Wh Questions ESL Games, Activities and Worksheets
First to Ask
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Matching, Forming Questions - Group Work
In this free Wh questions game, students race to use question words to make questions that elicit specific answers. In groups, students take turns picking up an answer card and reading the sentence on... read more
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Matching, Forming Questions from Prompts - Group Work In this free Wh questions game, students race to use question words to make questions that elicit specific answers. In groups, students take turns picking up an answer card and reading the sentence on the card aloud, putting emphasis on the words in bold. The student then places the card face-up on the table. Next, all the students check their cards to see if they have a question word that can be used to create a question that elicits the answer. The first student to create a suitable question, say it, and place their card down on top of the answer card wins. The two cards are then removed from the game. If the other players think that a question is incorrect or doesn't match the answer, the student takes the card back and the game continues. The first student to get rid of all their question word cards wins the game. show less
Guess Who, What and Where!
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Guessing, Controlled Practice - Pair Work
In this fun Wh questions card game, students practice asking and answering questions using who, what, and where to identify people, objects, and places. Each card contains three related words... read more
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Guessing, Controlled Practice - Pair Work In this fun Wh questions card game, students practice asking and answering questions using who, what, and where to identify people, objects, and places. Each card contains three related words representing a person, an object, and a place from the same topic. Students work in pairs to ask and answer questions. One student picks a card and announces the category of the word in bold, e.g. 'It's a person.', while the other student asks Wh questions about the other two categories to identify the word in bold. For example, if the card shows 'waiter/menu/café' the first student says 'It's a person', the second student then asks 'What is it?' and 'Where is it?' before guessing 'waiter'. If the guess is correct, the second student keeps the card. If it is incorrect, the card is removed from play. Students take turns switching roles with each new card. The player with the most cards at the end wins. show less
Question Correction
ESL Wh Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Error Correction, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice - Pair Work
In this useful Wh questions error correction activity, students correct mistakes in questions and then use the questions to interview a partner... read more
ESL Wh Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Error Correction, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Controlled and Freer Practice - Pair Work In this useful Wh questions error correction activity, students correct mistakes in questions and then use the questions to interview a partner. Working alone, students find mistakes in the questions on their worksheet and correct them. Students then take turns checking their corrections with their partner, who has the answer key. Next, students interview their partner using the questions. Finally, students tell the class what they found out about their partner. show less
Tell me more
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Asking Questions - Group Work
In this creative Wh questions game, students ask Wh questions in order to find out more details about a sentence. Write a sentence on the board, e.g. 'The report is on the desk.' Tell the students that they are feeling inquisitive and want to find out as... read more
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Asking Questions from Prompts - Group Work In this creative Wh questions game, students ask Wh questions in order to find out more details about a sentence. Write a sentence on the board, e.g. 'The report is on the desk.' Tell the students that they are feeling inquisitive and want to find out as many details as possible about the sentence. Teams then take turns asking a Wh question about the sentence, e.g. 'What is the report about?' For each grammatically correct question a team asks, they score one point. When teams run out of questions, write a new sentence on the board and continue the game. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less
What type of question is that?
ESL Wh Questions Worksheet - Grammar Exercises: Categorising, Matching, Unscrambling, Writing Questions, Error Correction - Speaking Activity - Pair Work
In this productive Wh questions worksheet, students practice Wh questions in the present simple and present continuous. To start, students review two types of... read more
ESL Wh Questions Worksheet - Grammar Exercises: Categorising, Matching, Unscrambling, Writing Questions, Error Correction - Speaking Activity - Pair Work In this productive Wh questions worksheet, students practice Wh questions in the present simple and present continuous. To start, students review two types of Wh questions. Students then read questions and decide which type they are. Next, students match the questions with answers. Students then match the question words from Exercise A to their functions. After that, students unscramble words to create Wh questions. Students then move on to write Wh questions that match answers. Next, students rewrite questions, correcting errors. Working alone, students then complete sentences by guessing information about a partner. After that, students write the Wh questions they need to ask to find out the correct answer. Lastly, students ask the questions to their partner to see how many of their guesses were correct. show less
Ask the Right Question
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar: Writing Sentences, Guessing, Forming Questions, Freer Practice - Group Work
In this entertaining Wh questions game, students guess questions from answers written by other students. First, in groups of three, students answer each Wh question on a card in sentence form... read more
