Module 3.

Session 1. Briefings

In the past hours of time have been wasted in Part-Three training as students struggled with the briefing process – this was ironic because even though the briefing was specifically marked in the old exam the student wouldn’t fail because of a poor briefing alone (unless it was grossly incorrect), some students even passed after forgetting to give a briefing!

The situation has now changed – briefings, where offered, are an integral part of the lesson and will be marked accordingly, also, as mentioned in an earlier guide, briefings in training now reflect real world briefings.

Explanations, for example when parked up after a mistake, use the same skills as briefings. In this session we look at using the VTS for briefings and explanations.

The method given here is fun and does not include any laborious memorising of briefings or briefing content. Briefings and explanation are fun, easy interactive and relevant to the situation.

The 20 second rule:

The Visual Teaching System is designed to make briefings and explanations easy for the student and interactive for the learner.

The process is simple; all that is necessary is the ability to speak for approximately twenty seconds about each key bullet point shown on the relevant diagram*. This can be done by making statements or asking questions – ideally a mix of both.

*Some of the VTS diagrams may have more information than would be necessary for an introductory briefing. For some briefings and explanations only part of the diagram/bullet points will be needed.

The exercises outlined below, will help your students to get used to speaking for twenty seconds and linking ideas together.

By using this method, it is never necessary to ‘learn’ briefings.

Each exercise builds on the skill learnt and practised in the previous exercise; therefore they must be completed in the order presented here.

People learn best when they are happy, a common side effect of this is laughter.

Exercise 1.  Being descriptive:

The starting point for effective briefings is to speak using descriptive terms. To practice this simply talk about something that you are looking at.

Look around and choose anything at all and talk about it for 20 seconds. 

Use a timer or a watch to check that you don't overrun by more than a few seconds.

If you keep drying up remember that this is one of those times where practice makes perfect.

Try not to loo the timer – the aim is to get a ‘feel’ for what 20 seconds is.

Examples

“The parked vehicle ahead of us is an old Ford Fiesta. It’s pale blue with a silver stripe down the sides and appears to have a red upholstery, it looks as though it’s just been washed and polished and is very clean ... (and so on)”

“The house on the left has two floors and is painted yellow; it has doubled glazed windows, and white gutters; the roof tiles are dark red. The front door is UPVC and has a path leading up to it with flowers on both sides ...

(and so on)”

Exercise 2.  Using the VTS for briefings:

Take a look the VTS - Pick and subject / manoeuvre and read through the bullet points, as if presenting it to learner driver for the first time.  Read and elaborate if necessary on each bullet point for no more than 20 seconds to describe what each bullet point represents.  Try using a mixture of statement and questions.