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Write your personal README: question forms for getting to know your team

Personal READMEs set the scene for question forms for getting to know colleagues in this B1 English for IT lesson plan.

Grammar
Object questions with a helper verb in every tense (What do you work on?), subject questions without one (Who reviews your code?) and prepositions at the end: Who do you report to?
Topic
Getting to know a new team through personal READMEs, at Kestrel Cloud, a fictional payments startup, with words such as tech stack, focus time and pet peeve.
Activities
A story on personal READMEs, a senior developer's README, his call with the designer, question drills, a chat and role cards, then a README to write and record.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: How Do You Work?

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and talk about your workSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words for your READMEVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2The Story: A README for People

    • Read the story about personal READMEsArticleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer about the storyQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3At Work: Wes's README

    • Read Wes's READMEReal-life documentTry it
    • True or false? Check Wes's READMETrue or falseUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct order: Iryna's questions for WesUnjumbleUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Listen: Who Reviews Your Code?

    • Listen to Amara and Wes's callListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer about the callQuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Grammar: Who Broke the Build?

    • Study the scheme: questions for colleaguesGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct questionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Write the question for each answerFill in the gapsTry it
    • Choose the correct way to fix each questionQuizUnlock
    • Drag the words into Iryna's message to AmaraDrag and dropUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Speak Up: Meet the Team

    • Choose the best reply to a new colleagueChatTry it
    • Open a box: role cards for meeting the teamOpen the boxUnlock

  7. Chapter 7Homework: Your README

    • Read your phrase bankReal-life documentUnlock
    • Do you remember? Choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Is the sentence correct? True or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Match the sentence halvesMatchUnlock
    • Write your personal READMEWriting, checked by the teacherUnlock
    • Record your README in 60 secondsSpeaking, checked by the teacherUnlock

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Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • backend
  • framework
  • time zone
  • working style
  • focus time
  • pet peeve
  • reach someone
  • prefer
  • get back to someone

Grammar: question forms for getting to know colleagues

Getting to know a new team takes a lot of wh- questions: what someone works on, who reviews their code, how to reach them. Reading a colleague's personal README, learners choose the helper verb that matches each tense, leave it out when who or what is the subject, and move prepositions to the end.

Questions for getting to know colleagues

Most questions need a helper verb. When who, what or which is the subject, there's no do, does or did.

Object questions: a helper verb in every tense

Most questions need a helper verb before the subject, and the tense decides which: do or does in the present simple, did in the past, are for work in progress, have in the present perfect. Where did you work before Kestrel? How long have you been on the mobile team?

TenseQuestion wordHelper verbSubject + main verb + rest
Present simpleWhatdoyou work on?
Present simpleWhodoesIryna go to with Android questions?
Past simpleWheredidyou work before Kestrel?
Present continuousWhatareyou working on this sprint?
Present perfectHow longhaveyou been on the mobile team?
Present perfect (yes / no)–Haveyou ever tested a screen with a merchant?

Subject questions: no do, does or did

When the question word is the one doing the action, the verb follows it directly: Who reviews your code? What broke the build? Work out the answer first: Kenji reviews my code gives Who reviews…?, but I go to Wes gives Who do you go to?

Subject questions: no do, does or did

Question word = subjectVerbRestAnswer
Whoreviewsyour code?Kenji does.
Whatbrokethe build?A missing file.
Which teamhandlesmerchant support?Fatima's team.
Which partmadeyou laugh?The pet peeve!
Which screensfeelslow?The payouts screen.

Subject or object?

Think of the answer first. Is the answer the person or thing that DOES the action? (Kenji reviews my code.) Then it's a subject question: Who reviews your code? Does the answer come after the verb? (I go to Wes.) Then add a helper verb: Who do you go to?

The preposition goes at the end

Everyday questions keep the preposition after the verb: Who do you work with? What is this script for? What are you working on? With who you work? breaks two rules at once: it has no helper verb, and the preposition comes first.

Say this

  • Who do you work with?
  • What is this script for?
  • Who do you report to?
  • What are you working on?

Not this

  • With who you work?
  • For what is this script?
  • What you are working on?

Typical mistakes

  • Who does own the payments service?

    Who owns the payments service?

    who is the subject: no does, and the verb takes -s

  • What you work on?

    What do you work on?

    an object question needs a helper verb

  • Who did break the build? (a normal question)

    Who broke the build?

    a subject question in the past: no did, just the past form

  • With who you work?