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar: Writing Sentences, Guessing, Forming Questions from Prompts, Freer Practice - Group Work In this entertaining Wh questions game, students guess questions from answers written by other students. First, in groups of three, students answer each Wh question on a card in sentence form. Students then take turns reading an answer at random to the other two students, who race to guess the question from the answer. The first student to guess the correct Wh question scores one point. The game continues until all three students' questions have been guessed correctly. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less
Guess the Question
ESL Wh Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Completing, Asking and Answering Questions, Freer Practice - Pair Work
In this engaging Wh questions speaking activity, students complete missing words in questions and then use the questions to interview a partner. First... read more
ESL Wh Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Completing, Asking and Answering Questions, Freer Practice - Pair Work In this engaging Wh questions speaking activity, students complete missing words in questions and then use the questions to interview a partner. First, in pairs, students complete Wh questions by deciding what the missing words are in each question, writing one word in each space. Next, students take turns choosing a topic and asking the related questions to their partner, asking Wh follow-up questions to gain more information. Finally, students give feedback to the class on what they found out about their partner. show less
Information Line Up
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions - Group Work
In this energizing Wh questions game, students ask questions to establish an order and race to line up in teams as quickly as possible. To start the game, teams race to call out the correct Wh question... read more
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions - Group Work In this energizing Wh questions game, students ask questions to establish an order and race to line up in teams as quickly as possible. To start the game, teams race to call out the correct Wh question from your command. For example, the first command is 'Line up as quickly as possible by age', so teams would race to say the question 'How old are you?' The first team to say the correct question scores a point. The members of each team then race to ask each other the question and line up accordingly. The first team to line up correctly scores one point. Check the winning team is lined up correctly by asking the question to each team member. If any mistakes have been made, the game continues. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less
Mike's Life
ESL Wh Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Information Gap, Forming, Asking and Answering Questions - Group and Pair Work
In this handy Wh questions information gap activity, students complete a text about someone's life by asking and answering Wh questions. In two groups... read more
ESL Wh Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Information Gap, Forming, Asking and Answering Questions - Group and Pair Work In this handy Wh questions information gap activity, students complete a text about someone's life by asking and answering Wh questions. In two groups, students write the Wh questions they need to find out the missing information in a text. Students then pair up with someone from the other group and take turns asking their partner the questions and completing the text with their answers. Finally, students check their texts and spelling by comparing worksheets. show less
Questions and Answers
ESL Wh Questions Worksheet - Grammar Exercise: Writing Questions
In this free Wh questions worksheet, students practice writing Wh questions for a set of answers. Working alone, students write Wh questions for 20 answers on the worksheet. When the students have finished, they swap worksheets with a classmate... read more
ESL Wh Questions Worksheet - Grammar Exercise: Writing Questions From Prompts In this free Wh questions worksheet, students practice writing Wh questions for a set of answers. Working alone, students write Wh questions for 20 answers on the worksheet. When the students have finished, they swap worksheets with a classmate for marking. Students score one point for each correct question. The student with the most points wins. show less
The Past and Present
ESL Past Simple and Present Simple Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions
In this insightful Wh questions speaking activity, students use the past simple and present simple to ask about a partner's habits as a child and now. Each topic on the worksheet contains three... read more
ESL Past Simple and Present Simple Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts In this insightful Wh questions speaking activity, students use the past simple and present simple to ask about a partner's habits as a child and now. Each topic on the worksheet contains three questions. The first two questions deal with past habits. The third question is a present simple question to find out information about their partner's habits now. In pairs, students ask a past simple yes/no question and then a past simple Wh question to find out information about their partner's past childhood habits. Students then ask a question about their present habits and write all the answers on the worksheet. When everyone has finished, students tell the class what they found out about their partner. show less
The Question is...
ESL Guess the Question Game - Grammar: Guessing, Forming Questions - Pair Work
In this fun asking questions game, students listen to a set of answers and try to guess the questions being asked. Student A starts by reading the first answer to their partner who listens and guesses the question. If Student B guesses correctly the first... read more
ESL Guess the Question Game - Grammar: Guessing, Forming Questions - Pair Work In this fun asking questions game, students listen to a set of answers and try to guess the questions being asked. Student A starts by reading the first answer to their partner who listens and guesses the question. If Student B guesses correctly the first time, they score three points, on the second try two points, and on their last try one point. Student B then reads out their first answer to Student A who guesses the question, and so on. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins. Alternatively, you can make the game more competitive by having students try to complete all the questions on their partner's worksheet in the fastest possible time. show less
What's the question?
