Look at these simple questions:
Can you handle the truth?
Are you busy?
To answer them your students will often give just a Short Answer:
Are you rich?
No, I’m not!
Does he smoke?
Yes, he does.
Who killed the king?
He did.
Short Answers & TEFL
Sometimes your students will give a simple yes or no answer to questions like these.This is not wrong but can sound a bit abrupt. Instead you should encourage them to give longer answers, using the patterns explained below.
In addition (and wherever possible) you should ask them open-ended questions questions instead or at least follow up a closed question with an open one to encourage them to speak more:
Teacher: Do you like playing football?
Student: Yes.
Teacher: What do you like about it?
Student: Well, I like…
Forming a Short Answer
Answering Yes/No Questions
With yes/no questions in order to make a short answer we use this pattern:
{yes/no} + {subject} + {auxiliary} + [not]
Are you happy?
Yes + I + am.
Can you swim?
Yes + I + can.
Do you like it?
No + we + do + not.
Note that when the answer is yes/no + be, we never abbreviate the verb:
Are you French?
* Yes, I’m
Is he French?
* Yes he’s.
* an asterisk denotes an ungrammatical sentence.
Answering Subject Questions
With subject questions: (questions beginning with who, which, where, etc…) we use this pattern with the modal or auxiliary verb.
{subject} + {modal/auxiliary}
Who found it?
I + did.
What was found?
This + was.
How many have left?
Seventeen + have.
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IWeb TEFL Team