These 5 Activities Will Boost Your Teaching of 'LISTENING TO INSTRUCTIONS' in Form Four

Form Four

In Teaching listening to instructions

Learn these COMPREHENSIVE TEACHING IDEAS on….

How to teach the sub topic; Listening to Instructions

for Form Four

UNIT 2:3

(Also: For Literature in English Subject, Check out my Literature in English Blog. Also check out My Diary for Diary Writing Inspiration and More! )

A: INFORMATION OF THE TOPIC:

1. Topic: LISTENING FOR INFORMATION.

2. Sub Topic: Listening to instructions.

3. Periods per sub topic: (8)

4: Class: Form Four

B: HOW TO TEACH THE SUB-TOPIC:

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The main objective of this sub topic is to enable students to give instructions. It is important for a student to learn something in sequence. Listening and writing for a Sequence is vital for the students. These help them to get things right. Students often receive instructions in English, information they will need to act on or orders they will need to follow. It is vital that they get the order right, that they understand the sequence correctly and what each step means.

ACTIVITIES & GAMES TO FACILITATE A LESSON:

ACTIVITY 1: PREPARATION OF THE INSTRUCTIONAL TEXTS

In this activity, a teacher may instruct students to form groups. Each group may be required to develop a text with instructions for carrying out a certain task. These students may be asked to write one instructional text on aspects of:

Recipes
Instructions showing how to make models, kits, crafts etc.
Fire safety procedures
How to insert a CD or DVD in DVD Player
Computer software instructions
Board game instructions

Their instructional texts should observe the real contexts of school, home, hospital, or in the street.

They should also be reminded of vocabulary or phrases like: Draw, fold, insert, put, pour, shake, etc. these vocabulary items are what form either imperative phrases or sentences.

AN EXAMPLE OF INSTRUCTIONAL TEXT

This is how you can write MS Word Document on computer.

You can do this by following the following steps:

Switch on computer.
Go to Microsoft Word Icon.
Open a new page.
Type information you want to write. Edit it to make it look good.
Save the file, and you are done.

The important things to remember for instructional texts are that they contain actions verbs and they often use imperative words, phrases and sentences.

When the groups or pairs finish the work, it is now a time to practice.

ACTIVITY 2: PRACTICE TIME

This is the time for the students to practice what they have written. The developed texts should be read by students in turns. This means one group or pair should read its text and instruct to other group and the other group should respond to the instructions read by following the order of instructions.

After finishing, the other group or pair reads its text for the first group to respond to the instructions given.

During this time, a teacher should make sure each student is fully participating in giving and responding to the instructions given.

ACTIVITY 3: SEQUENCING JUMBLED INSTRUCTIONS

Before the lesson, a teacher may find some prepared instructions that convey suitable instructions. The teacher may cut or put these instructions into piece of manila card or flip chart paper. After that he/she may jumble them up and ask the students to put them into the correct order.

Activity 4: TOPICAL INSTRUCTIONS.

Under this activity, the students can be allowed to choose the subject or topic that they are interested in, and make a set of instructions relating to that topic. For example, if they are interested in music, they can make some instructions showing how to insert a CD or DVD into DVD Player. If they like computers or use smartphone games, they can explain how to play their favourite computer or smartphone game. This activity might require some time beforehand for the children to find out more information about their topic.

Activity 5: PICTURE INSTRUCTIONS.

This is another activity in which students write instructions by using the picture or series of pictures they have seen. A teacher may prepare or find a series of pictures that by their actions, they describe a certain process. Then students individually, in pairs or in groups are asked to write the instructions according to the picture or pictures displayed. This will encourage them to use text and pictures in their instructions, and to break their instructions down into a number of small steps.

CLOSING ACTIVITY

A teacher may have his/her considerable number of activities according to the available periods. But at the end, he/she can evaluate how these Instruction lessons can be analysed.

A teacher can compile a collection of instructions, and share them with the students. He or she can ask them to read the instructions and discuss what they are for. They should also evaluate the instructions in terms of ease of use. Students can discuss the following questions as they are helped by the teacher in evaluating the lessons:

Are the instructions clear?
Would you be able to follow them to achieve the desired outcome?
Are the instructions presented well?
Is the chosen presentation appropriate?
Would you prefer more diagrams or more text?

5: CONNECTION: Beyond the Sub topic: This sub topic has a lot of implications to the students. By learning this sub topic, students can develop other skills like:

Prepositions. They can learn this when they write texts about directions on how to get to certain places in the building like the gym, the nurse, last year's classroom etc. If these places are reachable, students can go there and find out if they really follow up the instructions they are given or they give each other.
Imperatives. Students can learn how to apply imperative sentences on real situations or contexts. This will improve their grammar as they learn through practices.

6: NOTE: This writing instruction activity is strictly learner-centered because students will have to take part fully in these activities. The role of a teacher here is to guide the students and let them prepare, give, and respond to the instructions prepared or given. In some cases, a teacher may provide some models for the facilitation of the activity.

Also Check out the following Form Four Sub Topics that have been covered in this Blog!

1. Expressing one’s feelings, ideas, opinions, views and emotions

2. Listening to instructions

3. Giving instructions

4. Listening for main ideas and taking notes

5. Dictations

6. Identifying and analysing setting, main plot and characters (The Road to Better Analysis of Literary Works)

7. Identifying themes

8. Interpreting poems

9. Starting, intervening and closing a conversation/discussions

10. Negotiating solutions to problems

11. Speaking and giving advice