One Page Before the Bell

Your goal

Describe distractions and give clear instructions for a short work period.

Read the story

Elena has twenty minutes before the evening bell at a pottery studio. The bell tells visitors that the shared work session is ending. She wants to write one page of English instructions for visitors who collect their finished bowls. The instructions must explain where to find a name label and how to wrap a bowl for the journey home. Elena sits at a side table with a notebook. She feels interested because she can use the page at the studio next week.

After two sentences, Elena checks a message about tomorrow’s weather. Then she sees a picture of a new cup design and opens it. Someone nearby asks where the spare brushes are. Elena answers and starts looking for her place on the page. She now has eleven minutes left. At first, she thinks the instructions are too difficult for her English level. However, she checks what happened during the last few minutes. Most of that time went to other activities, not to writing.

Elena decides to change the table before she changes her goal. She puts her phone inside her bag and places the bag under her chair. She keeps only the notebook, a pen, and a finished bowl in front of her. The bowl helps her check each instruction against a real object. She tells the person beside her that she is writing until the bell. For questions about brushes, that person can ask the studio helper near the door. Elena is now ready to continue.

She reads her first two sentences and adds the next step. When she remembers an idea for a cup design, she writes two words about it at the bottom of a separate page. She can return to that idea later. For now, she follows the order of collecting a bowl. First, find the label. Next, check the name. Then, wrap the bowl. Finally, put it carefully inside a bag. She leaves a blank space beside a word she needs to check afterwards.

The bell sounds as Elena finishes her page. She reads it aloud to Tomas, another visitor, who follows the steps with his own bowl. He asks which paper to use, so Elena adds that detail. Her page still needs one spelling check, but it now works as a set of instructions. In her learning notebook, she records her goal, the distractions she noticed, and the changes she made. At the next session, she plans to try the same short writing period and compare the results.

A conversation to practise

Tomas: What do I do first?

Elena: First, check the name on the label.

Tomas: Can I use this paper?

Elena: Yes. Wrap the bowl, then put it in your bag.

Understand the story

1. What is Elena’s writing goal?
2. Where does Elena put her phone?
3. What detail does she add after Tomas tries the instructions?

Practise the language

1. Complete with Check or Checks: ___ the name on the label.
2. Make this instruction negative using Do not: Close the notebook.
3. Complete with check or checked: Did Elena ___ what happened?