Spoken English

Asking questions

THE WORD OF THE YEAR 2014

THE WORD OF THE YEAR 2014

"The early bird catches the worm." You should wake up and start work early if you want to succeed.Often used to encourage “lazy” people to get up.Success comes to those who prepare well and put in effort.

"A watched pot never boils." Time feels longer when you're waiting for something to happen.If something takes time to finish, don't watch it too closely because it will seem like it's taking forever.

"Actions speak louder than words." What people do is more important than what they say.Saying that you'll do something doesn't mean much. Actually doing it is harder and more meaningful.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Don't try to improve something that already works fairly well. You'll probably end up causing new problems.

"Too many cooks spoil the broth." Where there are too many people trying to do something, they make a mess of it.

QUESTIONSA WISE MAN CAN LEARN MORE FROM A FOOLISH QUESTION THAN A FOOL CAN FROM WISE ANSWER

QUESTIONS“Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” Voltaire

He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. Chinese Proverb

When you are with really wise people, what is the best way to learn from them? Mike Maddock suggests that this is the best thing to ask: If you were me, what questions would you be asking?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemaddock/2013/07/09/the-best-question-to-ask-people-who-are-really-smart-so-you-can-learn-from-them/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemaddock/2013/07/09/the-best-question-to-ask-people-who-are-really-smart-so-you-can-learn-from-them/

What is the best question you can think to ask these people?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemaddock/2013/07/09/the-best-question-to-ask-people-who-are-really-smart-so-you-can-learn-from-them/

What is the best question you can think to ask these people?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemaddock/2013/07/09/the-best-question-to-ask-people-who-are-really-smart-so-you-can-learn-from-them/

What is the best question you can think to ask these people?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemaddock/2013/07/09/the-best-question-to-ask-people-who-are-really-smart-so-you-can-learn-from-them/

What is the best question you can think to ask these people?

THINK BEFORE YOU ASK…

• What sort of answer do you want? • Information (data) -

information or facts. Then you can bring give them your own interpretation.

• Opinion - “What do you think about this, what should we do here…?”

• Ideas - “What are the options here…why do you think that happened…why did those people do that…?”

• Asking great questions takes practice

• Start asking questions and you will improve over time

• Consider the answers: good answers come from asking good questions

• Mother Teresa (1910 –1997), was a Roman Catholic Sister and missionary.

• Born in Macedonia, family from Albania • Founded the Missionaries of Charity: over

4,500 sisters in 133 countries. • Run hospices and homes for people with

HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis; soup kitchens; dispensaries and mobile clinics; children's and family counselling programmes; orphanages; and schools.

• Members must adhere to the vows of chastity, poverty, obedience, to give "wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor".

• Received the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize.

• Albert Einstein 1879 – 18 1955 • German-born theoretical

physicist and philosopher of science.

• He developed the general theory of relativity.

• Best known for E = mc2 • He received the 1921 Nobel

Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect".

• The Mona Lisa (La Gioconda in Italian; La Joconde in French) has been acclaimed as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world".

• Thought to be Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo

• Painted 1503-1506 • On display at The Louvre

museum in Paris since 1797.

• Adolf Hitler (German 1889–1945)

• Austrian-born • Leader of the Nazi Party • Chancellor of Germany

1933-1945, dictator of Nazi Germany 1934-1945.

• Decorated veteran of WW I • His regime was responsible

for the genocide of at least 5.5 million Jews

“YES / NO” QUESTIONS

Questions that can be answered with a YES or NO give limited possibility for conversation without a follow up question being used.

Would you like to…should we eat here…is that…are you…do you think…

20 QUESTIONS / GUESS WHOYou are given the identity of a real person who was / is “well known” written on it.

Each person will sit in a chair with their back to the screen so that they cannot see the image of who they are.

Ask questions of the rest of the group to try to find out who you are.

For example you can ask,

"Am I a female?”

“Do I act?”

“Did I discover something?”

Only questions that can be answered yes or no are allowed

The questions cannot be either/or questions like "Am I male or female?”

You have to ask the other people in turn.

For each person:1. Identify them

2. Think of a good question you would ask

them

Open-ended questions have a variety of possible answers; - help us to gain insight and information. - make people give more thought to their answers To develop a more meaningful conversation you could ask questions starting with…

…who …what

…where …when …how …why

…who Is used in asking about a person or people: Who opened the door? Who is your favourite preacher?

…what Used in asking for information: What is your name? Used in asking for repetition or confirmation: What did you say? You did what?

…where Is used asking about a place or position: Where do they live? Where did they finish in the league last year?

…when Used in asking about time: When did he leave? When will the train arrive?

Often when someone is serving you a drink they might say, “Say when”

This means tell me when to stop filling your glass

…how Used in asking about manner: How does this work? or about condition/quality: How was your exam? (did your exam go)

…how Used in asking about manner: How does this work? or about condition/quality: How was your exam? (did your exam go)

…how Used in asking about manner: How does this work? or about condition/quality: How was your exam? (did your exam go)

…why Used in asking for a reason: Why do you say that? Why did no one listen to the teacher? Why do you think that?

ASK MORE QUESTIONS

Ask follow-up questions (unless you only want facts).

For example,

“What makes you say that?”

“Why do you think that?”

“I didn't see you last week…”

“What was the most exciting /interesting thing that happened to you…”

SILENCE CAN HELP

Ask a question. Wait for a response. Listen Wait again. Often the person you questioned has more information and will bring it out when you wait for it.

SILENCE CAN HELP

You have to be comfortable with silence though!

People feel a need to fill silence with noise - often they will then bring out a critical bit of information.

Used by police and military interrogators.

LISTEN - REALLY LISTEN!“Don’t Interrupt” Interrupting: - suggests you don't value what they are saying - stops their train of thought - directs the conversation the way you want it to go

LISTEN - REALLY LISTEN!

Listen until they stop or there is a convenient pause - at that point speak, clarify, ask, comment…

WEBLIOGRAPHY

I look at numerous sources in compiling teaching - here are a few used as I prepared this:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-amazingly-good-asking-questions.html

http://stackoverflow.com/help/how-to-ask

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemaddock/2013/07/09/the-best-question-to-ask-people-who-are-really-smart-so-you-can-learn-from-them/

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_4510400_play-who-am-i-party.html