S1 English | Yes/No and Wh- Questions | Teacher prep guide with do does did

2026-11-12

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary English

Students write “Where you go?” and “Does he plays football?” because they have never been given the mechanism: move the auxiliary, then restore the verb. This lesson builds both Yes/No patterns, a seven-wh-word table, and a three-step routine that makes every question explainable.

Objectives — Students can: (1) name the two Yes/No patterns, moving be before the subject or borrowing do, does or did when there is no be verb; (2) choose the right wh- word from the type of answer, and explain why who as subject takes no auxiliary; (3) build a question in three steps and explain why step three cannot be skipped; (4) work out that 7 faulty word orders in 20 sentences is 35 per cent and check the auxiliary before the verb form.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
be verbs	Which word is the be verb in He is a student?	is
Third person -s	He ___ (play) football every day.	plays, third person singular takes -s
Wh- meanings	What does where ask about?	a place

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-5 min	Three questions	Write three questions, two with faulty order, one correct; students vote	Vote and point at the faulty word
5-15 min	Two patterns	Model be inversion and the do/does/did route as two lines on the board	Sort three sentences into the two lines
15-25 min	Seven wh- words	Choose each word from the type of answer; stress who as subject	Give one answer for each wh- word
25-35 min	Three steps	Model one question: pick the wh- word, add the auxiliary, restore the verb	Build one question with the same steps
35-41 min	Four mistakes	Show four real wrong answers; groups explain which step failed	Explain one wrong answer
41-45 min	Exit check	Collect three items, mark live, name the scene to reteach	Hand in three items

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Scene 1: Two patterns, nothing else

“A question is not a sentence said in a higher voice; something has to move. Pattern one: if the sentence has a be verb (am, is, are, was, were), move it in front of the subject. He is happy becomes Is he happy? Pattern two: if there is no be verb, borrow do, does or did and put it in front: They play football becomes Do they play football? Students must first ask themselves one question, does this sentence have a be verb? That answer picks the pattern. Without it the two patterns blur into Is he plays football? Say it three times: find be first, borrow do if there is none.”

Be verb: invert it. No be verb: borrow do, does or did.

Scene 2: Scene 2: Seven wh- words chosen by the answer

“Do not choose a wh- word by translation; choose it by the answer. If the answer is a place, use where; a time, when; a person doing the action, who; a reason, why; a method or degree, how; one item inside a known set, which; a thing or an event, what. Model it answer first, question second, so students see the wh- word is reverse-engineered from the answer. Then the exception: Who broke the window? Here who is the subject, so no auxiliary, and adding one changes the tone to Who did break the window.”

Pick the wh- word from the answer type; who as subject takes no auxiliary.

Scene 3: Scene 3: Three steps, step three is the one students drop

“Three fixed steps. Step one: pick the wh- word by asking what type of answer we expect; no wh- word means a Yes/No question. Step two: add the auxiliary, moving be or borrowing do, does or did, remembering that does already carries the third person -s. Step three: restore the verb, because the -s or -ed has moved onto the auxiliary. Step three is the one students drop, so every finished question needs one look back at the verb to check it has no -s and no -ed. Model two questions, let students build the second, and only ever ask them whether step three was done.”

Pick, add, restore. The -s and the -ed may appear only once.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Yes/No with be	Turn He is at home. into a question.	(1) the sentence has the be verb is (2) move is in front of the subject (3) change the full stop to a question mark	Is he at home?
Yes/No with an auxiliary	Turn She likes music. into a question.	(1) no be verb in the sentence (2) third person singular borrows does (3) likes is restored to like	Does she like music?
Wh- question	Ask about the underlined part: They went to Japan last year. (Japan)	(1) the answer is a place, so where (2) went is past, so borrow did (3) went is restored to go	Where did they go last year?
who as subject	Ask about the underlined part: Tom broke the window. (Tom)	(1) the answer is the person doing the action (2) who is itself the subject (3) no auxiliary, the past tense stays	Who broke the window?

Sanity check (teach this): Sanity checks: (1) a question must show movement or a borrowed word; the same word order as a statement is wrong. (2) The verb after does or did must be a base form; any -s or -ed there is an error and is the biggest source of lost marks. (3) who as subject takes no auxiliary, who as object does: Who did you see? (4) which needs a known set; without a set use what. (5) Embedded questions (I don’t know where he lives.) take no inversion and no question mark; do not teach it in S1 but do not model it wrongly either.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Turn They are students. into a question.	Are they students?	Inversion done
Turn He plays the piano. into a question.	Does he play the piano?	plays restored
Ask about Tai Po: She lives in Tai Po.	Where does she live?	where plus does plus base form

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Word order copied	Where you go?	A question needs an auxiliary: Where do you go?
Verb not restored	Does he plays football?	does already carries -s, so play.
be and do mixed	Is he likes music?	An action verb takes does, not is.
Auxiliary after who	Who did break the window?	who as subject takes no auxiliary.

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

Secondary English chapter index — Other chapters in this subject, grouped by grammar, reading and writing
Compare with the present simple and continuous chapter — That chapter covers statement verb forms; this one covers question order
Secondary prep guide overview — Other subjects use the same find-the-core, move-it routine

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
What are the two Yes/No patterns?	Invert a be verb; otherwise borrow do, does or did	Reteach scene 1
What is wrong with Does he plays football?	The verb must be base after does: Does he play football?	Reteach scene 3
Why no did in Who broke the window?	who is the subject, and subjects take no auxiliary	Reteach scene 2

09 Tutor FAQ

Should S1 cover embedded questions?

Not yet. Fix direct questions first. If a student asks why I don’t know where he lives is not inverted, one line is enough: the sentence is not a question.

What is the clearest way to teach do versus does?

Look at the subject: I, you, we, they take do; he, she, it take does. Then build six sentences live with the six subjects.

Students mix did with past tense. What helps?

Treat did as the hand that has already taken the -ed away. Once did appears, the verb can only be a base form.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.