Hi guys,
Today I'd like to talk to you about one thing that teachers have to be careful about: how to give instructions. I mean, teachers have to make sure instructions are fully explicit - don't take anything for granted. Because as teachers are so familiar with the activity types, they often assume that certain things are obvious. How often have you explained an activity but forgotten to say explicitly "Don't show your information to your partner" - only to find students happily doing just that.
Therefore, instructions should be kept as succinct as possible and sometimes, the best way to tell students how to do something is to actually do it yourself. For example with roleplays, take a more confident/gifted student and pair up with them and do a practice-run in front of the class. Talking and talking for minutes on end can be counter-productive and time-wasting when a quick demo can illustrate the activity not only linguistically but visually.
Moreover, teachers should think how they would give short, clear instructions for a number of activities for different levels of Ss and what kind of questions they could ask afterwards to check comprehension, which we call CCI (concept check instructions). When an activity is introduced for the first time, words might not be enough for low level students. In some cases, visuals can support learners' understanding even for instructions. Of course, instructions should
always be followed by demonstration, an example. Once the students become familiar with a specific type of activity, it's easier for them to understand the instructions in the target language.
Talk to you next,
Cheerio
Flávia Chiacchia
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