Because heads and tails create two-part sentences and questions, the class can be divided into pairs and create their own heads and tails together. If the first student starts with a head, the second student finishes with
the rest of the question or sentence; if the first student starts with a statement or question, the second student finishes with an appro- priate tail. This activity can be turned into a game in which students receive points for correctly completing their partner’s sentence or question. Having students discuss, identify, and write their own heads and tails will both raise their awareness of these characteristics of spoken grammar and give students practice producing them. For example:
Student A (head): Our teacher … Student B: she’s really beautiful.
Student A (statement): Our teacher is really beautiful.
Student B (tail): she is.
Spoken English activities for fillers and backchannels
While common in everyday speech, fill- ers and backchannels are often missing in
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