What is a 'Find out if...' interview activity, and how does it practise question forms?

In one line

In a 'Find out if...' interview, students walk around asking classmates questions to discover specific facts, which trains them to form and ask questions correctly.

Explained simply

It is like a treasure hunt where the clues are people. Your sheet says 'Find someone who has visited Goa'. You must ask the right question, 'Have you ever visited Goa?', to find them.

Technically, it is a dialogue activity in which each learner gets a list of prompts ('Find out if someone can play a musical instrument') and must convert them into correct questions, ask several classmates, listen to answers, ask follow-up questions and note the results.

How it works

1. Get the prompt sheet: 'Find out if someone... has been to Delhi / can code in Python / wakes up before 6 a.m.'
2. Form the correct question: Present perfect ('Have you ever been to Delhi?'), modal ('Can you code in Python?'), simple present ('Do you wake up before 6?').
3. Ask politely: 'Excuse me, may I ask you a question?'
4. Follow up with wh-questions: 'When did you go?', 'What did you like most?'
5. Record answers with names.
6. Report back to the class: 'I found out that Sneha has been to Delhi twice; she liked the Red Fort most.' (This practises reported speech.)

Quick example

Prompt: 'Find out if someone has taken part in a hackathon.' Student A: 'Have you ever taken part in a hackathon?' Student B: 'Yes, I have.' A: 'Which one, and how was it?' B: 'Our college's internal hackathon last month. It was tiring but fun.' A writes: 'Kunal: college hackathon, last month, tiring but fun.'

Common mistakes

• Asking statement-form questions like 'You have been to Delhi?' instead of 'Have you been to Delhi?'.
• Wrong auxiliary: 'Did you ever been...?' instead of 'Have you ever been...?'.
• Asking only yes/no questions with no follow-up, which ends the conversation quickly.

How MU asks it

Assessed mainly in lab work. In theory it can appear as part of 'Explain dialogue-based conversational activities' (5 marks) or a short note (3 marks). Explain the activity's procedure, the grammar it practises (question forms, follow-ups, reporting), and give a short sample exchange.