Universidad Pedagógica Experimental LibertadorInstituto Pedagógico de Caracas

Departamento de Idiomas ModernosPrograma: Inglés

Metodología de la Enseñanza del Inglés como Lengua Extranjera

Giving InstructionsGiving Instructions

Ricardo González20.309.237

Why are instructions important?

Instructions are a basic part of the teaching process. We need

them to communicate to our students what we expect from

them. Also, instructions mark the begining of a new activity and

if they are not clear, the activity will not be carried out

successfully. Finally, even a nice activity will be ruined if our

instructions are not clear enough.

What should we take into account when giving indications?

A word on students' level

As many other aspects of our teaching, the way in which we

give instructions depends on our students' level. Vocabulary and

speed should be trimmed to be easy understandable by lower

level students, and the same two aspects can be augmented to

provide more details if we have an advanced group.

However, there are some other aspects that do not depend

upon any condition in the classroom.

What to take into account

Before giving any instructions, make sure the whole group is

listening to you. They should not be writing, talking to each other

nor doing anything else but listening to and watching you. This

way you will avoid students asking for repetition and interrupting

other students. Use an adequate volume so everyone in the

classroom can hear you without any effort.

Also, remember that long instructions can confuse students and

make them forget some parts.

Some alternatives

If the task is a bit complex, you can always divide it in two

activities, so you would explain the first part, let them work on it

and then explain what to do next. This is especially useful if they

are using the result of an activity in another task. Also, you could

have your students read instructions provided in the book (if

any) and interpret them by themselves, before listening to you.

Going beyond speaking

Sometimes, words will not be enough. Body language can help

a lot (commands like match, sit in pairs, work in groups, open

your books and many other are easily demonstrable through

gestures).

If that is not enough, there are some other strategies to show

them what to do. With one of the best students in the classroom,

you can have a short demonstration of the activity you want your

students to carry on. Before doing this, of course, you should

have explained verbally what the activity consists of. Also, make

sure the student you are using as model knows exactly what to

do.

Checking undestanding

It is also necessary to check students understanding of the

task. Asking something like "is that clear?" or "did you

understand?" is not useful since some of the students might be

too shy to admit something like that in front of everyone. So,

how to check clarity of instructions?

Asking them questions about the task, asking them to repeat

the instructions and having some of them demonstrating the

activity in front of the class are some of the strategies you could

use to make sure they understood what you want them to do.

If it didn't work...

After providing students with instructions and checking that they

know what to do, walk around the classroom providing help to

those who ask for it.

In case a group is not doing what it is supposed to do, clarify

the task privately. If you see many groups lost, stop the activity

and explain it again to the whole group. It might make you lose

some time, but it is much better to do so and have the expected

results.

References

http://myenglishpages.com/blog/practical-teaching-tips-for-giving-instructions/

http://www.eslbase.com/articles/instructions