The document discusses best practices for giving instructions to students when teaching English, noting that instructions should be clear, concise, and tailored to students' levels, and that teachers should check for understanding and be prepared to re-explain if needed to ensure students understand the task. It also provides tips for using gestures, demonstrations, and asking questions to enhance instructions.

1. Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador
Instituto Pedagógico de Caracas
Departamento de Idiomas Modernos
Programa: Inglés
Metodología de la Enseñanza del Inglés como Lengua Extranjera
Giving Instructions
Ricardo González
20.309.237

2. 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?

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. References
http://myenglishpages.com/blog/practical-teaching-tips-for-giving-instructions/
http://www.eslbase.com/articles/instructions