Getting students to ask questions

By Karen Stanley - Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

One effective way of having students ask questions, I've found, is to sit down/stand in the corner, not saying anything, and simply wait for the students to say something. This is often after I've explained something a bit complicated, and expect that it will take students time to absorb what I've said before they can even figure out if they have questions.

Sometimes I will ask *them* a question and wait. Once in a while, no one ever says *anything*, and after waiting quite a long time (I've learned to wait quite patiently), I finally take pity on them and begin myself. Of course, I don't deal with classes of all Chinese students, and don't know how that kind of waiting would work in that type of classroom.

I have thought about using the following technique for dealing with student questions (I heard about it in a presentation some time ago), but have never actually *tried* it. I keep thinking I should (someday, of course).

The teacher hands out index cards (or small pieces of paper, since I understand index cards are hard to come by in China) at the beginning of class. During the class, students have to write down a question about something the teacher explains during the class. The students turn in the questions as they leave class. The teacher can then go through them and use them at the beginning of the next class.