Using Would You Rather Questions with MLs

Do you need a fun way to introduce speaking or writing about your opinion? Do your students need to practice developing critical thinking skills? Would you rather questions are fun ways for students to practice speaking and writing. Here are some ideas for using them with your Multilingual Learners (MLs).

Speaking Warm-Up

When meeting with a small group of students, use would you rather questions as a way to get students talking in a structured way. Choose a question, and then have each student answer the question.  Students can tell why they chose a particular answer. This allows for practice in giving details and speaking about a topic. If you have low level ELLs you can have them take their turn after a few other students have spoken, providing them with additional thinking time and peer modeling of how to format their responses. If you are pressed for time, simply have them give their preference without an explanation.

Opinion Sentence Frames

I would rather _____ because ______. I think that______is better/worse that ______because _____. 

Speaking Practice with a Partner

Students can take turns reading and answering Would You Rather Questions. Model using details to tell why you choose a particular choice. This is a fun way to quickly set up a structured speaking activity.

Play a game

With a partner or in a small group, students can answer a would you rather question and then roll a dice to move around a game board. This is a fun way for English Language Learners (ELLs) to practice their speaking skills with the added excitement of a game.

Digital Option

Do you want to save on printing or work in an online environment? Try out a digital version of would you rather questions. You can project the question or show it virtually to students for speaking practice. There are also digital writing pages with the questions. Students can type their answers directly below the question.

Opinion Writing

Use a would you rather question as a writing prompt as part of an opinion writing unit. You can use a graphic organizer to help students organize their ideas and expand on their initial ideas.

Resources

Here are some premade Would You Rather Task Cards to use with your students. I have included a free set to get you started.

Read more about improving student’s oral language skills with task cards.