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Why I Get Students To Do Presentations

Presentations are useful for language practice and building confidence. They allow students to share what they've learned on a topic and get feedback by answering questions. Presentation skills are valuable for work. Presentations work well after focused language lessons, giving students free practice. Lessons typically include example presentations, identifying presentation stages, writing aims and key points, deciding roles, practicing, and delivering presentations in groups first before presenting individually. The process helps shy students and allows support. Clear aims and understanding the purpose of presentations are important.

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Raghd Esam
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15 views

Why I Get Students To Do Presentations

Presentations are useful for language practice and building confidence. They allow students to share what they've learned on a topic and get feedback by answering questions. Presentation skills are valuable for work. Presentations work well after focused language lessons, giving students free practice. Lessons typically include example presentations, identifying presentation stages, writing aims and key points, deciding roles, practicing, and delivering presentations in groups first before presenting individually. The process helps shy students and allows support. Clear aims and understanding the purpose of presentations are important.

Uploaded by

Raghd Esam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Dear student.

Why I get students to do presentations


Presentations are a great way to have students practice all language systems
areas (vocabulary, grammar, discourse and phonology) and skills (speaking,
reading, writing and listening). They also build confidence, and presenting is a
skill that most people will need in the world of work. I find that students who are
good presenters are better communicators all round, since they are able to
structure and express their ideas clearly.

 Presentation skills are extremely useful both in and outside the classroom. After
completing a project, a presentation is a channel for students to share with
others what they have learned. It is also a chance to challenge and expand on
their understanding of the topic by having others ask questions. And in the world
of work, a confident presenter is able to inform and persuade colleagues
effectively.

 Presentations can also form a natural part of task based learning. By focusing
on a particular language point or skill, the presentation is a very practical way to
revise and extend book, pair and group work. The audience can also be set a
task, for example, a set of questions to answer on the presentation, which is a
way of getting students to listen to each other.

Syllabus fit
Normally the presentation will come towards the end of a lesson or series of
lessons that focus on a particular language or skill area. It is a type of freer
practice. This is because the students need to feel relatively confident about
what they are doing before they stand up and do it in front of other people. If I
have been teaching the past simple plus time phrases to tell a story, for
example, I give my students plenty of controlled and semi controlled practice
activities, such as gap fills, drills and information swaps before I ask them to
present on, say, an important event in their country's history, which involves
much freer use of the target grammar point.

Planning a presentation lesson


Normally a presentation lesson will have an outline like this:

 Revision of key language areas

 Example presentation, which could be from a textbook or given by the teacher

 Students are given a transcript or outline of the presentation

 Students identify key stages of the example presentation – greeting,


introduction, main points in order of importance, conclusion

 Focus on linking and signaling words ('Next…', 'Now I'd like you to look at…',
etc.). Students underline these in the transcript/place them in the correct order

 Students are put into small groups and write down aims
 Students then write down key points which they order, as in the example

 Students decide who is going to say what and how

 Students prepare visuals (keep the time for this limited as too many visuals
become distracting)

 Students practice at their Home

 Students deliver the presentations in front of the class, with the audience having
an observation task to complete (see 'Assessment' below)

 The teacher takes notes for feedback later

It is important that the students plan and deliver the presentations in groups at
first, unless they are extremely confident and/or fluent. This is because:

 Shy students cannot present alone

 Students can support each other before, during and after the presentation

 Getting ready for the presentation is a practice task in itself

 When you have a large class, it takes a very long time for everyone to present
individually!

I find it's a good idea to spend time training students in setting clear aims. It is
also important that as teachers we think clearly about why we are asking
students to present.

Aims
Presentations normally have one or more of the following aims:

 To inform/ raise awareness of an important issue


 To persuade people to do something
 Form part of an exam, demonstrating public speaking/presentation skills in a
first or second language

I set students a task where they answer these questions:

 Why are you making the presentation?


 What do you want people to learn?
 How are you going to make it interesting?

Best wishes
Dr.Amr Elmaghraby

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