Board Work, Instructions,
and ICQs
“Your board is your second teacher. Your instructions are your students’ first obstacle. Master both — and everything else gets easier.”
Three Skills Nobody Teaches You
Most teacher training courses tell you what to teach. Very few tell you how to present it. The result: teachers with strong subject knowledge who lose their students at the whiteboard, confuse them with instructions, and never check whether activities are understood before students attempt them.
Today covers the three skills that sit between knowing your content and actually teaching it:
Board Work
Your board is a visual record of the lesson. What you write, where you write it, and how you structure it determines whether students can review, understand, and copy the language accurately.
Giving Instructions
Most classroom confusion comes from poorly given instructions. The principles are learnable and specific. A well-instructed activity takes 20 seconds. A poorly instructed one wastes 5 minutes.
ICQs
Instruction Checking Questions verify that students know what to do before they do it. Distinct from CCQs (which check language meaning). ICQs check procedural understanding.
Board Work — The Interactive Chalkboard
Below is an interactive simulation of a real board layout for a vocabulary item. Choose a lexical item from the tabs, then reveal the board one step at a time — exactly as you would in a live lesson. Study the layout, the sequencing, and what each section communicates to students.
Effective board work follows the MFP sequence: Meaning first, then Form, then Pronunciation. The board records what students need to copy, refer back to, and use. It is not a decoration — it is a teaching tool.
Cambridge: Concept Checking & Drilling ↗ CAMBRIDGE= to decide, after thinking about something for a long time
Connotation: difficulty deciding. Not just “decide” — implies deliberation.
- Am I sure about my decision? → NO
- Have I been thinking for a long time? → YES
- Will I make a decision eventually? → YES — that’s the goal
= growing, developing, and being very successful — stronger than just “doing well”
Register: neutral to formal. Common in business, nature, economics, education contexts.
- Is the economy doing badly? → NO
- Is it just okay, or really growing fast? → GROWING FAST
- Is this surprising given uncertainty? → YES (implied contrast)
= extremely tired — much stronger than “tired.” Suggests total depletion of energy.
Neutral register. Physical AND emotional exhaustion. Common intensifier: “completely / utterly / absolutely exhausted.” Not used for mild tiredness.
- Is she a little tired or very, very tired? → VERY VERY TIRED
- Can she easily continue the marathon? → NO
- Is this stronger or weaker than “tired”? → MUCH STRONGER
Always write context first — before meaning, form or pronunciation. Students need to see the word “alive” in a sentence before they see it isolated on the board.
Use the board consistently: Meaning always on the left, Pronunciation always on the right. Students learn to navigate your board the way they navigate a book.
Point, don’t turn: When writing, maintain eye contact with students. Write while speaking. Never turn your back and talk simultaneously.
Giving Instructions — The 5 Principles
Bad instructions are the number one cause of wasted classroom time. Students who don’t understand what to do will either sit silently, interrupt repeatedly, or attempt the task incorrectly — meaning you have to stop the class and re-explain.
The fix is not to speak slower or louder. The fix is to follow these five principles every time.
Demonstrate before you instruct
Always model the activity with a student before giving instructions. Seeing is faster than hearing for procedural tasks.
Give instructions before materials
If you hand out worksheets before explaining the task, students read the sheet and stop listening to you.
Maximum 3–4 sentences
If you need more than four sentences to explain an activity, the activity is too complex — or you’re over-explaining.
Specify the interaction pattern
Always tell students who to work with. Alone? In pairs? With the person opposite? Never leave this ambiguous.
Give the time limit
Students work better when they know how long they have. It creates pace and focus. Always say: “You have 3 minutes.”
The British Council’s teaching methodology resources include guidance on instruction sequencing, interaction patterns, and monitoring activities — all directly applicable to the five principles above.
TeachingEnglish: Giving Instructions ↗ BRIT.COUNCIL TeachingEnglish: Classroom Management ↗ BRIT.COUNCILFix the Instructions — Interactive Game
Each box below shows a real (bad) set of instructions. Diagnose the problem, then reveal the improved version.
ICQs — Instruction Checking Questions
After giving instructions, you need to verify that students understood the procedure — not the language. This is where ICQs come in. They are distinct from CCQs in one critical way:
Checks that students understand the meaning of language.
Asked after presenting language.
“Does this action happen in the past or future?”
Checks that students understand what to do.
Asked after giving activity instructions.
“Are you working alone or with a partner?”
