Teacher notes — Grammar for Korean Speakers
Indirect questions trip up Korean speakers: fixing 'what is this'
- Model the oral drill yourself first: say the wrong version, pull a face, then the right version. Middle schoolers copy tone before they copy grammar.
- Keep "if/whether" separate from the word-order fix until the first pattern is solid. Mixing both in one class slows weaker students down.
- The chain drill (drill 3) doubles as listening practice since students have to track what their partner actually asked before reporting it.
- Expect "is" to be the stubborn one. Students fix "where he lives" fast but keep "where is he" the longest, because it's the most common standalone question they've drilled since elementary school.
- For a stronger class: add embedded questions after "I wonder" and "Nobody told me," and ask students to write one line each from a news headline turned into a question they genuinely wonder about.