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Forming and Asking Questions - Group Work
In this enjoyable asking questions game, students race to make questions from answers. Divide the class into two teams. Choose one player from each team to come to the front of the class... read more
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Forming and Asking Questions from Prompts - Group Work In this enjoyable asking questions game, students race to make questions from answers. Divide the class into two teams. Choose one player from each team to come to the front of the class. Read an answer to a question, e.g. 'I normally arrive home at 6 p.m.' Then, ask the two players 'What's the question?' The first player to respond with the correct question scores a point for their team, i.e. 'What time do you normally arrive home?' Then, two new players come to the front of the class, and so on. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less
Wh Conversation Questions
ESL Wh Questions Activity- Grammar and Speaking: Completing, Asking and Answering Questions - Group and Pair Work
In this rewarding Wh questions speaking activity, students practice completing, asking and answering conversation questions that begin with who, what, when, where, why, which, and how. First, in two... read more
ESL Wh Questions Activity- Grammar and Speaking: Completing, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Controlled and Freer Practice - Group and Pair Work In this rewarding Wh questions speaking activity, students practice completing, asking and answering conversation questions that begin with who, what, when, where, why, which, and how. First, in two groups, students complete the first question in each pair with a word from a box and the second question with a suitable Wh question word. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group and take turns asking and answering the Wh conversation questions with their partner and developing a short conversation about the topic by giving more information and asking follow-up questions. Afterwards, students share what they found out about their partner with the class. show less
Get it Right
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions - Group Work
In this free Wh questions game, students ask Wh questions that elicit certain answers. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and asking questions that will elicit the word or phrase on the card... read more
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions - Group Work In this free Wh questions game, students ask Wh questions that elicit certain answers. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and asking questions that will elicit the word or phrase on the card. The first student to answer with the correct word or phrase wins and keeps the card. The next student then picks up a card, and so on. The student with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner. show less
I know you
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Writing Questions and Answers, Answering Questions, Freer Practice
In this fast-paced Wh questions game, students write Wh questions and answers about themselves and then race to answer questions written by other students. On each card, students use the Wh... read more
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Writing Questions and Answers, Answering Questions, Freer Practice In this fast-paced Wh questions game, students write Wh questions and answers about themselves and then race to answer questions written by other students. On each card, students use the Wh question word to write a question about themselves using their name, e.g. 'What kind of films does Anna like?' Students then write the answer in sentence form underneath the question in the third person, e.g. 'She likes thrillers.' Students then fold the card and put it in an envelope. When the students have finished, they take turns taking a card from the envelope and reading the question to the group. The student who is the subject of the question is not allowed to answer. The first student to give a matching answer wins and keeps the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. show less
Mystery Interview
ESL Wh Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions, Freer Practice - Pair Work
In this intriguing Wh questions speaking activity, students practice forming, asking and answering questions in a mystery celebrity interview. Each student starts by thinking of a famous mystery celebrity... read more
ESL Wh Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions, Freer Practice - Pair Work In this intriguing Wh questions speaking activity, students practice forming, asking and answering questions in a mystery celebrity interview. Each student starts by thinking of a famous mystery celebrity they want to be for the interview. Students then write interview questions to ask a partner using the prompts on their worksheet. Students also create an interview question of their own at the end. Next, in pairs, students take turns interviewing their partner using the script and questions, noting down their partner's answers on the worksheet. At the end of each interview, the interviewer guesses the name of the famous celebrity their partner is pretending to be. Finally, students role-play their interviews to the class who try to guess each mystery celebrity. show less
Questions Crossword
ESL Wh Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Writing, Asking and Answering Questions - Group and Pair Work
In this imaginative Wh questions activity, students create questions that elicit specific answers in a crossword. First, in two groups, students write Wh questions that would elicit the words and phrases... read more
ESL Wh Questions Activity - Grammar and Speaking: Writing, Asking and Answering Questions - Group and Pair Work In this imaginative Wh questions activity, students create questions that elicit specific answers in a crossword. First, in two groups, students write Wh questions that would elicit the words and phrases on their crossword. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group and take turns asking their partner for a question to one of their missing words or phrases. Their partner then asks them the question for that word or phrase, indicating the number of words in the answer. If the student correctly guesses the answer, they write the word or phrase on their crossword. If not, their partner continues to ask more questions until they are able to elicit the correct answer. show less
Questions Tic-Tac-Toe
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions - Group Work
In this interesting Wh questions game, students play Tic-Tac-Toe by creating questions. Copy the grid onto the board, writing the numbers and question words in the squares. Teams then take... read more
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts - Group Work In this interesting Wh questions game, students play Tic-Tac-Toe by creating questions. Copy the grid onto the board, writing the numbers and question words in the squares. Teams then take turns choosing a question word from the grid. Team members then use the question word in the square to make a Wh question and ask it to the next team. To win the square, the question must be grammatically correct and contain a minimum of six words. The next team must answer the question appropriately or they lose their turn to choose a square. If a question is grammatically incorrect or less than six words in length, play passes to the next team without them having to answer a question. The first team to get three squares in a row wins the round. Play a few rounds to see which team is the overall champion, changing the position of the question words or creating new ones each time. show less
Opening Statements
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Communicative Practice - Group Work
In this fun Wh questions game, students practice asking questions to find out further details about an opening statement. A student from Team A picks up a card and reads the opening statement on the... read more
ESL Wh Questions Game - Grammar and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Communicative Practice - Group Work In this fun Wh questions game, students practice asking questions to find out further details about an opening statement. A student from Team A picks up a card and reads the opening statement on the card to Team B. Team B then has two minutes to ask the student as many Wh follow-up questions as they can to find out further details about the opening statement. The student replies to the questions with short imaginary answers. Team B scores one point for each follow-up question they ask. After the two-minute time limit has been reached, teams swap roles. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. show less