Enquanto você toma seu café e se atualiza com as notícias do dia, tem novidade chegando por aqui também.
O Geely EX2 100% elétrico, o carro mais vendido da China, já está disponível no Brasil.
Compacto, ágil e com autonomia para a sua rotina.
Ele chega com um diferencial curioso um fronta-malas de 70 litros, perfeito para quem precisa de mais espaço e praticidade para o dia a dia.
E além do design moderno, o Geely EX2 também é o elétrico mais econômico do país.
Quer conhecer melhor?
Clique no banner e mude para o futuro agora.
Dirija com segurança.
Seu bem maior é a vida.
Questions why, when?
How have you ever thought about how you ask questions?
I'm Oliver, and welcome back to the Easy English Podcast.
And I'm so happy that you're joining me today for another episode.
In Easy English.
I speak slowly and clearly about interesting topics to help you improve your English listening skills.
And today I'm going to talk about something very important, not just for learning English, but for your life in general.
And that is the art of asking questions.
So how do we ask questions?
Think about it.
How often in your day do you ask questions?
Every day and probably most of the day at different times, we are asking questions, right?
But are you asking them in the best way to get the information or results that you need?
And that's what we'll be looking at today.
I think it's a very fascinating concept, a very fascinating topic.
So, before we dive deeper into this topic, I'm going to highlight five useful words, key vocabulary, that I want you to listen for during this episode.
You will hear them, but I want you to listen out for them and I'll explain them in more detail and they will appear in context as well in the episode.
So let's learn these five key vocab words today.
The first is clarify.
Clarify.
And this means to make something clearer or easier to understand.
If something is confusing, you might ask someone to clarify it.
Please, can you clarify this?
The second word today is elaborate. elaborate, which is an adjective.
It's something that's very complicated, which leads us to our word of elaborate elaborate, which is a verb.
And this means to give more details or information about something.
So if you want to know more information about something, you might ask someone to elaborate.
Can you elaborate please?
The third word today is concise.
Concise.
And this describes something that is short but also to the point.
Without any unnecessary extra words.
And a good question is often very concise, as we will see a little bit later.
Our fourth word today is vague.
If something is vague, it is not very specific and maybe not clear as well.
Vague questions might not get you the answers that you need.
And our final piece of key vocabulary today is insightful.
An insightful question shows a good understanding of the topic and can lead to a deeper understanding.
OK, so keep these words in your mind as we continue our discussion today on the art of asking questions.
But first, before we get into our main discussion, I want to tell you that I have a new bonus episode up on the Patreon.
In this episode, I am talking about my personal struggles and difficulties with language learning.
The parts that I find personally for myself the most difficult about learning a foreign language.
So if you want to hear that, you can sign up and check out the Patreon in the link below, as well as over 40 plus other bonus episodes available instantly on Patreon without advertisements and high quality audio.
Okay, let's get started into our main topic.
So why is asking good questions so important?
Well, fundamentally, questions are the tools that we use to build understanding.
Think of them like keys that unlock doors to new information and knowledge.
They're giving us the answers that we look for.
Without asking questions, we can easily remain confused or even misunderstand important details or points.
Consider a simple example.
So you're following instructions on how to assemble, which means to build a simple piece of furniture.
Maybe Ikea furniture, for example.
If one of the steps isn't clear and you do it wrong, you don't ask for clarification.
Maybe you look for that answer correctly.
You're gonna finish building it and it's not going to be correct.
It is not going to be correctly built.
So that little problem that you have is going to make more problems in the future.
And the same applies to learning English.
If you encounter a grammar rule or something to do with the language that you don't understand and you keep going and don't ask about maybe the correct answer or how to say it or do it correctly.
Asking a question is, of course, the most direct way to get this solution early.
And if we don't ask and we don't solve this problem early on, it can build and build and build and become so much harder to correct later on.
That's why it's much better with English to ask the right questions as well.
Let's take an example.
If you hear the English phrase to take something with a grain of salt.
If you don't ask what it means and you don't understand it.
You might understand it literally, which would be quite incorrect and also, to be honest, quite confusing and strange.
You'd be wondering why are they talking about salt?
What is going on here?
