move right or left. Additionally, you can have them raise their hand. In episode 48, I also talk about using technology, like polls.
"Start making the classroom more about communication and the students and less about the language itself."
Student Engagement with Personalized Questions
So, how we can engage students and have them answer with language? First, ask questions that provide choice in a set of open ended questions. For example, instead of saying, “What is your favorite season?”, you can ask, “Do you like summer or do you like winter?” So, you are giving them the language to answer.
Next, after you ask the question, have a signal for answering questions. What does this mean? When I ask a question, I put my hand up like a stop signal. Nobody can answer my question until I put it down. I ask the question again, and I scan my room. Why? Because I want to know if my question was comprehensible. Then, I put my hand down, and that is an indication for my classes to answer as a choral response.
Click above to listen how I do cold calls and why it can be intimidating. When I ask just one student and after I get an answer, I usually ask another student, or I answer myself. Why? Because I want to incorporate more students in the conversation. I want it to be like a class discussion, even if not everybody is participating. By incorporating more students, I will have more connections and engagement, and I will have more exposure to different forms of the language. Don’t forget to follow up with more questions.
When To Do PQAs
I believe that PQAs should be done daily. Students will know how they work and will get more used to answering and be ready to participate. I do calendar talk every single day in class. In my calendar talk, I built PQAs into each slide. I do a calendar talk every single month, and I have a new version of my calendar talks every single month. You can find them in my TPT store. There’s a link below.
In episode 48 of GWP The Podcast, I also walk you through an example of a PQA process. Listen above or on your favorite podcast player.
Links & Resources
Growing With Proficiency Blog
FB Community Growing With CI
Connect with me on IG
TPT Store
Waiting List GWP The Spanish Teacher Academy
Find all episodes of GWP The Podcast HERE
