4.3.

Give clear instructions

Giving your class instructions is a major part of being a teacher. You need to organise your class
into pairs or groups and explain what you want them to do. If your instructions are not clear and
organised, your class can descend into chaos. Let’s have a look at an example.

“Okay, class! Here’s what I want you to do. Maria, give out Handout No 1 to everyone. First
you need to organise yourself into pairs. Look at the handout and work together to answer
questions 1-3. Then form a group of four, and discuss together question 4. Then I want you
to work individually to write up what you discussed with your group. Does everyone
understand? Right! Off you go!”

DO SOME THINKING: Before reading ahead, jot down some ideas. What do you think
is wrong with these instructions?

Result: Utter chaos! While the teacher is still speaking, Maria jumps out of her seat and starts
giving out the handout. Two best friends who caught the bit about “organise yourself into pairs”
leap up and hug each other to show that they are going to work together. As students receive the
paper, they start reading it rather than listening to what the teacher is saying. One student, who
has already read Q1, either raises his hand or interrupts the teacher to say “Teacher, what does
“innovative” mean?”, the students who still haven’t received the handout are saying “Maria, over
here!”, and when the teacher says “Right! Off you go!” the whole class either stares blankly at
the teacher, or erupts into questions about what they have to do.

Remember that your instructions for any class or activity should be as clear as possible. You will
be giving instructions in English and it is essential that you break tasks down into manageable
steps. Also, you must make sure that you have all your students’ attention while you are giving
instructions and allow time for clarification before setting your students off on an activity.
Transforming the example above, the following steps should improve the way you give and clarify
instructions:
1. Teacher quiets down the class. SAYS: “Okay. Listen up. We are going to work in pairs for the
next activity. I will assign the pairs.”

2. Teacher organises students into pairs. Sometimes this will just be the students who are
closest to each other, sometimes you will purposefully assign stronger students with weaker
students, separate best friends, get students to work with someone they have never worked
with before etc. Teacher allows time for students to move to sit with their pairs.

3. Teacher makes sure she has everyone’s attention again. Teacher SAYS: “I am going to give
you a handout. In your pairs, you will work together to discuss (NOT write!) the answers to
questions 1 – 3. Before you start, I will clarify any vocabulary that you don’t understand,
so raise your hands if there is any word that you need help with”.

4. Teacher gives out hand-out to each pair or passes the required number to the front of a
row for students to pass backwards. Waits until all students have received handout.

5. Teacher SAYS: “Let’s look at Question 1 together. Would someone like to read out Question
1?” Student reads out Q1. Teacher SAYS: “Is there any vocabulary you need help with?”
Writes unknown vocab on board. Asks volunteers to try to explain the word to classmates.
Continues with questions 2-3 in the same way.

6. Teacher SAYS: “Do you have to write your answers?” Students SAY “No, we don’t. We have
to discuss our answers”. Teacher SAYS: “Which questions do you have to answer?”
Students SAY “Questions 1-3”. Teacher SAYS: “Okay, you have 10 minutes to discuss these
three questions”.

7. After 10 minutes teacher stops the activity. Gets everyone’s attention. SAYS: “That was
excellent! Don’t worry if you haven’t finished.”

8. Teacher SAYS: “Now, we’re going to join two pairs to make groups of four. You two and
you two – together”. Organises all students into groups of four. Waits till she has
everyone’s attention again.

9. Repeat Steps 5-6. Remember to always set a time limit. Repeat Step 7.

10. Teacher SAYS: “That was great! I heard some very interesting discussions around the room.
For our last activity today, you are going to work individually to write up your discussions.
So move back to your normal places.” Waits for students to move.

11. Teacher waits to get everyone’s attention. SAYS: “On the board/on the next handout I have
shown you how I want you to write up your discussions”. (Note: for the writing activity, the
teacher provides an example or stem sentences or a paragraph plan). “So, how many
paragraphs do you need to write?” Students answer. “And what’s the topic of the first
paragraph?” etc. Teacher SAYS: “You have 20 minutes now to write. If you don’t finish in
class, you may finish this for homework.”
The “dos and don’ts” of giving instructions
From the above examples, we can draw some useful conclusions:

 Don’t give your students a whole string of instructions for different tasks. Break them
down into separate stages.
 Don’t give ANY instructions until you have the attention of all your students.
 Make sure your students know that they shouldn’t interrupt while you are talking – you
will ALWAYS give them time to ask questions afterwards.
 Don’t give instructions until your students are organised into the configuration you
require.
 Before you give out a handout make sure your students know there will be time to read
and clarify the task with you. This is important; otherwise your students may set off on
the activity or be reading the handout while you are trying to give further instructions or
clarification.
 Don’t give instructions WHILE students are receiving a handout. Wait till all students have
any required handout before working with the whole class to clarify the task and the
instructions.
 Don’t ask your students “Do you understand?” The majority will just nod because they
don’t want to look foolish by asking for clarification. Ask ‘concept check’ questions -
simple yes/no questions or questions that require one word answers - to ensure that your
students have understood what they have to do.
 Always set a time limit for any activity. This indicates to students, especially for a
discussion, how much depth they should go into.
 Where necessary provide examples and/or written instructions to guide your students
through more complicated tasks.

With more experience, breaking instructions down into manageable steps will become second
nature, but as a new teacher, you should include detailed instructions in your lesson plan,
including what you will say and what you expect students to respond.