However, if you stop in that moment and you ask you know, excuse me, what does to take something with a grain of salt mean?
You'll learn that it means to not believe something completely, because it's likely that it's not entirely true.
And this simple question, stopping in that moment, unlocks a completely new meaning, or correct meaning, of a very common idiom.
But beyond clarifying or getting new information, asking questions shows engagement.
It shows that you are engaged and interested.
It tells the speaker that you're actively listening to them and trying to understand what they are saying.
And in a learning environment like an English class, for example, asking questions shows active engagement.
And it doesn't only show it, it makes your engagement active, which can really help your brain get kicked into gear and start working and dealing with the materials that you're learning.
When I was a student, I used to hate asking questions.
Even when I was learning Russian language and I was in class, I never asked questions.
And I regret it.
I watched other people ask questions.
And in doing so, I felt that they were challenging themselves.
They were getting information that they needed.
I usually try to get the answers on my own, or to find them somewhere on my own or struggle along without asking a teacher.
This doesn't have to be just language.
I know that a lot of us hate asking questions, and it's why I wanted to make this episode today, because it's something I personally struggle a lot with and have struggled with in the past.
And that is speaking up and asking questions, because usually the attitude that I take is to try and do it myself, to try and find the answers myself, to look online, to go into a book.
But in general, if we have an expert there or a person who knows more than us that can explain it immediately, then we should use that.
It's a really good resource.
Furthermore, asking thoughtful questions, whether it's in class or a conversation, it can lead to deeper learning and more insightful discussions and conversation.
Sometimes the answer to one question can lead to another.
And this takes us down a path of discovery that you may not have even thought about.
You may not have expected. and it encourages critical thinking.
We're not just listening, we're engaging with the discussion and contributing to it as well.
For English learners like yourselves.
Specifically, the art of creating and asking a question is itself a very valuable practice.
It requires you to think about sentence structure, word order and the correct use of vocabulary.
So, even if you feel a little bit nervous about asking in English, the process is helping you to actively use the language and learn, which I think is amazing.
So, in summary of this part, just this introduction, I would say that asking questions is not just about getting answers.
It's about clarifying your understanding.
It's about showing engagement, deepening your learning, practicing your English as well, and building connections with others.
So it's a really fundamental, very important skill that you need to possess in many areas of your life.
And we can see from those examples why it's so important.
So we're going to look at some different types of questions and really some ways and types to ask questions and start to understand these a little bit more.
But I just want to remind you.
It always surprises me when I'm looking at the statistics on these podcast episodes and I can see that most listeners are not following or subscribed to the podcast.
So, wherever you're listening, if you like this podcast, if you're enjoying listening, do follow or subscribe.
It really helps to grow this podcast and find new listeners.
And it helps me a million times as well.
And if you're already subscribed, make sure you have rated the podcast five stars as well.
Thank you.
So now let's think about different types of questions in more detail.
We have the likes of a simple yes or no question.
For example, are you tired?
No or yes.
Or is this the right way?
Yes, for example.
These can be useful for quick confirmation.
So when you want someone to either say yes or no or give you a fast answer.
But they don't give us a lot of details or open up really any conversation at all.
But they can be useful in specific circumstances and situations.
But for deeper understanding we often need more, and this is the trap that i think a lot of english learners fall into.
They ask a lot of closed questions yes or no.
Answer questions like do you like sports?
No, That's it.
That's the conversation.
It's very awkward.
So then we have the WH questions.
WH questions.
What are those?
Those are who? what, when, where, why and how.
These questions are fantastic for getting more detailed information and encouraging longer responses.
So we're getting away from those yes or no questions.
Finally, For example, instead of saying you know are you going, you can ask where are you going when someone's leaving, to find out more information.
And this invites a location or a place that they are going.
Or you could ask, why are you going?
And that change in word from just instead of are you going gives the person a point to give a reason.
So you'll get a reason why they are going.
So notice how these WH questions encourage the other person to give more of a complete answer.
More of a full answer to your question, like a proper conversation, and it allows them to provide more context.
They are essential skills for effective communication.
So let's look at some practical examples.
I've written down some here on my plan for this episode.
So we're going to consider some practical situations.
I'm going to read the scenario that I've written.
So if you're watching the video podcast, that's what I'm looking at.
