Hello, I am now at the position of mentor in our language school for adults and the "classroom management" is the topic of one of our workshops. I agree that the formulations should be short, easy to understand and precise. However they should be given BEFORE the students start to work, otherwise they can be absolutely perfect but nobody pays attention to them. But the spoken instructions are not everything. The body language counts as well, the gestures, miming etc. Your trainee teachers should be familiar with this. A 'video' lesson could be a nice idea to include into your syllabus - just borrow a camera and record their "presentation" (the "students" can be their fellow-trainees). And as a feedback show them some nice / ideal teacher in some film and than let them say what they liked about his/her behaviour, instructions etc.

Giving clear instructions in the mother tongue can be a challenge, nevermind in a second language. My suggestion is to have special workshops with your teachers on this and other problem areas. You must also lead by example, that is, give your students clear instructions and get them to give you feedback on how clear your instructions are. Then analyse what constitutes clear instructions, etc. until they understand in their own minds what clear instructions are and how they can issue them to their students.

Mahipal Sharma is correct in that the student teachers must prepare their lessons and lesson plans in English. This is an excellent exercise to practice which is essential in promoting fluency. If they aren't currently, all your classes should be in English to provide your students with adequate practice and modelling for them to follow. Also, get your students to lead their peers in classes where they will be specifically observed for clear instructions. So for me, the key for your students is practice, practice, practice.

I must say that teachers in my country have a similar problem. In my opinion, a teacher cannot hope to do everything smoothly and perfectly in the first place. I think he/she should prepare everything carefully beforehand. Task types can be grouped and therefore a teacher can find out what should be said in order to deliver one specific type of task. And so on, in the end, he/she will have a repertoire of instructions for different tasks and everything will be much simpler. Another thing he/she should not forget is that wordy instructions do not work effectively, particularly with learners of low English proficiency. Instructions should be cut up in small pieces according to different phases of task that learners have to perform. This is also helpful because teachers do not have to say long content sentences.

It depends that how the trainees have prepared. For a successful lesson they must prepare every thing in English. They should set aside the local language and prepare every thing in English only. Before delivering lessons they should sit in front of a mirror end practise, they child become student as well as teacher during this.

Generally, it is seen that the teachers who go to teach the non-native speakers face a lot of problems because they are unable to convey their messages in English to the non-native speakers. The fundamental obstruction is the Mother Tongue Interference.The students,in this case Belgian, find it difficult to compare their Belgian language or French language with English. The trainee teachers should themselves try to get the sentences of the native language to understand the structure of the sentences.It is not necessary for a teacher to learn Belgian or French deeply, but he or she can collect at least 20 to 50 sentences in the mother tongue of the students to teach them the basic differences in the acquired language and the target language. I know that the teachers will have to work a little more than they do but they will see that the formula will work like a magic.Structural comparison is a must to remove the first obstacles. I have been teaching English Literature to Nepali students for more than two score years and I am proud to say that more than 40000 of my students are literature and English language teachers in reputed schools and colleges all over the world.

" Life is an uncertain and unpredictable preparation for death".

Rajasir.