One of the staples of my classroom decor has survived over the years and several new classrooms… my question word posters. A friend printed, laminated, and shared them with me when I first started teaching. They have really helped students learn how to respond to my questions. In fact, they are so useful I overlooked their flaws. However, they caught my eye one day and it hit me… It’s time for an upgrade!
My old posters did the job, but a lot changes since I first started teaching!
(Flashback to 2008: gas dropped to less than $2/gallon, The 5th Harry Potter movie was in theaters, the 1st gen. iPhone was released, and that “Boots with the fur” song came out)
Now when I look at my posters…
1.) They seem too “kiddie” for high school – Where are the real pictures?
2.) The lamination makes them hard to read from some areas of the room
3.) They have NO cultural connections
So I took a little time, picked new fonts and pictures, and printed them on cardstock.
Check out the makeover…
Before:
After (without the English translations):
Better, huh?!? They are a breath of fresh culture. I’m excited to see students make connections with the people and products!
Have a great week, everybody!
Original Publication: Mar 9, 2014
Merci Wendy F. for helping with translations!
Love these! Would love to use these and help my kids stay in the target language more…even when they have questions! 🙂
Thanks, Haley!
BELLI!! They look very 21st century! Thank you for sharing! You are indeed a 21st century teacher!
My favorite compliment! Thanks, Giovanna!
Poor ¿Cómo? got dissed! 😛 hehe! I’m just messing with ya! I LOVE your updated poster. I was just telling my hubby how far we’ve come from that old crappy clip art from the days of yore!
Clip art AND word art! Goodbye forever!
You can’t believe how much has changed in 6 years of teaching? Just wait until it’s been 30.
🙂 That’s where I am, and I want you to know that you girls are an inspiration, even to us old folks.
Ha! This made me laugh! You have a good point 🙂 Thanks, Wildelove!
Gracias! Gracias! Gracias! I have just thinking that I need to re-do mine. Can’t wait to print them and put them up.
Con mucho gusto 🙂 glad you like them!
Hello,
Thank you for sharing such amazing work, would you be able to share an English copy of it, so I can translate it into Arabic.
I teach Arabic as a world language in a middle school, and it is challenging to find such posters to use.
Thank you,
Hanadi Shihab
Hi, Hanadi! Where do you teach? Good news – Kara made a version in Arabic. We’ll send them your way!
Megan (and Kara)
Thanks I love these! I’m going to put them in the front of the room and have my current ones in the back, that way the kids in the back have somewhere to look as well. I think it’s important to have several reminders of question words!
What is your opinion about having the English underneath them for 7th grade Spanish (at least for the first half of the year? My kids often have trouble telling which question word is which, especially since I don’t specifically teach the questions words (they come up in conversation and in TPRS, but I have a hard time teaching them as a grammar concept).
I teach Spanish 1 and I keep them up with the English under them all year! Since our time together is limited it would take too long for them to figure out what I was trying to ask!! I don’t translate most things but it is there for those who need it, and when they don’t need it they will stop looking.
Awesome! Knowing you do it as well makes me feel good about putting up the inglés. It can be a fine line sometimes between giving too much inglés and not enough.
I give handouts with the text in Spanish that I plan on asking about (I hate our textbook, so I give lots of handouts). The questions words and their English translation are in a textbox in the upper corner of the document. I don’t teach by TPRS, BUT I do use the circling technique. After so much repetition, the question words are absorbed without really teaching them. At the end of Spanish I, the question words are on the exam. That’s when I assess them formally to see if they have learned the question words. They gets points for answering correctly throughout the year so they do have to know the question words, they just are not tested on them until the end.
P.S. What is circling? Take a statement and ask questions about it.
Juan llega a la escuela a las ocho en el bus escolar.
¿Llega Juan a la escuela?
¿Llega Juan o María a la escuela?
¿LLega María a la escuela?
¿Quién llega a la escuela?
¿Llega Juan a la escuela o al hospital?
¿A dónde llega Juan?
¿Llega a las ocho o a las nueve?
¿Cuándo llega Juan?
¿A qué hora llega Juan?
¿Llega Juan en carro o en bus escolar?
¿Cómo llega Juan?
¿Llega para estudiar o para comprar ropa?
¿Por qué llega Juan?
Thanks so much for this.i’m not a visual learner, and the reminder that pictures would help is a great one for me. I teach FSL to Grade 4-8, and I always have the English up for those who need it. Will be hunting down some real-world images to go with my questions!
Thank you so much for gifting these wonderful posters to all your fans and followers! They are perfect, I am printing and hanging them! Also thank you for the comments about when to use translation, I agree that our L1’s often need that support and that providing it is important! Gratefully yours
Megan, you rock! Just shared these with our teachers in DE
Thanks! Enjoy!!
I love them! I don;t even have any question words poster but I will follow your lead as I make them for next year.
Señora this has really helped me while taking a test in the class room! gracias 🙂
Any way that this can be edited? I teach French and would love to have similar posters!
Put them up before Spring Break. Kids loved the “fancy, new” question words!
These look great! My only thought is that “piñas” is feminine and I would personally use something masculine for the question “cuántos?” Where did you find such great fonts?!
Did you use Pages to design these? I am looking into buying some new design software for creating classroom resources and would love suggestions.
Sorry this is so late! I used an app called “Over” and then added pics in Keynote. Hope that helps!
Just printed my copy! And they fit perfectly across the top of my whiteboard (since I can’t put anything on the walls, this is a lifesaver!)
Yeah! Thanks for sharing, Laura!
I finally made my own. I guess I’m a real language teacher now! http://jpv206.wordpress.com/2014/10/19/interrogative-word-posters/
Thank you so much! I was feeling like my Spanish question words needed an update & a new location in my room, & I found yours! I am so happy! Thank you!
Welcome! Send a pic!
You are welcome! Glad to help!
These are wonderful! I don’t see the Student Questions language sheet for Spanish (only German). I am also a member of the online Spanish Adios Textbook Curriculum. Is there a resource page in the site where I might find these kinds of printables? Thanks.