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Interrupting the story

Listening and asking questions.

Procedure: Tell the students that you are going to begin a story
and that they should try to stop you saying more than a few
words by asking questions. For example:
You: The other day . . .
Student A: Which day was it?
You: It was Tuesday.
Student B: Was it in the morning or afternoon?
You: Afternoon. Anyway, I was . . .
Student C: What time was it? etc.

Interview an interesting personality

Asking questions; interviewing.

Procedure: Imagine that you are a person who is well known to
the students: a famous national figure, a singer or actor, a local
personality, or a character from a book. You are at a press
conference; the students are the journalists. Tell the students who
you are and invite them to ask you questions; you, of course, have
to improvise answers, as convincingly as you can. After the first
time, a student can take over the role of the 'interviewee', choosing
his or her own new identity.
It is helpful to allow the students a minute or two to jot
down ideas for questions before starting the 'interview'.

Variation 1: Instead of taking on a new identity, be yourself, but
with some interesting fact about yourself for the students to ask
questions about. This can be genuine: an interesting hobby,
experience, or personal situation. Or it can be imaginary: you have
a pet elephant, or have just returned from a year alone on a desert

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