|
ESL Forum:
Techniques and methods
in Language Teaching
Games, activities
and teaching ideas
Grammar and
Linguistics
Teaching material
Concerning
worksheets
Concerning
powerpoints
Concerning online
exercises
Make suggestions,
report errors
Ask for help
Message board
|
ESL forum >
Ask for help > questions focussing on ordinal numbers
questions focussing on ordinal numbers
|
gharbi2009
|
questions focussing on ordinal numbers
|
|
He is the second president of our country. How can I ask a question about the underlined word? I will appreciate your help |
15 Oct 2015
|
|
|
|
Tapioca
|
|
That �s a bit of a tough one! It �s not exactly the same, but how about: "How many presidents were there before him?" or "Was he the fourth president of our country?" ---> "No, he was the second." |
15 Oct 2015
|
|
|
SaraMariam
|
Which (or what) number president was John Adams? /
Which (or what) number was president John Adams? |
15 Oct 2015
|
|
|
Tapioca
|
|
Sara �s right, you could ask �Which number president was Zine El Abidine Ben Ali? � but it �s not the kind of question you �re likely to hear often in real life unless there was a conversation about the topic beforehand. If you �re teaching ordinal numbers, I would try to find or create questions that your students are more likely to need in real life. Questions especially constructed to elicit a particular response can end up sounding very strange and unreal. Or you could provide the structure for the response: Q Which number president was George Bush? A There were _____ before him. That makes him the _____ President of the United States" But I still don �t like asking "What number was he?" unless we �re talking about football players. And then it woudln �t be an ordinal number anyway. |
16 Oct 2015
|
|
|
cunliffe
|
|
Is he the first or the second president of your (our) country?
|
16 Oct 2015
|
|
|
Tapioca
|
|
Hi Cunliffe:-) Yeah, but then you �re providing the answer in the question, plus you �ve only got a fifty percent chance of getting it wrong... ;-) I got the feeling he wanted a question that would elicit the ordinal without offering it. That actually really hard to do and I wonder if it �s really worth the effort if your aim is to teach ordinals. It �s a bit like saying, �Okay guys, I need an example causative sentence but it has to mention an elephant, two aubergines, and an incident involving a two truck and the sentence has to end with an asterisk".
|
16 Oct 2015
|
|
|
cunliffe
|
|
Just as you like, Tapioca. |
16 Oct 2015
|
|
|
Tapioca
|
|
I need to drink less coffee in the morning ;-) |
16 Oct 2015
|
|
|
Jayho
|
|
Which number president is between the first and the third president?
Which number president was two presidents before the fourth president?
Cheers
Jayho
P.S. Tap - At which number cup of coffee did you decide that you must drink less coffee in the morning? ;-) |
16 Oct 2015
|
|
|
Tapioca
|
|
@Jayho I think it was my third, I �m not sure, but it was definitely after cunliffe reminded me that I need to more conciliatory and less flippant... ;-) btw I think your questions avoid the pitholes (potholes?) neatly but it might be time to stop counting Presidents and just give our students a list of the ordinal numbers and say "Here, learn this list for homework. There �s a test tomorrow!" Actually, that gives me an idea for a printable....! :-D |
16 Oct 2015
|
|
|
cunliffe
|
|
Hi Tap I didn �t remind you about anything. I did think your response to my answer to a member �s question was slightly over the top and... strange. I admired your riposte, though, about the coffee. Jayho, actually, I don �t think your questions work, although they are quite ingenious. |
16 Oct 2015
|
|
1
2
Next >
|
