Speaking Activities › Question Tennis
Question Tennis — a questioning game for the classroom
Two children, one topic, and one rule: you may only speak in questions. A statement loses the point. So does a repeat, and so does a pause. It sounds trivial and it is genuinely difficult — because the natural thing to do with a question is answer it, and answering is exactly what you are not allowed to do.
What is Question Tennis?
Question Tennis is a paired speaking game in which every single turn has to be a question. Two children face each other and rally on a given topic, and the rally ends the moment one of them makes a statement, repeats a question or hesitates. The class umpires. It is the fastest way to show a class how many different ways there are to ask something.
How do you run it, step by step?
Put the topic on the board and stand the two players facing each other. One serves with any question about the topic. From then on every reply must also be a question. The class calls it the moment they hear a statement or a silence — and they will, loudly. Best of three rallies, then swap the pair. Six pairs is a starter.
Why is it harder than it sounds?
Because answering is automatic. A child asked "have you tried the pasta?" will say "no, it's horrible" before they have thought about it, and that is the point lost. Surviving means answering a question with a question — "why would I try the pasta?" — which takes a genuine act of self-control and a much wider stock of question openers than most children use.
What does it actually teach?
Range. Most children ask what and do you questions and very little else, and a rally dies within four turns unless they reach for why would, are you saying, what if and how would you. Those are the questions that do real work in a discussion, and this is a painless way to drill them.
From the classroom
Two rules save this from descending into a shouting match. The first is that only you call the points at the start — hand the calling over to the class once they have got the idea, but not before, or the first rally ends in an argument about whether “really?” counts. (It does not. It has to be a proper question.) The second is a three-second pause rule, said out loud before you begin, because otherwise a rally can stall for fifteen seconds while everyone waits politely and the energy drains out of the room. What surprises people is who is good at it: it is very rarely the most confident talker. It tends to be a quieter child who listens properly, because you cannot ask a good follow-up question if you were busy planning your own turn. That is worth naming in front of everyone when it happens.
Which year groups is it for?
It works from Year 2 to Year 9 (US grades 2–8). Younger children need a very familiar topic — pets, food, birthdays — and are happy with rallies of four or five. Older children can take an abstract topic and can be pushed towards questions that genuinely probe: are you saying that…? is a debating move, not just a survival tactic.
Can I choose the topics?
Three ways. Pick a ready-made set — everyday life, out and about, or imagination. Generate your own by typing whatever you are teaching, so the rally doubles as revision: type the rainforest and the pairs end up asking each other questions about it. Or write your own straight in. You see and can edit the whole list first.
Is there a timer?
No, and deliberately so — a rally ends when someone slips, not when a clock stops. Putting a countdown on it would change the game from “keep going” to “survive thirty seconds”, which is a different and much less interesting task.
Can I print it?
Yes — two sheets. The topic cards are cut-outs, numbered to match the board, so pairs can play at tables. The question starters sheet is the one that changes the quality: a bank of openers and turn-it-back questions to keep in front of them, plus space to record the longest rally and the best question anyone asked.
| Use it for | How | How long |
|---|---|---|
| An oracy starter | Four pairs, best of three rallies | 10 minutes |
| Teaching question types | Print the starters sheet, then rally | 25 minutes |
| Revision out loud | Generate topics from the unit you are teaching | 15 minutes |
| Group work at tables | Print the cards, fours, two playing two umpiring | 20 minutes |
Do I need an account?
No. The setup screen and the worked example are both open, so you can see what you would be running before anyone asks you for anything. Starting the activity uses a free trial token, and a Sage Pro subscription lifts the limit.
Free to try, and no sign-up to look around.
More speaking activities
Try Taboo Talk for describing under pressure, Rebuttal Pong for a structured debate, or Think Pair Share for a talk structure that includes everyone at once. All seventeen are in Speaking Activities.
Written by a practising primary school teacher, who built Sage Teachers to use in their own classroom. Every activity here is free to try with no sign-up.