So you are about to begin a reading class with your students.
They are all sitting in front of you, eagerly — or not so eagerly — waiting for the class to begin.
What do you do?
Dive right into the reading task and tell everyone to turn to page 85?
Well, no.
You need to warm the students up to the subject.
You need to let them have a paddle around in the shallow end of the swimming pool before letting them dive off the boards into the deep end.
This is why your reading class must have warm-up questions.
It introduces the main topic or subject matter of the reading task.
Plus, it introduces some minor vocabulary of the topic.
And it gets the students thinking about this topic before actually doing the reading itself.
Let’s look at some more solid reasons why you should use warm-up questions at the beginning of your English reading class.
Shift Their Thinking
Remember. The students were doing something else before coming to your class.
They might have been up to their necks in a maths class. Or doing PE. Or engaged in some experiments in a science class.
If you are teaching online, the student could have been doing all manner of things before your class.
You need to shift their thinking to the main topic of your English reading class.
Let’s use one of my Fantastic Tales lesson plans as an example.
Say you are using The Squid in your class. (Find it here and take a look at the warm-up introductory questions I wrote for this lesson plan).
The questions are as follows:
- Do you like to go swimming?
- Have you used the local swimming pool late at night?
- What could be the scariest thing to find in the swimming pool?
Notice how each question is based on swimming, the setting of swimming pools, swimming pools at night and scary things found in the swimming pool.
Why? Because this is the basis of the story the students will read.
By going over these questions, you shift their thinking into the main setting and topic of the story.
Now it becomes easier for them to read, as their mind is within this topic.
You have successfully warmed them up to the main theme of the story.
Well done!
Warm-Up Questions Are Conversational
When you ask warm-up questions at the beginning of the class, the students know it is not a test.
It is not even an exercise.
Really, it’s just chatting about something.
The questions are conversational.
This does two things for you and the students.
One, it helps you and them to engage with the class and speak out loud. It is not a test. It is not an exercise. So it’s easier to respond to these questions.
Two, it boosts the student’s confidence in speaking English as….
It is not a test, and it is not an exercise.
It Gets The Students Interested
The last thing you want as teacher in any class is for the students to have zero interest in what you are doing.
You want them engaged.
And one really useful way to do this is to ask warm-up questions before your reading class.
It gently slides them into the topic of the story or article you are reading and now, because they feel they did this by themselves, your job is much easier as they are now more connected.
They have an interest in the topic matter.
They are engaged.
It Sets The Tone
Nothing is worse than starting a class only for the students to gaze back at you with an expression of total boredom.
You want them to be buzzing. You want them nodding their head back at you and yearning for more.
Guess what? Warm-up questions can do this for you.
And because warm-up questions are conversational, the students feel more confident in speaking out loud; they feel positive about studying English, and positive about being in your class.
And you can ride on that for the rest of the class itself.
Use that strong buzzing feeling from the very beginning and make it last until the very end of the lesson.
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
Interaction Happens Naturally
Ideally, you want the students to interact with each other in your English class.
When we speak English, we don’t speak in monologues. We have conversations; we talk to each other, we engage, and we chat.
You want this in your class too!
And if you use warm-up questions, it encourages the students to interact with each other.
For example, one of the questions from The Squid lesson plan is this:
- Have you used the local swimming pool late at night?
So, you ask the students. Or you get one of the students to ask the rest of the students.
And maybe one student says: Yes, I used my local swimming pool late one night.
Another student might be surprised and ask: Why did you do that? Didn’t you feel scared?
Now the two students are interacting. Others might join in.
As the teacher, you should try to encourage this.
It’s not easy, but it can be done.
If you use warm-up questions at the beginning of your English class, you can strongly encourage interaction between the students.
The Students Are More Focused
The last thing you want is for the students to become bored and distracted by something else.
You want them all focused on the task at hand.
Asking warm questions does not create any pressure on the students. It is all very conversational.
This will make them more interested in the topic and set a positive tone.
And this, in turn, should prevent any distractions from removing the focus.
Not foolproof, but warm-up questions can certainly help.
Conclusion
Just a few tips on WHY you should use warm-up questions as an introduction to your English class or English reading class.
They can certainly pave the way for a more enjoyable and productive lesson with your students.
What do you think?
Are there any other key points you can think of about using warm-up questions?
Any other tips you can add?
Feel free to add your comments and thoughts below!