    Who do you work with?

    helper verb, and the preposition at the end

More lessons on this grammar: Questions lessons and exercises

Try the question forms exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 12 auto-checked exercises
  • 3 games
  • 2 teacher-checked tasks
  • 2 real-life documents
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 1 audio clip
  • 1 picture
  • 1 transcript

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • ask about someone's work with the helper verb the tense needs: What are you working on this sprint? Have you used Swift?
  • drop do, does and did when who or what is the subject: Who owns the payments service? What broke the build?
  • end a question with its preposition: Who do you work with? What is this script for?
  • write a personal README, present it in about a minute and ask three questions: Who do you go to when you're stuck?

Lesson 3 closes Hello, team, unit 1 of English for IT B1 · Inside the Team, with its work task: a personal README presented in about a minute, then three questions for a colleague. It builds on subject and object questions from English A2.2 lesson 8 and reuses lesson 1's present simple and lesson 2's How long have you…? in new questions; a homework quiz reviews the unit before lesson 4 starts The daily standup. A README answers the easy questions early, leaving the good ones for a first conversation.

A wheel of questions about work habits opens the lesson, then twelve words with pictures and audio, such as tech stack and pet peeve, and a picture quiz. The story explains personal READMEs, named after a software project's README file. Wes's README, pinned in the team chat with comments, comes with a true-or-false check and questions to unjumble. In an AI-voiced video call, Amara and Wes ask each other about code reviews and current work. Four self-checking drills follow the scheme, among them writing the question behind each answer; students then reply to a new support agent in a chat and play role cards for meeting the team.

Homework sets out a phrase bank for a README; a unit review quiz, a true-or-false on correct sentences and sentence halves to match then check themselves. Students write their own README under short headings and record it as if presenting it on a team call, two tasks the teacher reviews.

Grammar:
subject and object questions · question forms
Topic:
personal README · getting to know colleagues · tech stack

Teaching tips

  • Give the answers, collect the questions: write The payments team does. and Mostly with the designer. on the board, and learners build Who owns…? and Who do you work with? Only the second needs a helper verb.
  • Swap draft READMEs in company classes: each learner writes three headings about how they work, and a partner reads them and asks one follow-up per heading, with the preposition at the end where it belongs.
  • Time the role cards: sixty seconds to introduce yourself, then exactly three questions, while the listener counts helper verbs and stops any What you work on?
  • One-to-one, let the learner write your README: they interview you with What do you…?, Who do you…? and Have you ever…?, then turn your answers into headings and read them back.

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The whole course: English for IT B1 · Inside the Team

24 lessons at B1 for people who build, test or run software, in American English. Learners follow Iryna, a junior developer, through her first year at Kestrel Cloud, a fictional payments startup: standups, tickets, code review, chats across time zones and job interviews. Each lesson is built around a true story from software history.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Hello, team

    roles, stacks and first days: the present simple, the present perfect with for and since, question forms

    1. Lesson 1How big is a two-pizza team?Present simple for jobs and responsibilities
    2. Lesson 2Your first "Hello, World"Present perfect with for and since
    3. Lesson 3 · you're hereWrite your personal READMEQuestion forms for getting to know colleagues

  2. Unit 2 The daily standup

    updates and blockers: the present simple and continuous, just, already and yet, have to and need to

    1. Lesson 4Why is it called a scrum?Present simple vs continuous and state verbs
    2. Lesson 5Done, not done yetPast simple, present perfect and going to for updates
    3. Lesson 6Help, I'm blocked!Have to, need to, don't have to and can't

  3. Unit 3 Bugs and tickets

    clear bug reports: the past continuous, imperatives and the zero conditional, quantifiers

    1. Lesson 7The first actual bugPast simple and past continuous for bug stories
    2. Lesson 8Steps to reproduceImperatives and the zero conditional for bug reports
    3. Lesson 9The email that couldn't go 500 milesQuantifiers in bug tickets

  4. Unit 4 Code review

    kind, useful comments: -ed and -ing adjectives, modals for suggestions, the first conditional

    1. Lesson 10What's a nit?-ed and -ing adjectives in review comments
    2. Lesson 11Could we maybe…?Modals for suggestions in code review
    3. Lesson 12Your first pull requestThe first conditional and unless in code review

  5. Unit 5 How it works

    explaining systems step by step: time clauses, the passive, relative clauses

    1. Lesson 13What happens when you type a URL?Time clauses with as soon as, until and once
    2. Lesson 14How is a barcode read?The present and past simple passive
    3. Lesson 15Draw it, then say itDefining relative clauses

  6. Unit 6 Remote and async

    chat, email and time zones: polite requests, future forms, the present perfect continuous

