"Yes, I do." ???

[mesmark]

"Yes, I do." ??? No, I don't.

Do you like English?

Yes, I do. / No, I don't.

Do you feel we should teach these responses to our students?

I teach 20-30 young students privately and I teach them all.

Yes, I like English. / No, I don't like English.

Is that a monkey?

Yes, it's a monkey. / No, it's not a monkey.

Those who have gone on to JHS have made the jump to text book responses with the greatest of ease. (Almost too good, many of them loosing the responses I taught them.)

What are your thoughts?

[Tdol]

The short form strikes me as the more natural in many contexts. Many years ago, I taught in a Direct Method school and they wanted us to insist on complete sentence answers to practise the structure. However, doesn't this lead to students sounding rather foreign?

[mesmark]

Interesting.

I thought the short answer sounded a bit unnatural and final (meaning, end of the discussion.) In many cases the short answer is used but most of the time we just say, yes. / no.

I teach the follow up to practice the structure and continue the conversation but I see your point about sounding foreign, but couldn't you say the same for yes, I do. and no, I don't ... to everything.

I know there are several streams of thought on this but has anyone said one is good or one is bad?

[Tdol]

I think it'll be a matter of preference; I know of no final decision on the issue. With short answers you can, according to level encourage more:

Is that a monkey?
Yes, it is. Funny, isn't it?