Say It

Say It, Do It “Tea Time” Say It, Do It is a vocabulary and speaking/pronunciation exercise in which one person directs another person through a series of steps to draw a picture, build a sculpture or complete a task. In the context of the ESL classroom, the exercise can be used to practice a specific set of vocabulary words and grammatical rules. In this specific exercise, the “giving” partner must get the “receiving” partner to set a place setting. The “giving” partner has been given a limited number of vocabulary words to use. The “receiving” partner has not been allowed to see the place setting, and will not be able to see the place setting during the exercise.

a plate, a plastic cup, a plastic spoon, a napkin, and two sugar packets (one pink, one yellow). There are six items in this place setting:

The set up is:

The cup is at the top of the place setting. The spoon sits inside the cup. The plate sits below the cup. The plate and a straight line, centered. The napkin is to the left of the plate. It is

the cup are in folded in half.

The pink sugar packets sit on the plate and sugar packet sits on the napkin.

the yellow

Instructions to the Giving Partner: You are going to give instructions to your partner to set the table. When you are done giving your instructions, the place settings should match. You can only give complete directions are complete sentences. Your vocabulary has been limited. You may only use the nouns, adjectives, verbs, and directional phrases listed below. (You may use vocabulary such as a, an, and, as, it, the, them, as needed.)

Nouns Phrases cup plate napkin spoon sugar fold side

Adjectives pink yellow blue green white folded half

Verbs place

left put take move

fold

Directional right top bottom center on

Instructions to the Receiving Partner: Your partner is going to give you a series of instructions to set the table. List carefully and do as instructed. At the end of the exercise, you should have successfully recreated the place setting your partner is describing. During the

exercise, you will not be allowed to look at the place setting but you can ask questions and ask for directions to be repeated.