A good instruction survives the journey
Our school organised a book exchange, and older students helped prepare the room. The coordinator gave us a short briefing before the boxes arrived. She asked us to sort ordinary storybooks by age group, put damaged books on a separate table and leave personal notes inside books for an adult to check. She told us not to publish photographs showing names or messages. I had to explain the instructions to two volunteers who arrived later. At first, I said, 'Put anything unusual on the extra table.' My friend asked what unusual meant. Was a book in another language unusual? Was a large book unusual? My summary had removed the clear categories from the original instructions. We returned to the coordinator and checked the wording. She wanted damaged books separated so they could be examined, not because every damaged book would be thrown away. Books in other languages could have their own clearly marked section. The difference mattered to people bringing books that were important to them. For the next group, we made a short card with three actions and two things not to do. A new volunteer read it and explained the task back to us. When her explanation missed a detail, we improved the card. This was not a test of her intelligence. It was a way to test whether our instruction was clear enough.