May 4th Group
 Jonathan Davies
Jonathan Davies
11th May 2026 at 12:01 am

Giving Instructions Task

NOTE: You don’t need to read this discussion until you reach the “Giving Instructions” lesson this week.

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1. This is a peer teaching task, where you will practise giving instructions to each other. You’ll need to have a group Zoom call for this, so please liaise together to find a good day and time. If you can’t find a time when you are all free, then please set up a Zoom call with at least one other trainee, ideally two or three.

2. Download this document which shows four different activities you might do in class. Your task is to choose one, write the instructions you would give when teaching this activity, and then practise giving these instructions.

3. Think carefully about your chosen activity. You need to really understand what the students have to do. Ask us if you don’t understand.

4. Write EXACTLY what you will say using the “DIMTS” format:

Dynamic:
Instruction:
Model: (write “for example” and what you will say here, word for word)
Time: (no need to give a time limit unless you want to)
Sheets: (nothing to write here but remember to give out any materials at the end of the instruction)

5. During your Zoom call, take it in turns to practise giving your instructions to your peers. Simply read off what you have written. Please don’t try to remember anything – the idea is to get the instruction right word for word.

6. Please remember that if you want the students to speak you need to do a speaking model; if they write, you do a writing model (on a piece of paper or on the board). For example:

Dynamic: As a 3, together.
Instruction: Please take turns to give your partners instructions using the command form. Your partners will do the action you tell them to do.
Model: For example: (moving to one side) Stand up! (moving to the other side, mime standing up).
(move back) Turn around! (move to the other side – mime turning around).
Time: 5minutes – go!
Sheets: (N/A)

7. After your Zoom call, write a reply in this discussion reflecting on how it went:

– I wish I had just read off from my instructions, as I went freestyle and it got really wordy.
– I kept saying “what I want you to do is” and “I’m going to…” I could have cut a lot of that out.
– I think I mixed up the instructions with the model, instead of having them as two separate things.
– I asked you to start writing too early and then you stopped listening to me!
– I gave a time limit but I don’t think it was needed.
– Maybe you could have asked us to stand up first, instead of at the end.
– I really liked your model, Fred.
– I thought it was great that you smiled but were still direct with us.

8. Post a second comment responding to another trainee’s entry.

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  • Louise

    15th May 2026 at 11:44 am

    Thank you Gifty and Paul for another good video call. It is always good to get to do these tasks as a group and be able to get criticized on our work! On my part, I’m pretty happy that I was able to read off my DIMTS entirely, even though it can get a bit strange to be talking to a sheet of paper… I think my instructions were clear enough since you two played the activity as I had planned it. Little note to myself : « animal » is a very large topic so telling you we will be playing the game until one of you cannot come up with a word, without adding a time limit was not a good decision on my part – as we could have played the game for hours. I should have either been more specific on a tighter topic, or give you a time limit to give your answer (for example, you each have 5 seconds to come up with a word).

  • Gifty

    15th May 2026 at 11:55 am

    Today’s practice was fun and engaging. I liked how Louise and Paul gave instructions when presenting their activities because they were both precise and followed the DIMTS model. I used a supporting document with the instructions because it was my first time using the model, and I did not want to deviate from them. I think my limit was not needed because my students were only 2 and we had more time today.

    • Louise

      15th May 2026 at 3:55 pm

      First of all, I really enjoyed this activity as you both could tell!!! The instructions were clear and you definitely followed the DIMTS structure which is great, but maybe you didn’t need to read those off to us word for word (ie « so for the dynamic… », « for the instructions… », i think this would all be part of « mental language » as it was explained in the Teacher Language lesson?). Otherwise it was good, your examples helped making sense of all of it and they were well chosen in my opinion. I would say that this activity would probably be more fun for a small group of 3/4 people as it was suggested than just 2 people playing it but it still worked well and we both got to the right answer which is always satisfying!!

    • Gifty

      17th May 2026 at 8:08 pm

      Thanks Louise. I appreciate it. Noted, I’ll take that into consideration for the next project. I am glad you enjoyed it tho.

  • Paul

    15th May 2026 at 12:31 pm

    Hi again, these were some examples I couldn’t show you during the Zoom call :

    1. “Did you go shopping this weekend ?”
    “Yes, I went to the mall on Saturday.”
    ==> shopping on Saturday
    2. “Did you go to the movies this weekend ?”
    “No, I didn’t, I was very tired.”
    ==> too tired to go to the movies

    I’m happy to see that you enjoyed the activity and it didn’t seem unclear to you.
    I asked Louise to begin; that way, the students don’t have to ask who goes first.
    An example of the task : ‘Did you travel this weekend” ? “Yes, I went to Paris.”
    I liked the fact Louise showed her notes : Where ? Paris.
    Writing interrogative pronouns is accurate and clever here.

    About Louise’s ‘Word tennis’ task, she stood up to give the instructions which was great to draw attention.
    – A time limit is good, otherwise this could last forever. If you set a time limit to, let’s say 3 minutes, and the students keep giving answers until the end, then it’s a draw.
    – Giving 10 seconds to find a word seems fair.
    – Instead of listing animal related words, it could be more specific, like farm animals or animal body parts.
    => these aspects make the game more challenging and organized.

    Now, regarding Gifty’s ‘What’s my job?’ task, we had to guess the other person’s occupation by asking yes or no questions.
    I would say the same here;
    – setting a time limit is essential for a task like this one so everyone gets to play (1 minute to find the occupation).
    – or, for lower-level students, you could set a limited number of questions, so they can have more time to think this through (5 to 7 questions could be good).

    Let me know what you think!

    • Louise

      15th May 2026 at 3:50 pm

      I agree entirely with all of that, thank you for the feedback! Regarding your instructions task, I would say everything was quite clear and simple, and I could really tell you used the DIMTS structure which was good. I would add that for the « M » part, you gave us an example with talking (ie asking a question + giving the answer), you could have also wrote on a piece of paper an example of the notes you could have been taking for this discussion specifically so we knew how to take notes if we were your students. Although I still understood it and took my notes following my way on this side.

    • Paul

      15th May 2026 at 5:27 pm

      thanks for your reply !

    • Gifty

      17th May 2026 at 8:27 pm

      That’s thoughtful of you to add the examples. Also, thanks for the suggestions. Setting a time limit and limited number of questions is definitely essential.

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