Giving Directions for Worksheets

The best time to give directions for completing a worksheet is BEFORE you hand it out!

Let's say that as part of an intermediate level unit on making a schedule and setting goals, you are using a worksheet that asks your students to look at Sadia’s schedule in chart form, answer questions about it with a partner, then write sentences about Sadia’s activities using adverbs of frequency.

Before handing out the worksheet, plan to:

• ask questions to find out what experience students have maintaining a written schedule of their daily activities (activate prior knowledge)
• pre-teach any vocabulary that might be new
• review adverbs of frequency if necessary
• explain the purpose of the worksheet - what will the students be practicing?
• check for comprehension of instructions

Show students the worksheet using an overhead or document projector. Talk about or show them the different parts of the worksheet. Starting with the first part, look at the example. Talk about the process for arriving at the answer given in the example. Do the next one as a group, with you as the leader, and then ask the group to complete the next one together. Check for comprehension. If the learners can’t repeat instructions or show you, spend more time modeling the activity.

Introduce each part of the worksheet in the manner described above. Demonstrate as much as possible, even when giving verbal instructions. For example, if you want students to underline the adverbs of frequency in their sentences, show them what you mean or ask them to show you.

Now hand out the worksheets.