I think that it is very important to have vocabulary prompts around the classroom to enable the students to maximise their use of target language in the classroom. Checkout two of my poster displays this year.

I loved teaching this unit on invitations. The form (related concept) of language that we practiced throughout the unit was conversations with the purpose (related concept) of connecting with others.

At the beginning of the unit we reviewed the construction of questions that don't contain question words. The students had a list of familiar phrases used in previous units which they first had to practise saying as statements. They then practised saying the phases as questions by using intonation in their voices. Examples of these phrases are below:

• Eres bajo.
• Tienes hermanos.
• Te gustan las matématicas.
• Hablas chino.
  

Next, the students were given a large piece of paper and they were asked in groups to write down all the questions that they had learned and practiced throughout the year and to identify the interrogatives within those question words. Examples of these questions can be seen below:

• ¿Cuántos años tienes?
  
• ¿De dónde eres?
  
• ¿Cuál es tu nacionalidad?
  
• ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?
  

Now it was time for the students to master knowledge of these interrogative words, as well as the structure of questions. I bought this excellent bundle of resources from TeachersPayTeachers. The PPT presentation is carefully scaffolded by introducing the question words and then asking the students to recall these words using pictures. It then has practice questions with a blank space and students need to select the correct question word from a choice of three. Within this bundle there is a document which can be printed and laminated to make question word cards that students can use and hold up to the teacher as a whole class formative assessment.

In this bundle of resources there is also a very clear and simple explanation of the difference of use between ¿Qué? and ¿Cuál? and lots of opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding with written gap fill questions.