Tag: Giving directions

Sometimes easy does it. Two days ago I was assigned to teach a short dialogue to a group of students with learning disabilities and problems. I created a set of three activities and I did not held any high expectations. However, it turned out that the students liked the activities and many of them actually learned to give simple directions. Therefore, I decided to share the activities here.

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In this post you will find an unusual, although very effective, drill which I call vanishing drill. Then there is a worksheet with a gapfill exercise and a speaking exercise in which the students consolidate their knowledge. This time there are no interactive exercises, but I hope you will like it anyway.

The following video contains the vanishing drill. Play the video and ask the students to read the text. After 11 seconds one or two words vanish and the students read the text aloud again. At the end of the three minutes you can be pretty sure that they will know the dialogue.

After going through the drill it might be a good idea to revise the prepositions of place too. You can do this here, or you can use any other materials you like.

Seat the students into pairs and print the following worksheet and hand it to students so that each student in the pair has a different copy. Ask the students not to show the worksheet to their partner. Tell them to use the phrases from the drill to find out where the places listed below the map are. They should write the words into the worksheets.

Giving simple directions – worksheet

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Once they finish they should show their map to their partner and check their answers.

Then the students complete the exercise 2 so that the dialogues are in accordance with the map.

Giving directions in English is one of the most useful functions there is. Everyone understands that this is the function they are likely to use on the street, literally, and therefore the motivation is usually quite easy.

To be able to give directions you need to learn a set of phrases which you later combine into a conversation. To teach the phrases we offer you the following. A simple drill (teaching the basic phrases), an infographic, several worksheet activities and an interactive quiz.

First watch and repeat the phrases and then produce the phrases before the native speaker says them.
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It is always a good idea to give students a handout with all the phrases you want them to learn. Thus they can revise the vocabulary and there is higher chance that they will learn the phrases. Here is a colourful infographic with the phrases from the video.

You can download the full-size picture here:

Directions – full size picture

First of all I would love to recommend the following worksheet by Mary Glasgow plus. In this worksheet students practise their divisions and directions too. You can download extra instructions for the same worksheet here.

Directions for Maryglasgow magazine

The following worksheet gives students a chance to use the new phrases. Print the following map and give one to each student. The students draw a trail into their map (from the start to any place they like) and then they give instructions to their partners who must draw the same trail into their map. At the end they compare their maps and discuss any misunderstanding.

Giving directions – map

The following quiz can help your students practise giving directions in English. They can do it either at school or at home. The quiz consists of two parts. In the first part, students should match the phrases and the instructions. In the second part, students have to type the missing words in the phrases. The students will be rewarded with a game after each part of the quiz they pass. The quiz is in HTML5, so it will play on all desktops and mobile devices.

Giving directions – quiz There are some wonderful materials on giving directions at British Council site. Check them out.