The 5 ICQ Principles
- Ask about procedure, not content — ICQs check what to do, not what to say
- Ask 2–3 maximum — too many ICQs slow the lesson and patronise students
- Ask only about the steps that could be misunderstood — if something is obvious, don’t ask about it
- Expect short answers — “Alone or with a partner?” not “Can you explain what you’re going to do?”
- Never ask “Do you understand the instructions?” — this is the instructional equivalent of “Do you understand the language?” — socially unanswerable
ICQ Explorer — Three Task Types
Click each tab to see a set of instructions followed by model ICQs. For each ICQ, click “Why this works” to understand the principle being applied.
Full Practice Tasks — CELTA Standard
Design the complete board layout for the phrasal verb “make up your mind”. Your board must include — in the correct order:
- A context sentence showing the phrase in use
- A clear, student-friendly definition
- Form notes (structure, restrictions on use, possible negation)
- Phonemic transcription with stress marking
- A back-chaining drill sequence
- Two example sentences (different contexts)
- Three CCQs (apply Day 6 principles)
Context: “I’ve been thinking about this for weeks — I just can’t make up my mind.”
Definition: = to decide, after thinking for a long time (implies difficulty deciding)
Form: Subject + make up + possessive + mind · ✗ No separation of verb + particle in this idiom · ✓ Negation: “can’t make up my mind” · ✗ No passive
Phonology: /meɪk ʌp jə ˈmaɪnd/ · Stress: MIND · Connected speech: “make up your” → weak /jə/
Drill: mind → my mind → up my mind → make up my mind (back-chain)
Examples: “She still hasn’t made up her mind about the job offer.” / “Just make up your mind!”
CCQs: Am I sure about my decision? (NO) · Have I been thinking a long time? (YES) · Will I decide eventually? (YES)
Write clear instructions (max 4 sentences) for this task — then write 3 ICQs:
[Demonstrate with one student first: describe one item’s position] “Don’t show your partner your picture. Take turns describing where the objects are. Find 5 differences. Work in pairs — you have 5 minutes.”
✦ Model ICQs- “Are you going to show your partner your picture?” → NO
- “How many differences are you looking for?” → FIVE
- “Are you working alone or with a partner?” → WITH A PARTNER
Below are three sets of bad instructions. For each: (a) identify every problem — which principle does it break? (b) Rewrite the instructions correctly in max 4 sentences. (c) Write 2 ICQs.
- “Okay everyone, so now we’re going to do some reading. So there’s this article about climate change on page 34, right? And I want you to read it and understand it and then answer the questions at the bottom. Is that clear?”
- “Write a story. It can be any length. Make it interesting. You have some time.”
- “Debate! Half of you are for, half against. Start!”
1. Problems: Fillers (so, right?) · “understand it” is not a task instruction · “Is that clear?” = unanswerable social question · No time limit · No interaction pattern
Fix: “Read the article on page 34. Answer the three comprehension questions at the bottom. Work alone. You have 5 minutes.”
2. Problems: No topic/context · “Any length” creates anxiety · “Some time” is not a time limit · “Make it interesting” is not an actionable instruction
Fix: “Write a story about a memorable journey — 120 to 150 words. Include at least two past tense structures from today’s lesson. Work alone. You have 12 minutes.”
3. Problems: No context for the debate topic · No side assignment procedure explained · No language support · No time limit · No interaction pattern for large class
Fix: [Assign sides, give role cards] “You’re going to debate: ‘AI will replace teachers by 2040.’ A side argues FOR, B side argues AGAINST. Take 2 minutes to prepare your arguments in your group. Then we’ll debate for 8 minutes.”
Resources — Direct Links
Giving Instructions — TeachingEnglish
Direct article on instruction-giving techniques with classroom examples and common problems.
TeachingEnglish: Giving Instructions ↗Board Management in ELT
Cambridge ELT Blog posts on using the board effectively, including MFP presentation and layout principles.
Cambridge ELT Blog ↗Classroom Management Hub
British Council’s full classroom management section — includes interaction patterns, monitoring, and giving feedback.
TeachingEnglish: Managing the Environment ↗Oxford Phrasal Verb Dictionary
Use this to prepare board work for phrasal verbs — includes MFP notes, example sentences, and collocations.
Oxford: Verb Patterns Reference ↗Phonemic Chart — IPA Reference
Cambridge Dictionary includes phonemic transcriptions for every entry. Use this when preparing board pronunciation notes.
Cambridge: Pronunciation Guide ↗Interactive Phonemic Chart
The British Council’s interactive IPA chart with audio — click any symbol to hear it. Ideal for pronunciation preparation.
TeachingEnglish: Phonemic Chart ↗