Using Question Cards to Encourage Interaction and Language Practice

by Hall Houston

In 2024, NPR (National Public Radio) announced a new podcast called Wild Card. The NPR website describes it as “part-interview, part-existential game show.” Hosted by Rachel Martin, celebrities such as Jesse Eisenberg, Wanda Sykes, Natalie Morales, Bowen Yang, and David Lynch have appeared.

The most impressive feature of the podcast (besides the stars) is the deck of cards that the host uses to select questions for the interview.

Here’s how it works: she places three cards face down before the guests, like at a tarot card-reading. The guest chooses one, and when the card is turned over the question is revealed. When the question has been answered, the card is replaced and the process repeats. On the podcast, this is referred to as “a round” and each podcast episode features three rounds.

Additionally, there are two rules, called one skip and one flip. The one skip rule is that the guest is allowed to skip one question (the host replaces that one with another question card from the deck). The one flip rule is that the guest can take one of the questions and direct it back at the host.

Here are a few of the questions that appear in the Wild Card deck (and those of you who have heard of Proust’s Questionnaire will find similarities here):

• What’s a smell that brings back a vivid memory for you?
• What do you admire about your teenage self?
• What’s a quality you’re drawn to that you don’t possess?
• If you got a do-over for one decision in your life, what would it be?
• Have you ever had a premonition about something that came true?
• How do you stay connected to people you’ve lost?
• What is a place you consider sacred?

As an author of numerous articles and books about activities for English teaching, I was instantly drawn to the format of the podcast. I’ve used question cards many times in my lessons, and I’ve found them to be a great way to get students to interact with and learn more about each other. While the questions used in this podcast are quite deep and philosophical, I think students can benefit from asking and answering questions on a wide variety of topics, both serious and playful.

Sourcing Materials

I think the Wild Card idea could work wonders in the language classroom, but to use it you’ll need some cards of your own.

Here are three ways you can get hold of some:

1. Purchase or print out cards created by others. If it fits your budget, you can purchase fancy sets of cards from Amazon, such as Topix, Talking Point and Table Topics, with a diverse collection of questions. These can be re-used numerous times. Alternatively, a few websites feature question cards you can print out. Here are a few examples: Conversation Starters, Conversation Questions Card Game, and Family Conversation Starters.
2. Create your own cards. Question cards can be made easily in Word or Google Docs, or if you want something a bit more graphically appealing, you can use Canva. This option will work out cheaper than the first while also giving you much more creative control – though it requires more work and more imagination. You can also customise your cards to the needs of your students by focusing on specific lexical or grammatical domains. There’s also a handy list of questions from the podcast on this Reddit page.
3. Bring blank index cards to class, and ask your students to write their own questions. This allows students to ask questions that they’re personally interested in asking others.

Making the Most of the Cards

Here are some tips for increasing the amount of speaking practice that students get out of the cards:

• Teach students to use follow-up questions. You can give them some examples that work in any situation, such as “Can you say a little more about that?” or “What else can you tell me?”
• Insist on students saying three things to answer a question, rather than just giving a short answer. The schematic answer, explanation, example could work here.
• Students who are asked a question can also ask their partner a question of their own.

Modifications

Cocktail Party

I first learned of this activity from Creative Questions by Natalie Hess and Lauren Pollard (which is unfortunately out of print).

Give each student three blank index cards. Ask them to write a conversation question on each card. Encourage them to write questions they would genuinely like to ask others in the class. When everyone has finished writing, collect the cards and redistribute them so that everyone has a card written by another student. Students stand up and mingle. Each student finds a partner, and they ask each other the questions on their cards. Next, they swap cards and move around the room, looking for a new partner. Students repeat the activity several times. After students have all swapped cards at least two or three times, circulate with the extra question cards, and encourage students to swap a question with you.

Variations: In order to prevent boredom setting in, set a limit. For example, “Talk to 7 people, then have a seat.” Alternatively, you can set a time limit.

Question chain reaction

Students sit in a circle. Each student has a question card. One of the students asks another student in the group his or her question. After the other student answers, the student sitting on the left of the question asker must ask another question to a different student. This question must be similar to the first student’s question, but not exactly the same. For example, “What is your favourite thing to do on a rainy day?” could become “What is a good way of making the most of a rainy day?” Next, the student sitting on the right of the question asker asks another question to someone else (again, similar but not exactly the same as the original question). The process repeats until everyone has asked the question on his or her card.

Turn the question into a statement

This is based on an idea I saw in a video about elicitation. Give each student five cards which they must keep close to their chests. Students take turns asking the questions on their cards, but they use sentences to get the other student to react. For example, if a card says “What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?”, a student might say “I think your favorite ice cream flavor is strawberry.” or “My favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate. I guess it’s your favorite, too.” Students can even turn it into a mind reading exercise!

Guess the question

Students work in pairs. They each have ten question cards on their desk, with the questions face up. Students take turns answering a question in at least three sentences, without revealing which question they’re answering. The other student guesses which card they’re answering. Once the student has identified the question correctly, he can answer it himself.

Question skeletons

Prepare cards with 4 partial questions on them, such as “Who….?” “How often….?”, or even “Do you prefer… or …?” Each card should have a different set of question skeletons. There should be enough cards for everyone in the class to have a card. Students work in groups of four or five. They take turns creating a question using one of their question skeletons, and asking the others in the group.

Past present future questions

Hand each student a blank index card. Ask them to write three questions they would like to ask others in the class. One should be about the past (Where did you grow up? What was the most interesting thing that happened last month?), the second should be about the present (What are you thinking about right now?) and the third should be about the future (What are you going to do tonight? Where do you think you will be in ten years?).

Variation: tell the students to prioritise asking questions of the students they speak to the least often.

Avoiding the question

Pass out blank index cards, one for each student. Ask them to write down five questions that are rather personal, questions that most people might not want to answer. Next, explain to your class a few ways to avoid answering a question you don’t want to answer, such as changing the subject, directly confronting the person asking the question, responding with a different question, or abruptly ending the conversation and leaving. For each type of response, give the class an example, and ask a student to provide an additional example. Then, call on a few students to ask one of the questions they wrote, and respond by either answering or using one of the avoidance techniques. When you have modelled the activity, let the students have a go.

Questions for the guest

Before class, find someone that you think would make a good guest to visit your class. It might be a friend, a neighbor, a colleague, or someone visiting from out of town. Tell this person to prepare a short introduction, and be willing to answer a few questions from your students. On the day of class, before the guest enters the classroom, give each student three blank index cards. Tell the students a little bit of information about the guest. Ask students to write a question on each card that they would like to ask the guest. When everyone has finished writing, collect the cards and invite the guest to enter the classroom. After the guest has finished with their short introduction, give the guest the cards and ask the guest to answer a few of the questions.

I hope that this article has sparked your interest in using question cards in your next lesson. The idea is simple – but the trick is in the execution. These activities could take your students from reticent to speak, to thinking they’re on a podcast of their own!

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