Cat Whiskers Activity - A Bilingual Grammar Activity to Teach WH Question Words

Teaching English grammar at the primary level is a challenging task. Especially the classrooms where English is the second language are facing the challenge with English grammar. I have been using various strategies in my classroom for a better understanding of the topic or concept. I have been using puppets, flashcards, and concept-oriented worksheets to help my students understand well and apply it in their real-life situations. 

                    Usually, I have been using the bilingual strategy to teach grammar to my students. I chose topics that are in Telugu and English. I plan a collaborative activity to make them understand the concept well. Here is another collaborative activity that I taught in a bilingual way about WH-question words and their usage. I noticed the same topic is given in Teugu and English in the same month. So, I planned this activity to deal with the multiclass and multilingual classroom scenarios. 

                 Here I am going to explain the activity that is called "Cat Whiskers". Once I explained the WH questions and their usage, I drew two big cat images on the board to start the activity. I used this activity to identify the question words in Telugu and English, understand their meanings and usage in both languages, and apply them in the questions. After the drawings, I divided my class into 2 groups and allotted each cat to each group.

  

                 Then I pasted a seven-set of blanks with missing question words in both languages, either side of the cat at the place of its whiskers. Later, I distributed 2 sets of question word slips that are written in Telugu and English to each group. Then instructed my students, read the blanks placed at the cat, understand, and identify the missing question word. When I say start, you should run to the board and paste the right question word in the blank. The team that completes the first with all the correct answers is the winner. 

The activity went well and students enjoyed it a lot. They placed the right Wh question word in the English blanks with the support of their mother tongue. Here, their mother tongue helped in a scaffolding way to understand and complete the task. Moreover, they understand the meanings that are in English by translating them into Telugu. In addition that the activity developed the language skills in an understandable way that students were able to respond to the questions that I asked in English. This is the clear and measurable impact of this activity.