Giving instructions In the first place, we have an introductory lesson to present the most common instructions students will be listening to in each class. In this introductory class, we use English to explain these expressions (listen, pay attention, repeat please, come here, follow me, how do you say …. in Spanish? among others). All the phrases taught are posted to the course wiki, in a written form and we also add a recording. In this way, students can access this resource as many times as they want. In this introductory lesson as well as in our regular classes, we use boards with images that illustrate instructions. Images help students understand and retain the message. In some cases, especially at the beginning of the course, we offer the written instruction in English and Spanish. Modeling is perhaps the most efficient way to give instructions using the target language. In order to do this, we have a helper (team-teaching). The teacher gives the instructions to the helper once or twice, for the students to see what they have to do. This is especially good for complex activities. In case that the instructions are not clear, the helper translates them. We believe that we should not waste time in the instructions because what is important is the activity. As the course proceeds, students get used to the language used for instructions and there is no need for translations. In the following pictures you will see some of the instruction boards we have created for our Spanish lessons. |
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