Activity to practise Questions and Narrative Tenses

How the activity works

1. Set the scene
   Ask one student (let’s call her Carla) to step outside for a moment. Tell her that the class is going to invent a dream she had last night, and that when she comes back, she’ll ask yes/no questions to work out what the dream was.
   (You can swap “dream” for “something that happened yesterday” if it fits your context better.)

2. Brief the class
   Once Carla leaves the room, explain to the rest of the group that you’re not actually going to invent a dream. Instead, their answers to Carla’s questions will depend entirely on the final letter of her question:

   – If the last letter of the last word falls between A–M, the answer is yes.

   – If it falls between N–Z, the answer is no.

   (You can adapt this rule – vowel/consonant, even/odd number of words, or anything else that works for your class.)

3. Create the illusion
   Let the class chat for a few minutes to make it look as though they’re inventing detailed dream content. Then bring Carla back in and have her sit in the middle of the circle or at the front of the class.

4. Question time
   Carla now asks a series of yes/no questions to discover what her supposed dream was. She believes the class has planned a full narrative, but in reality she’s constructing the dream herself through the questions she asks – and the rule-based answers she receives.

5. Continue as long as useful
   The activity can run for a few minutes as a warmer or for longer if you’re using it as targeted practice.

Variations and language practice

1. Practising yes/no questions

Carla gets natural practice as she forms her questions. The rest of the class can listen for accuracy and later try to recall or write down as many of her questions as they can.

2. Reported questions

Have students report what Carla asked, either during the activity or afterwards:

“She asked if…”, “Carla wanted to know whether…”

3. Narrative tenses

Pause at intervals and ask Carla (or another student) to recap the dream so far.

At the end, extend it into a short writing task: pairs or groups reconstruct the “dream” using:

• Past simple at lower levels
• Past continuous and past perfect at higher levels

A small caveat

This activity only works once with the same group – after that, the secret is out. But as a one-off lesson moment, it’s memorable, engaging, and produces plenty of natural language.