Delivering Instructions in the ESL Classroom - A Reflection

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mckln
November 10, 2009

First of all, I recall that immediately after Anna and I had finished our presentation, I realized that we had not, in fact, asked students whether or not they understood any of our pontificating, let alone allowed them demonstrate that comprehension by paraphrasing our instructions. That was a smack-in-the-forehead revelation.

As regards my thoughts on the second group, I thought their writing the instructions on the board was expedient since this allowed students to not only hear, but to also see the directions, thereby actualizing visual learners. However, despite the second group's provision, I still missed much of the gist of their delivery as I was assiduously typing notes on my iPod: so while they were trying to convey their message, I wasn't paying any attention to it; and I wonder if they noticed that. What's more, such convoluted instructions would have been more easily digested had they been segmented, chopped up into more easily digestible bits. Of course, some modeling of the dialog would have been a boon as well.

I really zoned out during the third group's introduction. I actually was so preoccupied with pondering our peculiarly fruity names that I really did misinterpret Allan's instructions, and whereas, it seemed, my partner Anna had the right idea as to what to do, I was completely flummoxed by the task at hand, all the more so when I learned that I actually had to perform the opposite of what I had expected to do! Like I said in my video, this goes to show how even simple instructions can get lost in the fog of the distractions, conspicuous or not, in the classroom.

To sum up, to succeed in conveying instructions intelligibly, I should segment the instructions, serving them in small portions, all the while writing them on the board and intermittently prompting students to summarize what I have so far said. There, furthermore, should be some modeling if possible.

Instructions should be simple. If they cannot be simplified, then blow up the task: no task should be too complicated.

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Delivering Instructions in the ESL Classroom - A Reflection

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