This is a five star post in terms of importance, in my opinion. John Becker wrote it:
Who was it that said “Use English so that you never have to use it again”? If we can figure out how to give the directions in English once or a couple of times, then transition to the TL, we might be able to balance the efficiency and need to stay in the TL.
Sometimes I put written directions on the board Twext style, where the Spanish is in big bold letters and underneath in small grey letters is the English translation. As I do an activity more frequently, the need to give directions drops out, and all I need to say is “Okay clase, escribe los números 1 a 3 en una hoja de papel” or whatever the directions are, and they know what we’re about to do.