How to Give Directions in English: Advanced English Lesson

Vanessa: ... Excuse me. Do  

you know where room 302 is? Did you just freeze  in fear because you weren't sure what to say?  

Never fear. Today, I'm here to  help you. Let's talk about it. 

Hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.  And today you are going to learn how to really ask  

and give directions in English. Now, probably  a long time ago in your first English classes,  

you learned turn right, go straight. But the  reality is nowadays we all use a GPS when we're  

navigating around a new city. So this isn't really  the most useful way to learn directions, but we do  

still ask for directions in different places.  For example, if you get a job at a new office,  

you might need to ask, "Oh, excuse me, where's  the printer paper." Or if you're going to a zoo,  

you might say, "Hey, excuse me, can you point  me in the direction of the elephants?" We still  

ask for directions and you need to be able to ask  politely and answer correctly as well. So that's  

what you're going to learn in today's lesson. And like always, I have created a free  

PDF worksheet to help you remember all of  today's questions, answers, phrases, ideas,  

and you can answer Vanessa's challenge question  at the bottom of the PDF worksheet. You can click  

on the link in the description to download that  free PDF worksheet today. Let's get started by  

asking some common questions for directions. The  first set are very direct, but we can always add,  

excuse me, to the beginning to be a little more  polite. Excuse me. My ticket says platform six.  

Where is that? What a lovely direct question.  Excuse me. I'm a new employee. Where do I go?  

This is a lovely question. Where do I go? If  you get invited to someone's house and then you  

realize you don't know where it is, you can say,  "I realize I haven't been to your house before.  

How do I get there?" How do I get there?  

Or in the office, you might ask, "Excuse  me, where's the paper for the copy machine."  

Where's the paper for the copy machine? Beautiful.  Let's go on to some more polite questions that are  

slightly longer, but you can do it. Excuse  me. Can you tell me how to get to platform  

six? Can you tell me how to get to platform six?  Excuse me, where can I find the toilet paper?  

Excuse me, where can I find the toilet paper?  If it's the year 2020, the answer is nowhere.  

Excuse me. I'm looking for Dr. Smith's office.  Excuse me. I'm trying to find Dr. Smith's office.  

Now, this looks like a statement, but really  when you are approaching someone else, it is  

perceived as a question. So if you came up to  me and said, excuse me, I'm looking for Dr.  

Smith's office. I would know, oh, you're lost. You can't find his office. And I might say,  

all right, it's right over there. Excuse me, can  you help me find my classroom? I'm lost. Can you  

help me find my classroom? And our last question  is a little bit long, but it's quite common.  

Excuse me, can you point me in the direction  of the exit? Can you point me in the direction  

of the exit? So here, you're not asking  them to go there with you and to show you  

exactly where it is, you just want them to point,  Hey, it's generally over that way. Can you point  

me in the direction of the exit? You might even  ask this at the grocery store too if you don't  

want the employee to have to stop what they're  doing and then go all the way with you to show  

you where the breakfast cereal is. You might  just say, excuse me, can you point me in the  

direction of the breakfast cereal? This is a great question to ask.  

Now that we've talked about some common questions  for asking for directions, let's talk about giving  

directions, giving an answer. Now, these  might be things that you need to understand  

because someone will tell them to you and you  need to remember them so you can find your way,  

or someone might be asking you, "Hey, how do I  get there?" And you need to know how to respond.  

We're going to be taking a look at a couple common  situations where we still ask for directions. The  

first one is inside a building, specifically in a  school. What if someone asked you this question? 

Dan: "Excuse me, where's room 302.  

Excuse me, where's room 302? Vanessa: 

Would you know how to respond to that? Well, let  me give you an example. Go up to the third floor  

through the double doors and down the hall and  it will be on the right. Here, we use a lot of  

prepositions. Go up to the third floor through  the double doors, down the hall. This is a fixed  

expression that we often, use down the hall. It's  not exactly going downhill, but it doesn't matter,  

down the hall and it will be on the right,  or maybe it will be on the left. Great. The  

next place where we often ask for directions is  in a grocery store. What if someone asked you  

this question? Would you know what to say? Dan: 

Excuse me, where can I find the organic breakfast  cereal? Excuse me? Where can I find the organic  

breakfast cereal? Vanessa: 

Well, if you work at that grocery store, you  could say the organic breakfast cereal is over  

on aisle three, near the canned  fruit, on the top shelf. Here,  

again, we are using wonderful prepositions  in context. It's over on aisle three,  

near the canned fruit, on the top shelf. If you'd  like to learn more grocery store vocabulary,  

you can check out this video I made where  I walked around an American grocery store  

and talked about everything that I saw and  tried to give you a lot of common vocabulary,  

phrases, cultural tips, and everything that you  need to know about in American grocery store. 

Let's go to our next scenario. Let's imagine that  you're visiting a new city and you're staying with  

a host and you'd like to ask the host some  advice, what if you asked this question? 

Dan: Can you help me find a good coffee shop?  

Can you help me find a good coffee shop? Vanessa: 

Well, first of all, great question.  Congratulations on asking a good question.  

