Ask & Task: Questions and Activities for Communication Practice

Ask and Task provides meaningful multi-skills learning, interaction, and practice opportunities ESL/EFL classrooms. The book is based around photocopiable cards: two to four pages of Question Cards and one page of Task Cards for each of the 40 topics. The Question Cards are to prompt thought and conversation; the Task Cards are to promote language use while accomplishing some kind of project. The cards can be used in pairs or small groups. Students can present and debate various answers to the questions, or the questions may be used for vocabulary and writing practice. Some of the topics covered are dating/marriage, sports, business, family, environment/ecology, gender/sex, and health. The questions, themselves are interesting and designed to elicit opinions and cross-cultural information from the students. Some examples of Question Cards: Would you want to employ your family in your business? How long would you work at a job before asking for a raise? What is the most important quality in a potential mate?

Some examples of Task Cards: Write your resume. Create a new company with a brand-new product line. In small groups, brainstorm the many kinds of love.