So imagine you're in an English class and the teacher says something that you don't quite understand.
A vague question like, I don't get it. isn't very helpful.
It's not even really a question, just saying, you know, I don't get it.
The teacher won't know which specific part you're struggling with and might not know how to help you the best.
Instead, you should try to be more specific.
You could say, for example could you clarify the rule about using since and for with the present perfect tense?
Just an example from an English class.
Or could you elaborate on the pronunciation of this particular word.
So these are more specific questions that will help, in this scenario, your teacher to understand exactly what you need help with and provide a targeted explanation.
Okay, so another example that I've written here is imagine you are traveling in an English speaking country and you get lost.
You don't know where you are, but you want to find the museum.
Asking is this the way to the museum?
Might get you a simple yes or no, but it doesn't give you directions or any useful details.
So instead you should try asking excuse me, could you please tell me the best way to get to the museum from here?
Or how far is it approximately to the museum?
And can I walk there?
You're going to find you're much more likely, when you ask and open up that conversation, to get more information, to get the information that you need.
And these might sound like stupid, simple examples, but I'm just trying to highlight to you how important it is to think about how we phrase our questions, to allow them to be open for more answers, for longer answers with more detail.
Okay, so this brings us on to how to ask good questions effectively.
Firstly, as I mentioned before, be clear and concise.
Avoid long, rambling questions that might confuse the person that you're asking and it might make it difficult for them to understand what you need.
Get straight to the point and use clear language.
Secondly, active listening is crucial.
Listen carefully to the answer that you receive, and sometimes that initial answer might not be enough.
So I see this often with English language learners is they will ask a question and they won't understand the answer completely.
But instead of clarifying or continuing to ask a further question, they just smile and say thank you or yes.
But I can see the look of confusion and fear in their eyes.
So it helps to definitely ask those follow up questions.
If you don't understand the answer, clarify it, ask another question to find more details and tell the person you don't understand a certain part or maybe the whole thing, and they will try to explain it in another way.
Okay, and it's also good to reinforce the answer if you're asking, if this is just an example, if you're asking for directions, you can repeat those directions back to the person and this will help you to remember them and keep them in your head.
And thirdly, of course, if you're in the uk or somewhere else, for example, asking questions politely is very important.
So using phrases like excuse me if you're stopping someone, or generally, you can say could you or can you, instead of telling someone just to give you the answer And, of course, saying thank you when you get the answer that you want.
So finally, if there's one important piece of advice that I could give you today with questions, with the art of asking questions, it's to think about the purpose of your question before you ask it.
So whether it's in your own language, whether it is in English, this is the same.
This point is the same.
Think about the purpose of your question before you ask it.
What specific type of information are you trying to get?
And this will allow you to create your question in a way that will be more insightful for you.
And an insightful question shows that you've been thinking about the topic, about what you want to get in terms of an answer.
And instead of just asking a closed question that is not effective, you will ask an insightful one.
Okay.
So...
Today, we have learned that asking questions is a vital skill, especially in a language that you're learning, because we have lots of questions.
We have lots of things that we need to understand.
So remember to be clear, specific and polite.
Utilize those WH words, those WH questions to avoid asking super closed questions.
Of course, closed yes and no questions have their place.
They're important for some quick, snappy information at times.
But let's leave them to their place and let's use good, high quality, professional questions when we can, with some lovely WH words at the start, like who what, when and even how at the end, which is only an H, but don't tell anyone.
So thank you very much for joining me today on the Easy English Podcast.
I really hope that this was interesting for you and I hope that you will think about how you ask questions in English.
And I have a question for you at the end.
I would say to you if so, if you're listening on Spotify or you're listening on Patreon or YouTube, somewhere where you can write a comment.
I want you to ask me a question.
It can be about English.
It can be about anything.
Something you want to know or you want me to answer.
Try and write a question.
Don't make it a yes or no question.
Make it more open and I will answer you.
So pick wisely.
I give you one good question.
So ask me a question and practice this skill.
Thank you so much for listening and, as always, remember.
If you want to see that bonus episode of my struggles with learning a language my personal struggles check out the Patreon which is in the link in the description below.
Thank you so much for listening and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.
Goodbye.
