Ideas for teaching Directions Compiled and edited by Karen Stanley, Oct. 2004 Copyright, all rights reserved, each part by its respective author (Permission to place this document on the TEFLChina website has been granted by all the posters who have been included below; some posters made a few editing changes to their original posts.) Compiled from messages on the TEFLChina@yahoogroups.com email list posted October 9, 2004 (message 7437) through October 12, 2004 (messages 7449). * ______________________________________________________________________________ Ryan Schreck wrote: Here's an simple idea I just found discarded in the teacher's office at my school: Half a sheet of paper filled with 10-15 dots. A large dot or star at each end to signify the start and finish. S's work in pairs. One S tries to draw a line from start to finish, connecting all the dots, with his eyes closed. The partner directs him using the words "up, down, left, right." When they finish they switch roles and do it again. Does anyone else have good lessons for teaching directions? ---------------------------------------------------- Erin E. Butler wrote: Further to Ryan's request for good lessons for teaching directions: Another good idea for teaching directions is to set up the rows of the classroom with street names and the desks with locations (restaurant, gas station) and have students give each other directions where they physically move from place to place. You can also blindfold one student and have the others in the class give him or her directions to various places in the room by shouting out directions ( go straight, turn left, stop, go back,etc.). Erin Butler ---------------------------------------------------- Karen Stanley wrote: When I teach giving directions, I first provide a vocabulary list (this is designed for a class of what, in the US, are considered "high beginners" in an Academic English as a Second Language program, with about 25 students per class). (This list doesn't look quite as clear in the Yahoo "post" box as it does on my handout, but you can probably get the idea.) ------ Giving Directions (1) Turn ___________ - left - right - south (2)Go straight _______________________ - for 3 blocks - for about a mile - until you get to _______________________ - Jones Street - the light - Stanley's Drugstore on the right (3) When you get to ______________________ , - Main Street - the park ______________________ - turn left - start watching for a red house on the right (4) There's a _____________________ - drugstore - big yellow house - Catholic church _________________ - on the corner - just before the light - on your right (5) After _______________ , - the light - you pass Jones Street ________________ - go three blocks - turn left at the first side street (6) You'll pass ______________________ - a cemetary - a Greek restaurant on your ____________________ - right - left (7) Go past ______________________ - Main Street - the Catholic church (8) Go ___________________ - 2 blocks - about 5 miles - north for about a mile - south on I-77 and ________________________ - turn left - turn right after MacDonalds - veer right when the road forks - take exit 38 (9) Take______________ - exit 35 - the first street on your left - Barker Road to Charles Drive - the first side street on your right after the light ------- I then have several types of practice giving directions which use either a real map of a real place (I use our campus map or a map of the center of our downtown area) or a map of an imaginary neighborhood (easier to manipulate, because you can put in landmarks or other features that seem useful for practice). First, I *give* directions to the students. That way they can get used to them before they have to use them actively. I start by giving short directions (the same directions at least two times) and then verifying that students have reached the correct spot. If some have not, I go back over the directions one step at a time so that they can see where they went wrong. I may also do a "wrong or right?" version, where I tell them where I am on the map and where I want to go. Then they have to tell me if I gave the correct directions to get there. Second, students break into small groups of about 4. I hand out slips of paper to each student giving a start point and an end point. I have found out that I have to specifically tell students *not* to start by saying, "I am going to start at X and go to Y." Finally, I have students practice giving directions from the school to their homes. However, it would be just as easy to give directions from the school to the closest post office, a particular tourist spot, etc etc. In the past, I have had them present to the entire class (using maps), but I have found that too many of these together can lead to immense boredom, so I am trying to think of ways to avoid that. (If anyone has a suggestion, I'd love to hear it.) When I was in China, even in Hong Kong with a tourist bureau representative at the airport, I found that people gave directions that were simply too general for me to follow well. For example, I would be told: "Go into the main hall and turn right. You'll see it." Well, no. I would wander and wander, and either be lucky enough to finally find it, or end up asking someone and then asking someone else and then finally I would end up close enough so that someone could actually point to it. So, at least in my limited experience, there seems to be a problem with being very specific about where to turn, how far to go, landmarks to help you, etc., in the way that Chinese people have given me directions in English. ---------------------------------------------------- Nancy Webert wrote: --- Ryan Schreck wrote: > Does anyone else have good lessons for teaching directions? > Ryan Schreck --- Our "direction" lesson was extremely successful for low to medium level university students. You can make it as hard or easy as you wish. My one experience with age 9-10 year olds, I just simplified it and they too had a great time. 1. First we review shape words as well as directional commands "centered in", "above the right hand corner", etc. For the high level students think of all the drafting terms you could introduce. 2. Next I did a sample round on the board, giving myself directions and responding. It might go like this: a. Draw a circle in the center of your paper. b. Surround this circle with a perfect square. c. In the lower right hand corner of the square write "XXXXX" (Give them a recent hard vocabulary word) d. Starting in the center of the circle, draw a vertical line to the top of the page and a wiggly line to the bottom the page. You get the idea? 3. Then I dictate directions to the students. 4. Then student A dictates directions to their partner - using directions I've provided. 5. Then visa versa with new directions I've provided. 