The question behind the question
Our class was preparing an English visitor guide to a small cultural centre. We began with a list of questions: where is the entrance, when does the centre open, and how much does a tour cost? The answers looked simple until we imagined different visitors using them. One visitor might arrive with a large suitcase. Another might need a route without steps. A family could have only half an hour before their next bus. The same general information would not answer all their practical questions. We decided to interview the receptionist instead of copying a short advertisement. I asked whether the main entrance was always open. She explained that it was temporarily closed during repairs. I also asked where visitors could find a step-free route. She showed us a side entrance and asked us to describe the path from the bus stop, not just mark a door on a map. After the interview, we checked our draft. One sentence said, 'Visitors can join a tour at any time.' That had been our question, not the receptionist's answer. In fact, tours had fixed starting times. We corrected the sentence and added a date to the guide. Asking useful questions was only half the task. We also had to record the answers accurately and make it clear when the information had been checked.