Teaching Tag Questions/Teaching Question Tags

1. HOW TO TEACH TAG
QUESTIONS

2. THE AIM OF THIS LESSON PLAN IS TO
DEVELOP STUDENTS’ UNDERSTANDING OF
THE USE OF QUESTION TAGS. THE ACTIVITY
INCLUDES:
1.ELICITING STUDENTS AWARENESS OF THE
USE OF QUESTION TAGS,
2.SENTENCE MATCHING AND GAP-FILLING
EXERCISES
3.FOLLOWED BY AN ACTIVE PRACTICE OF
QUESTION TAGS FORMS.

3. THE LESSON PLAN
1. Auxiliary Verbs
Divide the class into small groups. Start by a yes/no
questions exercise to activate students knowledge
about the right use of the auxiliary verbs.
Example:
Do you like soccer? – Yes, I do.
Have you got any brothers or sisters? – No, I haven’t.
Are you good at mathematics?
Did you watch TV yesterday?
Can you speak Chinese?

4. INTRODUCING QUESTION TAGS
Introduce question tags by writing model examples on the board.
Examples:
You are French, aren’t you?
You like jogging in the morning, don’t you?
You don’t like jogging in the afternoon, do you?
You went to the gym yesterday, didn’t you?
He didn’t go to a restaurant, did he?
….
Students discuss the different examples of question tags and notice how they
are formed. They also should be able to see that question tags are mainly used
to keep a conversation going, or confirm information and that using question
tags necessitates a keen understanding of the use of various auxiliary verbs.

5. MATCHING EXERCISES
You are mad about playing chess,…
…isn’t it?
He isn’t working now,…
…had he?
They won’t visit New York,….
…does it?
He hasn’t done his job,…
…are they?
She found a necklace,…
…don’t they
She isn’t an honest girl,…
…won’t they?
They do an excellent job,…
…is she?
It doesn’t matter,…
…didn’t she?
They’ll fail,…
…has he?
They are coming,…
…will they?
He hadn’t read the book before,…
…is he?
This is amazing,…
…aren’t you?

6. GAP FILLING
• Students then do the exercise below to enhance the use of the tag question. this
time they have to complete the tag questions
1. You didn’t visit the museum, ________
2. He’s happy to make the trip, __________
3. They’ll meet at the airport on Sunday, _________
4. She’s single, __________
5. You wrote that poem, _________
6. You love singing, ___________
7. She doesn’t speak English well, ________
8. He hadn’t lived there before, ________
9. They have done a good job, __________

7. ACTIVE PRACTICE OF QUESTION TAGS
Ask each student to write information about
themselves in the form of simple statements
answering questions like:
• What’s your name?
• Where do you come from?
• What did you do yesterday evening?
• …

8. COLLECT THE STATEMENTS AND RE-DISTRIBUTE THE
SHEETS TO DIFFERENT STUDENTS. EACH STUDENT THEN
USES THE STATEMENTS TO FORM QUESTION TAGS,
ADDRESSING THE QUESTION TO THE STUDENT WHO
HAS WRITTEN THE STATEMENTS.
EXAMPLE:
YOUR NAME IS ALAN, ISN’T IT?
YOU COME FROM SPAIN, DON’T YOU?
YOU AREN’T FRENCH, ARE YOU?
…

9. CHALLENGES I HAVE ENCOUNTERED IN
TEACHING TAG QUESTIONS
Though it is challenging to teach grammar to my students
more so with teaching tag questions, I can’t deny the fact that
I have encountered problems in teaching this subject matter.
Some of the common problems of Language Teachers are the
following:
• Some of the students were not able to identify the correct Pluralization
of Nouns.
• The correct usage of auxiliary verbs
• The never ending Subject- Verb Agreement.