    1. Lesson 16Just say what you needPolite requests and indirect questions
    2. Lesson 17Your 9 a.m. is my noonFuture forms for plans across time zones
    3. Lesson 18Write it downPresent perfect continuous for status updates

  7. Unit 7 Users and clients

    user stories and plain explanations: verb + to or -ing, reported speech, comparisons

    1. Lesson 19As a user, I want…Verb + to or verb + -ing
    2. Lesson 20"The client said it was broken"Reported speech for client calls
    3. Lesson 21Explain it in ten hundred wordsComparisons for plain explanations

  8. Unit 8 Your next job

    resumes and interviews: used to, the past perfect, the second conditional

    1. Lesson 22A resume that shows resultsUsed to for your career path
    2. Lesson 23Tell me about a time when…The past perfect for STAR stories
    3. Lesson 24What would you do if…?The second conditional for interviews

Questions about this lesson

How do you form questions in English?
Most questions follow question word + helper verb + subject + main verb: What do you work on? Where did you work before? What are you working on this sprint? The tense picks the helper: do or does in the present simple, did in the past simple, am, is or are with -ing, have or has in the present perfect. Yes-or-no questions open with the helper: Have you used Swift?
What are good getting-to-know-you questions for work?
The best ones ask how someone works, not about their private life: What are you working on at the moment? Who do you go to when you're stuck? When do you do your best work? How do you prefer to get feedback? For a lighter note: What small thing at work annoys you the most? The B1 English for IT lesson Write your personal README on edio.ai opens with a wheel of questions like these.
What questions should you ask a new coworker?
Ask practical questions that make working together easier: What are your hours? What's the best way to reach you? Who should I contact about a bug? Answer theirs, then ask one back, so it stays a conversation: Only for a few weeks. How long have you been in support? A chat in Write your personal README, a B1 English for IT lesson on edio.ai, trains this with a new support agent.
Is it "Who reviews your code?" or "Who does review your code?"
It's Who reviews your code?, with no does, because who is the subject: the answer, The tech lead does, names the person who reviews. In a subject question, the verb comes straight after who or what, with -s in the present and the past form in the past: Who owns the payments service? What broke the build? When the answer comes after the verb, the helper is back: Who do you go to?
Is it "Who do you work with?" or "With who do you work?"
Say Who do you work with?, with the preposition last: that's normal, everyday English, as in Who do you report to? and What is this script for? A preposition at the front belongs to formal English, and then it takes whom: With whom do you work? With who do you work? mixes the two styles, and With who you work? also drops the helper verb.
Is it "What are you working on?" or "What you are working on?"
In a direct question, it's What are you working on?, helper before subject. What you are working on is the order inside a longer sentence: Tell me what you are working on. Every helper moves the same way: Where did you study Kotlin?, not Where you studied Kotlin?, and What do you work on?, not What you work on?
What does tech stack mean?
A tech stack is the set of tools and languages behind a product. People describe it in layers: Kotlin and Android on the frontend. Our backend is in Go. In an introduction or a README, it's My stack is Kotlin and a bit of Swift. The frontend is the part users see and touch; the backend runs on servers, out of sight; a framework is a ready-made base of code you build on.
What is a personal README?
A personal README is a short page about how you like to work, named after the README file that tells newcomers what a software project is. Typical headings: Who I am, My working style, Best way to reach me, What I'm learning. It starts conversations but doesn't replace a one-on-one. Learners read a senior developer's README in Write your personal README, a B1 English for IT lesson on edio.ai, before writing their own.
How do I teach question forms to B1 adults?
Teach a question as an answer turned around: give the answer, ask for the question, and let the answer show whether a helper verb is needed. Then make it real: learners interview each other about their work and turn the answers into a README. This lesson's drills follow that order, from choosing the right question to writing one for each answer and fixing broken ones.
What's good homework for practicing question forms?
Good homework is a personal README plus a question for the team: the README practices statements about how you work, and the question at the end practices the forms. On edio.ai, the B1 English for IT lesson Write your personal README sets a review quiz, a true-or-false on correct sentences and sentence halves, all self-checking, then the README and a recording of it that ends with a question, both reviewed by the teacher.
Are there interactive exercises for question forms?
Yes: question-writing gap-fills and reply-choosing chats check each answer as students go. This page plays four parts of Write your personal README, a B1 English for IT lesson on edio.ai, with no account needed: a senior developer's README with the team's comments, his call with the designer, a drill that asks for the question behind each answer, and a chat with a new support agent. The other exercises are locked.
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