PQA (Personalized Questions and Answers)
In a PQA session, the teacher asks personal questions to the students about their lives, interests, experiences, etc. The answers are circled, expanding vocabulary and reinforcing structures in the process.
This teaching method offers several valuable benefits that contribute to effective and engaging language acquisition within the framework of Comprehensible Input.
One of the first PQA's for me is always "Where do you live?" And then I delve deeper into the answers.
Because I have most of the information about my students readily available, I can always quickly check when they don't immediately understand my question. But for a PQA too, I like to use a presentation so that I can highlight everything.
This teaching method offers several valuable benefits that contribute to effective and engaging language acquisition within the framework of Comprehensible Input.
- Relevance and engagement: By asking personal questions related to students' interests, experiences, and backgrounds, the lesson content becomes more relevant and engaging for them. This increases their involvement in the learning process and motivates them to learn the language.
- Authentic language use: PQA encourages students to use language authentically by discussing their own experiences and thoughts. This helps them feel more comfortable communicating in the target language and develop natural language use.
- Building personal connections: By asking personal questions and showing interest in students' lives, the teacher can build a stronger bond with the class. This can enhance the learning process by creating a positive and supportive environment where students feel safe to experiment and make mistakes.
- Differentiation: PQA allows the teacher to respond to the individual needs and interests of students. By adapting questions to each student's level and background, the teacher can differentiate and ensure that all students are challenged in a way that suits them.
- Tailored language input: By listening to students' answers and building on them with follow-up questions and discussions, the teacher can tailor the language input to the students' comprehension level. This makes the input more understandable and effective for language learning.
One of the first PQA's for me is always "Where do you live?" And then I delve deeper into the answers.
- Do you live in the center of Ghent or outside Ghent? Do you like living there?
- Do you live in a quiet street or a busy street?
- Do you live in a house, an apartment, or a studio?
- (If students live in a house) Do you have a garden? Do you have a garage? Do you like living there?
- (If students live in an apartment) On which floor do you live? Is there an elevator or do you have to take the stairs? Do you like living there?
- Do you live close to or far from the school? Do you live near a bus stop? Do you live near the supermarket?
- Do you have a lot of or little contact with your neighbors? Are they good neighbors or difficult neighbors?
- Do you experience noise issues? ...
Because I have most of the information about my students readily available, I can always quickly check when they don't immediately understand my question. But for a PQA too, I like to use a presentation so that I can highlight everything.
Sometimes I also use "dilemmas". These are usually shorter PQA sessions to start the lesson (but therefore no less valuable). Examples of dilemmas are:
- Are you a morning person or more of a night owl?
- Do you prefer a good book or do you prefer a good movie?
- Are you a city person or more of a nature lover?
- ...
