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By Josef Essberger
If you're anything like most teachers, you're probably
constantly looking for new ways to encourage your students to
practise their oral English and speak spontaneously. This
month, we're going to consider the value of the 'presentation'
in achieving this.
Asking students to give presentations has the following
advantages:
* it gives the presenting student a good opportunity to
practise unaided speaking
* it gives the other students good listening practice
* it increases the presenting student's confidence when using
English
* it can be good practice for the real situation for those
students who may actually need to give presentations in
English
in their professional lives
* it is an excellent generator of spontaneous discussion
First of all, let's define what we mean by 'presentation'. For
our purposes, we mean:
* 'A short talk by one person to a group of people introducing
and describing a particular subject (for example: a new
product, company figures or a proposed advertising campaign).'
This is a narrow definition. In reality, presentations may be
given by more than one person, are not necessarily short and
are not necessarily a 'talk' since they may be by video,
Internet etc.
Here we are considering, not so much the 'presentation' as an
end in itself as the use of presentations for speaking
practice.
Whether your students themselves will be keen to give
presentations will depend on various factors. Their level is
one. From intermediate upwards, students should derive real
benefit from this type of activity. (That is not to say that
below this level they should not attempt presentations.)
Culture is another. Some nationalities are quite used to
speaking in public and may be only too happy to have the
opportunity to practise their spoken English in this way.
Other
nationalities are much more reserved and will be reticent or
downright unwilling. At the individual level, a student who is
an expert on something of great interest may be keener to talk
than one who apparently has nothing to talk about.
Only you can judge the situation. It may be necessary to
introduce the idea of presentations with tact. Imposing a
presentation on unreceptive students will probably be
counter-productive. Asking, suggesting, implanting the idea
are
more likely to be productive approaches.
Choice Of Subject
The first question that goes through any student's head is
'What will I talk about?' That is where preparation on your
part, perhaps weeks before, can help.
Before any mention of a presentation, elicit interests from
each student. These may be hobbies, professional activities,
past holidays etc. Rarely do you find that every student in a
group is a professional sky-diver, brain surgeon or stand-up
comedian. Yet, with a little prompting, you will often find
that each student has an interest or skill that is particular
to her but of potential interest to others. Having dug a
little
into each student's mind, you can store the interests for the
moment when you propose presentations. Even then, you do not
normally need to suggest to each student what he could talk
about. Say something like: 'The subject could be anything, for
example, your work, your hobby, a holiday.' Only if a student
is at a complete loss do you need to help her with your
previously elicited list of interests. But students are often
more imaginative than we suppose. One of the best student
presentations I ever saw was 'How To Change Baby's Nappy',
illustrated with a life size doll, Pampers, talcum powder and
a
flask of water!
Time limit
If students are apprehensive about giving a presentation, it
may help to point out that it need not be a long presentation,
'just 5 or 10 minutes, plus questions.' In reality, it is far
more difficult to prepare and give a 5-minute presentation
than
a 20-minute one. In addition, once underway, students very
often
overrun on their time. The important thing is that they be
given
a time-limit of some kind. It is up to you to decide this. It
will depend on how many students there are, the overall time
available, and whether the presentations are to be given
during
the same lesson or over a series of lessons. In general, it is
probably best to limit the number of presentations to two per
lesson and to set a time-limit for each of 10 to 15 minutes
plus questions. You should build a certain amount of overrun
time into your lesson plan. You may wish to adhere strictly to
time limits, but the speaking practice and spontaneous
discussion generated by presentations are so valuable that it
may better to be more flexible.
Equipment
Clearly, this will be governed by your environment. The main
thing is to encourage students to use support material and
visual aids. The bare minimum would be a whiteboard or
flipchart. If you have an OHP, so much the better. But
encourage students to bring in additional material, for
example
wall maps or samples (realia).
Preparation
Without doubt, preparation is the key element of any
presentation. Give your students plenty of time to prepare. It
will give them confidence on the day. They can use homework
and/or classroom time for preparation. You can help them to
prepare by explaining what they need to think about.
The Presentation
You may wish to help your students by teaching the principles
of presentations. It depends on your objective. Are you
teaching 'presentation' as an end in itself, or are you using
presentations as a means to practise English? In any case,
explaining the value of, for example, preparation and
signposting will help. As a teacher, you are presenting all
the
time and probably take for granted the sheer mechanics of
presentation and forget the butterflies you had before your
first lesson.
Keywords And Notes
Remind students that the objective is not to come to class,
show everybody the top of their head and read a text. The
objective is speaking, admittedly prepared, but without a
text.
Key words, yes! Notes, yes! But no texts please. Again, you
can
help them prepare their notes or keywords.
Questions
Presenters usually indicate to their audience when they will
answer questions - ie, during or after the presentation
proper.
For your purposes, it may be best to encourage question-taking
after rather than during the presentation. This will give the
presenting student more time for uninterrupted, unaided speech
and avoid any danger of the presentation itself degenerating
into a free-for-all. But a well managed question-and-answer
session at the end of the presentation is of real value.
Encourage the presenting student to invite questions and the
audience to ask them. You can certainly start the ball
rolling,
but try not to dominate. And don't be afraid of silence!
Students need time to think of and formulate questions.
Teacher Feedback
If you are actually teaching presentations, you will probably
want to give feedback on each presentation. This should be
done
with tact. You are best placed to judge the value of such
feedback, depending on level and culture. You might prefer to
use a prepared observation feedback form, divided into
sections
such as body language, signposting and audience rapport. Then
you can give your comments verbally and/or in writing. A
feedback form is particularly valuable in giving the
presenting
student something tangible to take away as a mark of
achievement. And you should certainly strive to ensure that
overall the feedback is positive, while not avoiding important
negative points that need to be worked on.
Peer Feedback
Again, depending on group, level and culture, you may wish to
invite feedback from other students on the presenting
student's
performance. You can give the audience a prepared feedback
form,
listing the points to watch out for and comment on. But be
very
careful. This will definitely depend on the group, its level
and culture. Some nationalities will be unwilling to, as they
see it, 'criticise' their colleagues. At lower levels,
students
may be totally demoralised by such feedback. In all cases, the
audience should be looking for positive points at least as
much
as for negative ones. This can be a useful activity as it
sensitises all students to the do's and don'ts of presentation
giving. But if in doubt, it's probably best avoided.
Presentation Resources
A number of ELT coursebooks deal with the language and art of
presentation giving. There is a particularly useful chapter in
'Business Class' by David Cotton & Sue Robbins.
You'll find useful presentation vocabulary at English Club
Business English.
Using Video
You could try videoing each presentation for subsequent
playback and comment, perhaps giving each participant a
cassette of his performance. Again, this depends on various
factors. The important point is that any such exercise should
have a positive, beneficial result. If there is a danger that
videoing will be counter-productive, don't do it. If you're
not
sure, try asking your students. Maybe they will all clamour to
be videoed!
About The Author: Josef Essberger formerly taught English as a
foreign language in Asia and Europe. He is founder of
EnglishClub.com, a site for ESL learners and teachers,
and TEFL.net, a site dedicated to ESL teachers. Looking
for Business English resources? Learn more at
www.englishclub.com/business-english/.
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