Tag Questions Lesson Plan

The aim of this lesson plan is to develop students understanding of the use of question tags.
The activity includes:
eliciting students awareness of the use of question tags,
sentence matching and gap-filling exercises
followed by an active practice of question tags forms.
The lesson plan
1. Auxiliary Verbs
Divide the class into small groups. Start by a yes/no questions exercise to activate students
knowledge about the right use of the auxiliary verbs.
Example:
Do you like soccer? Yes, I do.
Have you got any brothers or sisters? No, I havent.
Are you good at mathematics?
Did you watch TV yesterday?
Can you speak Chinese?
2. Introducing Question Tags
Introduce question tags by writing model examples on the board.
Examples:
You are French, arent you?
You like jogging in the morning, dont you?
You dont like jogging in the afternoon, do you?
You went to the gym yesterday, didnt you?
He didnt go to a restaurant, did he?
.
Students discuss the different examples of question tags and notice how they are formed. They
also should be able to see that question tags are mainly used to keep a conversation going, or
confirm information and that using question tags necessitates a keen understanding of the use
of various auxiliary verbs.
3. Matching Exercise
Students match question tags:
You are mad about playing chess,
isnt it?
He isnt working now,
had he?
They wont visit New York,.
does it?
He hasnt done his job,
are they?
She found a necklace,
dont they
She isnt an honest girl,
wont they?
They do an excellent job,
is she?
It doesnt matter,
didnt she?
Theyll fail,
has he?
They are coming,
will they?
He hadnt read the book before,
is he?
This is amazing,
arent you?
4. Gap Filling
Students then do the exercise below to enhance the use of the tag question. this time they
have to complete the tag questions
You didnt visit the museum, ________
Hes happy to make the trip, __________
Theyll meet at the airport on Sunday, _________
Shes single, __________
You wrote that poem, _________
You love singing, ___________
She doesnt speak English well, ________
He hadnt lived there before, ________
They have done a good job, __________
5. Active Practice of Question Tags
Ask each student to write information about themselves in the form of simple statements
answering questions like:
Whats your name?
Where do you come from?
What did you do yesterday evening?

Collect the statements and re-distribute the sheets to different students. Each student then
uses the statements to form question tags, addressing the question to the student who has
written the statements.
Example:
Your name is Alan, isnt it?
You come from Spain, dont you?
You arent French, are you?