Clear and measurable instructions
Instructions a teacher usually gives to her learners have to be clear and measurable. Psychologists say a teacher has to check the understanding of the instructions given no less than three times. This way learners will understand clearly what they have to do and the way they have to work to complete the task.
Here is the example of how to make instructions clearer and easier to understand.
1. Can you inform your partner of your thoughts on the subject matter in number 2.
2. In order to ascertain the meaning, you are required use the contextual clues within the passage of prose.
1. Read the passage of prose to get the main idea of it.
Comments: reading for gist will give the learner an opportunity to get the main idea of the things he will have to speak about in a little while)
2. Circle the words which are new for you. Try to guess their meaning from the context.
Comments: seeing new vocabulary and the amount of it the learner may either consult a dictionary to clear the meaning or guess if from the context
3. Divide the passage into small meaningful sections.
Comments: when presenting own thoughts about subject matter the speaker may have a kind of layout to support him
4. Underline/point on the key words which you can use to speak about the idea of each section and then the whole text.
Comments: having key words makes it easier to make up sentences when retelling some facts/telling the main things
5. Give your partner the key words and let him predict what the text can be about.
Comments: This work should be done to involve the partner into the learning process the way he is an active participant but not only a passive listener of the thoughts shared.
6. Let your partner ask you general questions to get the main idea of the passage
Comments: the partner will have a clue of what the passage is about and this way he will be ready to accept the speech actively
7. Share your thoughts of the passage
Comments: before that the partner is provided with Likert scale: “strongly disagree-disagree-agree-strongly agree”; the aim is to develop active listening skills which will lead to further discussion of the subject matter presented by one of the partners)
