Circling
1) Make a statement
2) Ask a question that requires yes as the answer / a positive question
3) Ask an either or question using words the kids already know. Don’t add new vocab here.
4) Ask a negative question (a question that requires NO as the answer) using the detractor in #3.
5) Re-ask the positive question that was asked in #2
6) Make the statement from #1 again.
Steps 5 and 6 close the circle. After #5 you can add question-word questions.
If we look at Moco Loco’s example, you can see most of the 6 steps above.
The boy ate bananas.
Did the boy eat bananas?
Did the boy eat bananas or gorillas?
Did the boy eat gorillas?
Did the boy eat bananas?
Who ate bananas?
What did the boy eat?
What is missing is restating the original statement. If you have provided enough input and students are answering the questions with zero response time, then throw in a question word. Make sure that they have the information to answer the questions that start with question words.
With beginning students, we often overestimate how much language they know. They appear to be with us, but they are merely trying to get the gist of the story. We want them to COMPREHEND the story. The circling of questions forces us to stick with one spot of the story and use the targeted vocab and info in numerous questions. It will seem slow and repetitive to you, but it isn’t for the students.
When students learn a foreign language, it is, well eh, foreign. That means that they have no concept of how the language fits together to make meaning. The first time students hear a sentence, they are trying to figure the gist of the gibberish they hear. The 2nd time they hear the same statement, they are trying to establish the meaning of the sentence. The 3rd (or perhaps 20th) time they are able to hear the individual words that make up that sentence. With repeated statements, they begin to hear the nuances that make the language unique and not just a bunch of translated words. Students need to hear those statements repeatedly. We need to do the circle of questioning so that we don’t move too fast through the story and that the students will hear the structures over and over and over until they intuitively know what sounds right.
