Celse-Murcia (2013) brings a brief example is a...

Celse-Murcia (2013) brings a brief example is a figurative episode where English is taught as a foreign language to beginner students. The teacher has introduced the grammatical topic of question formation explaining that Yes - No Questions are made in English by inverting the subject of a sentence with the operator in the sentence. In this initial lesson, she defines the operator as some form of the verb to be, here ARE. She has provided the class with examples, and she now gives them practice in forming Yes - No Questions. She makes a statement and tells the students to transform it into a question.

Teacher: We are studying English. Students: Are we studying English? Teacher: Yes, we are. We are using a book. Students: Are we using a book? Teacher: No, we aren’t. We are making questions. Students: Are we making questions?

Later in the morning, a girl turns to the teacher and asks:

We are going outside for recess?

The teacher silently takes note of the students' failure to invert the subject with the operator.

According to this example, it is correct to say that for the teacher,