The next thing is you would need to understand  the answer and someone might say to you, "Head  

down the street." Oh, does this sound familiar?  It sounds similar to down the hall. It's a very  

similar expression. Head down the street a  couple blocks. You can't miss it. Oh, I hate  

it when people say that because usually you miss  it. But this is a common verb, to head somewhere.  

It means you and your head are going in that  direction. Head down the street a couple blocks. 

This is usually for kind of defined streets,  but you know what, we use this generally too.  

Maybe you pass one street or two streets or three  streets. This is a couple blocks. This is a very  

American term. Head down the street, a couple  blocks. You can't miss it. Let's take a look  

at our next situation, which is in the zoo. We  recently went to the zoo and our kids were asking  

us nonstop the whole time. "Where's this? How can  we see this? When are we going to see this?" So  

if you find yourself at a zoo, you  might be asking a question like this. 

Dan: Can you  

point me in the direction of the elephants? Can  you point me in the direction of the elephants? 

Vanessa: And I can answer you by saying,  

"To get to the elephants. You need to go through  the primate exhibit, turn left at the reptile  

house, and loop around the safari exhibit."  Oh, we've got lovely prepositions. Through the  

primate house. So you got to open the doors, go  through the primate house, and then you need to  

turn left at the reptile house and loop around.  So this is imagining that there is probably  

like a sidewalk that goes around the safari.  Loop around the safari, and then over there,  

that's where you're going to see the elephants. Next, let's look at asking for directions  

in a park. What if I asked you this question?  Would you know how to respond to me? 

Dan: Do you know where the park bathroom is?  

Do you know where the park bathroom is? Vanessa: 

All right. It might be an urgent situation. So  you need to know exactly how to give the right  

directions. You might say you need to follow the  path around the park, past the splash pad and the  

bathrooms are right next to the merry-go-round.  This is a common expression we often use:  

Right next to. We're not talking about right  and left, we're talking about immediately  

next to the merry-go-round. So when someone  says I'm right next to my car, it doesn't  

mean they're on the right side of their car, it  just means they're immediately beside their car. 

So we could say, you need to follow the path  around, go past the splash pad. We often use  

this expression. You're going to need to pass  some things. Go past the splash pad and the  

bathrooms are right next to the merry-go-round.  Good luck. Let's take a look at the next scenario,  

which is at a concert or a sporting event or  at a theater where you have a ticket that has  

a specific seat saved for you but the area is  just too big, you can't find it. So you need  

to ask someone for directions. You might  ask a really polite question like this. 

Dan: Excuse me, could you help me find my seat?  

Excuse me, could you help me find my seat? Vanessa: 

The person who's working there might say,  oh right, let me take a look at your ticket.  

Your ticket says, okay, you are in section 105,  row 12, seats J and K. So to get to section 105,  

you need to go up the ramp to 105, then go  up the stairs to row 12 and then go about  

midway across the row and you'll find seats J  and K. Whew. This is going to be tough to find.  

We have some great expressions: up the ramp, up  the stairs, and midway over. Midway over means  

about in the middle of the row, you're going  to find seats J and K, and that will be where  

you need to go. Let's take a look at our last  situation where you might ask for directions. And  

that is on transportation. I know I have been lost  countless times on transportation and have needed  

to ask for directions just because, especially  when you're in a new place, transportation can be  

confusing. So, you might need to ask a  very polite question. Something like this. 

Dan: Excuse me, can you help me find where to go?  

Excuse me, can you help me find where to go? Vanessa: 

Let's imagine you're at a busy train  station, but you are completely lost.  

So you ask someone for directions and they  say to you, oh, it looks like on your ticket,  

you need to go to platform six. Okay, go down the  stairs, turn to the left, and follow the signs  

for platform six. This is a common phrase that  we often use. Look for the signs for platform  

six or follow the signs for platform six. You  might even use this while you're driving. Follow  

the signs for New York City. You can't miss it.  Follow the signs for platform six. Then look for  

train 34, look for train 34. This is giving you a  specific piece of instructions, not just look for  

the signs, but look for train 34 and that will  be exactly where you need to go. Whew. That was  

a lot of directions. I hope if you felt lost,  now, you feel like you have found your way. 

Well, I have a quick question for you, in  the comments, can you give me directions to  

your favorite cafe? Can you use some of today's  expressions to give me directions so that I can  

find it because I really need a nice cup of tea?  Well, like always, you can download today's free  

PDF worksheet. There is a link in the description  with all of today's directional questions  

and how to give directions. You can print  it out. You could even put it in your bag  

so that next time you travel, you will be  absolutely prepared and you will know the  

right phrases to use and you won't get lost. There is a link in the description so you can  

download the free PDF worksheet today. Well,  thank you so much for learning English with me,  

and I'll see you again next Friday for a new  lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. The next  

step is to download the free PDF worksheet for  this lesson. With this free PDF, you will master  

today's lesson and never forget what you have  learned. You can be a confident English speaker.  

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel  for a free English lesson every Friday. Bye.