Expert interviews 2 Giving instructions

A police officer is giving directions or instructions

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We will practice giving instructions or direction using clear, appropriate and polite English.

Introduction

We will practice directing or instructing an interviewee to do a variety of things using stronger direct language as well as more polite, indirect language.

Some students may find this too basic or simple. Tell your student something like this:

"Some of my students already find this simple. It depends on you—some people love giving directions, some people don't. Some people have already had practice doing this, some people haven't.

If you'd like to skip to the next lesson at any time, please let me know."

Warm Up

Are you confident to give directions or instructions? When was one time you had to do this?

When would you have to give instructions or directions in an interview?

It's better if they did this in English, but any language is okay. This could be anything, at work with a newer employee, outside when someone was lost, in school, anywhere

In an interview, you'd have to give instructions or directions when:

the person has not been speaking clearly;
the person is speaking too quickly;
the person is using a lot of jargon —specialized language that's not understandable to you;
there is something the person must do, like speak into a microphone or fill out paperwork; or
you want to lay out the steps of the interview at the beginning

Language

There are two styles of language to give instruction: direct and indirect.

First let's practice direct instructions.

When would you use this style?
What can you say?

Next, let's practice indirect instructions

When would you use this style?
What can you say?

Direct questions:

1. When would you use this style? Direct instructions are for:

basic, simple requests (take a look at this)
when the person doesn't have a choice. (like how to do a task, or "take a seat here.")
to remind the person of a direction (like if have been using a lot of jargon, and you've already asked them politely not to)

2. What can you say? — Direct requests are fairly straightforward. Just ask. No frills, no long questions.

Indirect

1. When would you use this?

to be more polite, especially at the beginning of an interview
the first time you ask them do do something

2. What can you say?

(The previous two lessons have discussed indirect questions, so most people will have a pretty good idea_
I need you to...
You should
Actually, could I get you to...
Can you...?
Could you...?
Would you mind ---ing?
If you don't mind, could you...?

Ask your student: "Do you know where "please" can go in a sentence? It can go three places, and each place has a different nuance."

please can go: at the start, before the verb, and at the end.

For example "Could you speak a little slower?"

at the start (which feels like begging): "Please, could you speak a little slower?"
before the verb (which feels strong) "Could you please speak a little slower?"
at the end (which feels polite) "Could you speak a little slower please?"

Practice

Let's practice giving instructions.

First practice a direct style. For each number, change the verb or the pattern to sound natural: