Q17 what doing? questions, present/past progressive

Intervention outline

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You will need:

  • Scissors
  • Hexagon shape – ensure What is written at left end and doing is at the right end – you are going to cut shape in half
  • Oval/diamond shapes
  • Short action picture/photo sequence
  • Character toys/small figures.

App settings: Not yet possible.

  1. Lay out the SV sentence template oval + diamond + hexagon shape on the table.
  2. Ask the child to make one of the toys/figures do something. Give examples, e.g. jump, hop, shout, fall over, clap.

As they act out an action, create a Subject + Verb sentence, e.g. Superman is flying.  Remind the child that the oval = who/what and the hexagon = what doing? Check by asking comprehension questions.

Now explain you are going to show them how to ask a question to find out what the character is doing when they don’t know/can’t see.

  1. Turn over the hexagon shape to reveal what doing on the back.
  2. Explain, that when asking a question,
    a). the question word has to go at the front of the sentence. So, pick up the hexagon and cut it up the middle (so ‘what’ is written on left half and ‘doing’ on the right half). Move the ‘what’ half of hexagon to the front of the sentence – leave ‘doing’ half at the end.
    b). A diamond needs to go second, so move the diamond into second position.


  3. Help the child imitate this question.

  4. Show how the 2 parts of the hexagon come back together to form the answer shape ‘flying’ and the diamond moves back into position for the statement.

  5. Repeat with multiple Subject + Verb examples. Take turns to create questions/answer questions about what all the characters are doing.

Give explicit feedback on errors, e.g. if the child uses 2 diamonds, for example: “What is Superman is doing?” Say/show: “I heard, ‘What is Superman is doing?’ You used 2 diamonds. Which diamond do we need?”  If the child produces an error with no diamond e.g., “What Superman doing?”, say “I didn’t hear a diamond. Remember a diamond needs to go second”. If they don’t move the diamond e.g., “What Superman is doing?”, remind them that the diamond needs to go second.

Model and support to correct production.