The art of questioning: developing critical thinkers

Abstract

There has been a great shift in teaching English as a second language from the past years to now. This is due to constant research on methodology, techniques, social and cultural perspectives. Thus, I wanted to produce a material that meets the needs of these new learners, taking into consideration these new perspectives. The present material aims to teach A2 students targeting teenagers and young adults. The language, tasks and activities were chosen to make the lessons appealing to this age group and level. The units were divided in different sections, and will be explained in detail on the following paragraphs. The Lets get started! section was designed so students have a first glance on the topic to be studied, by being exposed to pictures and images that relate to the content of the unit. It will be a moment for first discussions on the topic. The Sit and read section presents a variety of text types based on authentic material. It is divided in 3 parts: pre-reading, while-reading and post-reading activities. In the pre-reading section, students will be led into finding out the main idea of the text, the target reader and genre. In the while-reading activities, students will recognize different vocabulary so they can move on to the next section of the unit. The post-reading activities were designed to be after the vocabulary activities, in the section Got It! with comprehension questions so teachers can identify if students were able to understand the text thoroughly.