6. Then each student draws their own designs and the game is repeated with their partners. ---------------------------------------------------- Marcia Sanders wrote: I like to teach directions and geometric shape names at the same time, though you could use anything you are working on - for instance common household objects, etc. The partners are back to back and each has a set of the same objects. One partner gives the directions as s/he lays down his/her objects. For instance: "place the green square on your desk. Place the yellow triangle to the right of the square. Place the red hexagon under the triangle" etc. You could use common objects and do the same thing, for instance, "put the bar of soap on your desk. Above it, put the hammer." and so on. After the partner finishes his or her directions, both partners look to see how close they were in design copy. Sometimes the direction giver needs to improve in giving his directions, sometimes the listener needs to improve in following directions. Then they switch. I particular like this activity because it works on listening/speaking and vocabulary. ---------------------------------------------------- John Pullen wrote: Pair up students and have one be blind and the other provides directions while moving about inside the classroom to start and then outside. ---------------------------------------------------- Jamal Nasser wrote: Here is my version of directions. Before class: Create a complex but interesting map using clipart and ms word. print and xerox 12 copies for a class of 24. nothing else needed. In class: First, Teach simple direction phrases and explain the importance of finding and asking for directions. Divide the class in pair: Students A and B Procedure: A and B play common Chinese Scissors/Rock/Cloth game. [Scissors beats cloth beats rock beats scissors. Shape of victory with 2 fingers pointed horizontally or down for scissors, closed fist for rock, and open palm for cloth.] Say, A beats B in the SRC game. So A asks B to give him/her directions to a any desired location. Then A writes down his score. Final score is 15 or 20 or 10 depending on the complexity of your map and class time/level. The SRC game restarts and either A or B wins, directions are asked, scores jotted down and finally either A or B reaches the final score. The loser, as a punishment,  has to guide the winner 7 times on the map and 2 times in the city where they live/study. 3 days later teach varities of questions and ways directions are given. Create another board and play the same game only change SRC to 123, where: 1 beats 3, 3 beats 2, 2 beats 1. just show the numbers with your fingers. 3 more days later, as a review, have them create and bring their own maps to class. They should also write  20 directions on small pieces of paper and fold them. Students A and B need a pan, a coin or anything that would serve as a "person" or a "car" on their maps. A's pawn is placed on B's map and vice versa. directions, written and folded lay in front of each player. A's directions lay with A's map and likewise. A flips a coin for a head & tails. Suppose A wins. B will pick up a direction from B's pile and read it aloud. A's pawn will move accdordingly (on B's map) and then they flip coins again.  The first player to finish the pile of folded directions is the final winner. For penalty, the winner will ask directions in the city (where they live/study) and the loser gives directions. This should be 10 times. A should choose difficult places and check on B's correctness. ---------------------------------------------------- Stephen McNeill wrote: I have one on my site: http://www.mountainstothesea.com/yigao/Lessons/GivingDirections/givingdirections_files/ ---------------------------------------------------- Dick Tibbetts wrote: There seem to be two ideas, two directions, to this directions thread. One is really more concerned with prepositions of place together with adverbs of direction. An example is Marcia's "put the bar of soap on your desk. Above it, put the hammer." I do prepositions of place with a picture and a moveable item. You can cut slits in the picture to do things like "inside". for example, Granny's lost her false teeeth. A student has the teeth as a cut out on card and puts them in different positions on the picture. Questions: "Where are ('s since in conversational English granny's teeth can be considered a singular item) Granny's teeth?" Answer: they're under the sink, inside the cupboard, in the toilet, etc. You can vary this and do it in different locations, the terrorist bomb in the hotel lobby, the young lady in the Hong Kong businessman's Guangdong Hotel bedroom when the police burst in, the cockroach in the kitchen and so on. These aren't done as directions. I guess one student could be the terrorist on the phone and deliver imperatives to the other - put the bomb under the table on the left side of the lobby. Or the terrified HK business man - for chrissake get under the bed. The second type of directions are directions for destinations and Karen's post hits the nail on the head here. Most beginner textbooks deal purely with second on the left, numbers and left and right. This is all very well but if the learners (ESL) are going to have to ask for directions this won't help them because, as Karen's handout shows, most NSs use landmarks, not numbers, as the prime indication of where to turn. Especially in cities that are not laid out on a grid. This is because the direction givers often can't remember how many turnings off there are before the vital one and when you start having to be concerned with wide alleys and narrow alleys and little cul-de-sacs, it can become hard to define a block. The same problem applies for EFL learners who will be expected to give directions. If they encounter a tourist at the Lisboa hotel in Macao who wants to get to the ruins of St Pauls, the numerical directions go: "Go up San Ma Lo, (called Avenida Almeida Ribeira on the sign but only one Macao inhabitant in a thousand knows that) take the 5th on the right and then 4th left, then second right and up the hill." More real directions go: "Go up that street there, past the big Bank of China building. You'll get to Leal Senado square with the wavy cobble stones. Go right into the square and walk to the end, past the market and past the cream church with the green doors. Then turn left at bodyshop and walk down till you get to the street on the right going up the hill. you can't miss it because it's the smart cobbled one, restored specially for tourists." So vocabulary is the key. We can give the turn right, second on the left stuff because it's easy to teach but it's not easy to use. If we wait for the vocab before we can teach directions then it's absurd because we'd have to get students pretty fluent before they can ask or give directions. I like Karen's handout - it seems a good compromise. ---------------------------------------------------- Ria Smit wrote: > When I was in China, even in Hong Kong with a tourist bureau > representative at the airport, I found that people gave directions > that were simply too general for me to follow well. > Karen Stanley We have just received a number of excellent lessons to teach directions. I for one will be using some of these ideas. There is one thing that has to be remembered though; the problem is not one of knowing English. It is very much a cultural thing, and even Chinese with Chinese, in Chinese, do not give precise directions. Unless you also teach the need for precise directions, it is doubtful that your lesson will have longterm effect. ---------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- (end)