i need a giving train directions activiety

adam6 · Post by **adam6** » Tue May 24, 2005 1:38 am

I have to teach a class of 3rd grade jr high school students giving directions any ideas would be helpful thanks. about 30 students

Sally Olsen · Post by **Sally Olsen** » Tue May 24, 2005 9:12 pm

With any activity, it is good to see what the reason for doing it would be. Are you asking the students to catch a train or give directions to the train or be the conductor or ticket seller to tell train times? Will the students ever have to do this? Is it an excerise in giving directions which is a larger issue and can they see how giving the directions will carry over to other situations and how it the same/different in other situations? At some point, if they are going to speak English, they will need to give someone directions and so that is useful. There are patterns to doing this and you can show them the patterns and how to give really clear directions. Ask them to think of what they would say in their own language, translate these as closely as possible to the original and see how they would differ when you said them "naturally" in English. See if they can find the commonalities in situations - directions to make cakes, get to the hotel, tie a tie and so on. You can practice polite and rude direction giving.

adam6 · Post by **adam6** » Tue May 24, 2005 11:38 pm

Basicly the things like take the red line to bobo station change trains and take the blue line to soso station its near the station.
and
How can i get to the soccer stadium?,
its been practiced for two lessons prior but because of my push to have more english in the classroom, i think anyway . The teacher has asked me to review the lesson with an activity. It will be an only english class and i think i will have to teach the sentences from almosrt scratch with most of the students. Most of them arent comfortable speaking thier not used to english interaction. they will have a general undderstanding of what thier doing though. any ideas about an activity that they can enjoy while practicing the language would be helpful thanks

Sally Olsen · Post by **Sally Olsen** » Tue May 31, 2005 5:40 pm

How about creating a board game with train destinations of your local area or something more international like the London or Paris underground. The students get a mover and die and have to move along a train line from their home station - the one closest to the their seating position. You can make four or six home stations at the edge of the board. The train lines should intersect at various points so the students can transfer trains. They can have a specific destination or have to get all around the board until they get home again. You can even make up cards to get them to lose a turn (train accident, rush hour delay, rail line works) and extra points to move ahead more quickly (you give up your seat for an old lady, express train and so on). These boards don't have to be fancy. Just make them on the largest sheet of paper you can copy and then glue them to cardboard so you have enough for four or six to a group for the whole class.

yoda · Post by **yoda** » Tue May 31, 2005 11:53 pm

You could use this Information Gap:

Information gap on giving directions by subway Sheet A.

Information gap on giving directions by subway Sheet B

You could also use this role-play:

Role-play on giving directions by subway or bus/museums.

As a review, you could also use this cloze activity:

Directions Cloze Activity

As well, on the same site, there are information gaps and role-plays for giving directions based on street names and nearby landmarks. And there are information gaps and role-plays for giving directions if you are on foot or in a car.

fluffyhamster · Post by **fluffyhamster** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:06 am

Hey Adam, sounds like you're doing Sunshine Level 3, Lesson 3!

I feel there is a slight "overload" in that lesson ('Get on the train at Hinode station. Get off of the train at Chuo station, do that thing known as walking, don't forget to keep breathing, and change to the X line' etc etc.

): the textbook writers seem to have failed to highlight easy stuff like 'TAKE/You need (to take) the W line (to X), then (take) the Y line to Z' ("changing trains" is implicit, can be assumed to be understandable/probably isn't necessary to say).

With that sort of looong dialogue, the students learn to follow directions but not really to give them clearly. I guess they'll find it a learning experience if a tourist in a hurry ever stops them in Tokyo to ask for directions...

fluffyhamster · Post by **fluffyhamster** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 5:56 am

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... php?t=3432