As a teacher, one of the most important skills you can teach your students is the ability to differentiate between a telling sentence and an asking sentence. This can be especially important for young or ESL students who are still learning English grammar and sentence structure. Helping students understand the difference between these two sentence types can help them improve their communication skills and become more effective communicators both in the classroom and beyond.
Here are a few fun activities you can try with your students to help them master the difference between a telling sentence and an asking sentence.
1. Role-playing
Role-playing is a great way to get students practicing different types of sentences in a fun and engaging way. Ask students to work in pairs, with one student taking on the role of the “teller” and the other playing the “asker”. The teller will make a statement, and the asker should respond with a question. For example, the teller may start with “I am going to the store,” and the asker could respond with “Are you going to buy groceries?”
2. Sentence Sort
Write a selection of telling and asking sentences on index cards or slips of paper. Ask students to work in small groups to sort the sentences into two piles – one for telling sentences and one for asking sentences. As a group, discuss each sentence and why it belongs in one pile or the other.
3. Create a Game
Create a board game where students must identify whether a given sentence is a telling sentence or an asking sentence. Students can take turns rolling dice and moving their game piece around the board. If they land on a space with a sentence, they must correctly identify the type of sentence before they can move again. You could also make the game more challenging by asking students to provide a different type of sentence (e.g. if they land on a telling sentence space, they must provide an asking sentence).
4. Sentence Stems
Provide students with a list of sentence stems that they can use to create either telling or asking sentences. For example, you might provide the stem “I like…” and ask students to complete it with either a telling sentence (“I like ice cream.”) or an asking sentence (“Do you like ice cream?”). Encourage students to create their own stems, or use picture prompts to inspire their sentences.
5. Song Lyrics
Choose a popular song with lyrics that contain both telling and asking sentences. Play the song for the class and ask students to listen carefully for the difference between the two types of sentences. After the song, ask students to identify and write down one example of a telling sentence and one example of an asking sentence from the lyrics.
By incorporating activities like these into your classroom, you can help your students better understand the difference between telling and asking sentences. With practice, they will become more confident and effective communicators, both in writing and speaking.
