Two people having a discussion
今回のレッスンでは、あるトピックにフォーカスし、フォローアップの質問を使って、より詳細について尋ねる練習をします。エキスパートからさらに情報を引き出すにはとても大事なレッスンとなります。
When you need to go into more detail about a topic, it is important to ask smooth follow-up questions.
This lesson will focus on smooth, polite, off-the-cuff follow-up questions.
A. Imagine your coworker says, "There was a big argument in the meeting yesterday! One of the people there got angry, and when he left the room, he slammed the door!"
What would you ask your coworker?
B. Now imagine a different situation. Your client says, "Sales this quarter are lower than projected, but they are still higher than sales from last quarter."
What kind of follow-up questions would you ask your client?
What's the difference between how we talk to a coworker and how to talk to a client?
Talking to a coworker is usually more direct, but when we are talking with a client, it's usually better to be polite or indirect.
Try not to spend too long on this. We'll work on polite language in this lesson. We are assuming that the student can ask direct questions already.
(If they are having trouble with direct questions, this may take two lessons to finish. Take as much time as needed.)
In the first lesson of this course, "Asking questions", you learned some ways to ask for more information. Now we'll work on how to ask for reasons.
A. In English, using “why” in a direct question can sometimes sound too strong. There are other ways you can find out why through indirect phrases, like, "Is there a particular reason...?"
Without looking at the language in section B, think of ways to ask, "Why did he say that?"
B. There are ways to soften the question even more,
- We can use “a little more”, “a bit more” and “about ___ in more detail.”
- Can you tell me a little more about ___?
- Would you mind telling me a bit more about ___?
-
Could you tell me about ___ in a bit more detail?
- You can state what you want to know.
- I’d like to know a bit more about ___.
- I’m wondering if something happened in the meeting.
- I was just wondering if you knew what happened in the meeting.
A. Help the student think of different phrases we can use to ask: "Why did he say that?"
"Why" questions:
- Why did he say that?
- How come he said that?
- Is there a particular reason he said that?
- Do you happen to know why he said that?
- I wonder why he said that.
Asking "why" indirectly is often better. Imagine if the other person doesn't know the answer, or isn't sure of it. Consider how this feels: "Why did he say that?" It seems very strong.
Of course, if the topic is simple and the other person should know, then a direct "why" question is probably fine.
B. Softening the question
Make sure the student can say the phrases with natural intonation before moving on.
Look at these article excerpts. What kind of follow-up questions can you ask? Choose one excerpt and ask some follow-up questions about it.
- Benjamin Hubert, founder of the design company LAYER, believes that design should be for the people, not for galleries. His vision is to solve everyday problems in the best way possible. Clients approach LAYER because "they want a functional and affordable product that’s also beautiful".
- Jumpshot, a subsidiary of the popular antivirus program Avast, has been selling users' data to clients, including tech companies, consulting companies, a soft drink company and even a large hardware store. The free program is able to supply clients with a so-called "All Clicks Feed" that tracks every click and all time spent across websites in highly precise detail.
- Plastic and rubber beach sandals (flip-flops) are a huge contributor to ocean pollution. Mike Burkhart, a chemistry professor at University of California San Diego, is spearheading a project to make flip-flops out of algae so that, instead of creating pollution, they decompose naturally.