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Speech Time Fun: Speech and Language Activities

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Using Discussion Language: Asking Questions

Are you struggling to ask the right questions in speech behind your basic WH questions?  Want to elicit more academic discussions?

We're always asking lots of questions in our speech rooms, but we can go a step further by asking questions to elicit academic conversations. Check out all of my tips and tricks for using discussion language in the speech room in this blog post!

As SLPs we are always asking questions but I shared some of my favorite ways to ask questions to elicit academic discussions!!  I shared the difference between open and closed questions and that we need to get into the habit of asking more open questions since that mimics what classroom teachers are doing.  It helps with carryover and also impresses administrators!

We're always asking lots of questions in our speech rooms, but we can go a step further by asking questions to elicit academic conversations. Check out all of my tips and tricks for using discussion language in the speech room in this blog post!

I use my travel sentence strip holder to display sentence starters for my students.  This holder has 2 sides so I can have 2 different levels ready to go at all times!  Blue = simplified, Yellow = more complex.

We're always asking lots of questions in our speech rooms, but we can go a step further by asking questions to elicit academic conversations. Check out all of my tips and tricks for using discussion language in the speech room in this blog post!

How do I use these sentence stems to elicit academic conversation?  My students my listen to each others' responses and expand!  This helps with attention, not repeating answers, and each student is responsible to respond without just repeating from another (helps with understanding and for US to judge if they truly understand).

I shared some products that I use to ask these types of questions but here are more suggestions:

We're always asking lots of questions in our speech rooms, but we can go a step further by asking questions to elicit academic conversations. Check out all of my tips and tricks for using discussion language in the speech room in this blog post!

I use my Interactive Stories and elicit conversation before, during, and after reading!  How before?  I show my students the cover and visual and ask them “What do you think this story will be about?” or specifically in the example above “What do you think Santa will wear?”  I did not want my students to just say “clothes,” I wanted them to use specific language and there are multiple responses which was great for a discussion!

I have also used this interactive book I purchased from a commercial retailer:

We're always asking lots of questions in our speech rooms, but we can go a step further by asking questions to elicit academic conversations. Check out all of my tips and tricks for using discussion language in the speech room in this blog post!

This book is designed to be able to answer with “I think…”!

We're always asking lots of questions in our speech rooms, but we can go a step further by asking questions to elicit academic conversations. Check out all of my tips and tricks for using discussion language in the speech room in this blog post!

How do I use this with older or more advanced students?

We're always asking lots of questions in our speech rooms, but we can go a step further by asking questions to elicit academic conversations. Check out all of my tips and tricks for using discussion language in the speech room in this blog post!

Here are some products I use!  Just asking students “what do you think will probably happen?” or “what do you think happened?” or “why do you think that happened?” elicits academic discussions!  My students have learned this routine and now know they must listen to each other and build upon each others' answers with these sentence stems.  My students also know that if they see the words “think” or “probably” in a written text question, they should be prepared to use these stems to answer.

What is key?!  Letting your teachers know about this!  It helps for them to know the sentence stems you are teaching your students.

 

Did you miss my live video on this topic?  You can view it below!

 

Products discussed in this post and my live video:

Click here to read another blog post about stimulating more language use in your classroom!

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