Teaching Presentation Skills Simon Parker, Saturday May 10th 2008 BETA Conference, May 2008

Why are presentations important? Characteristics: – teachable skills Controlled practice Teach them! Feedback, self assessment, peer assessment, praise!!! Free(er) practice The actual presentation BETA Conference, May 2008

“a talk giving information about something” source: Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary Usually lasting for at least 1½ minutes. The majority of the ‘talk’ should be in the student’s own words. BETA Conference, May 2008

Benefits of student presentations Free practice Creates a context for use of new vocabulary A transferable life skill! Increased confidence Development of body language Accelerated language development BETA Conference, May 2008

Characteristics of great presentations Clear structure (beginning middle and end) Easy to follow Presenter is enthusiastic Presenter is not monotone Presenter makes eye contact Presenter uses appropriate body language BETA Conference, May 2008

Get your students to either identify these themselves or, ‘rate’ the importance of a list you provide them with – e.g. ‘good teacher, good presenter? BETA Conference, May 2008

Student questionnaire A good teacher… 1 OK 2 useful 3 v. useful 4 vital!!! does not speak too quickly is enthusiastic looks at the students/makes eye contact is confident is not monotone explains the purpose of the lesson + what you will do talks with their body! – they use their hands when they speak knows their subject explains with interesting examples reviews what they’ve covered at the end of the session BETA Conference, May 2008

The structure of ANY presentation Say what you’re going to say Say it! Say what you’ve said BETA Conference, May 2008

Body Language 60% of all human communication is non-verbal Body language can significantly improve the communication between native and none native speakers BETA Conference, May 2008

Get students to mime different feelings and emotions Demonstrate the link between body language and structure: first point, second point (but warning on middle finger and V sign!) Get students to practice these with speech BETA Conference, May 2008

Eye Contact BETA Conference, May 2008

Demonstrate this to your students: how do they react / feel when you look them in the eye? What is the purpose of eye contact? Get individual students to the front of the class to practice Devise a game for getting students to practice eye contact BETA Conference, May 2008

The stresses and pauses exercise “I think we’ll need to find a new venue for our party” BETA Conference, May 2008

The Power of the Pause Demonstrate this to your students: ask them how they react / think when you, as a teacher, pause. Also, “why do people sometimes find it hard to pause in their presentations?” BETA Conference, May 2008

Steps.. Get the students to memorize the sentence Ask them the meaning of the sentence with the key word stressed Ask them how they would stress the word. Long or short? Loud etc? Ask them where the pause should be Get all students to say the sentence, standing up but by their seat Introduce body language: what would be appropriate for each sentence/word? Get all students to say the sentence with body language, standing up but, again, by their seat Introduce eye contact Get students to come to the front of the class and say the sentence, making eye contact with specific individuals Keep the pace brisk; give lots of praise; don’t be afraid to get students repeating sentences; try and make it fun! BETA Conference, May 2008

Free(er) practice Students decide which words should be stressed and where the pauses should be. More practice at the front of the class. BETA Conference, May 2008

Brining it all together: preparing for the performance – using poems BETA Conference, May 2008

Teach students how to choose the ‘opening words’ for their presentation Try whole class or pair thought showers to elicit ideas Try and get them to differentiate between formal and informal openers Try and get them to write the first three sentences of their presentation in the class BETA Conference, May 2008

Get students to think about how they move from one section of their presentation to the next : pause – “I’m now going to tell you about XXXX” pause “……. Get them to tell you why the pauses are important BETA Conference, May 2008

Get / encourage students to write a key point summery of their presentation e.g. Intro: my product, my market, my competitors Point 1 product: key features, USP Point 2 market: size, growth + reasons BETA Conference, May 2008

“Practice makes perfect” Encourage your students to practice in front of their: mirror, dog, cat, goldfish, goat, grandmother etc etc BETA Conference, May 2008

Planning + Effort = Success! Keep stressing that: Planning + Effort = Success! BETA Conference, May 2008

Assessment, self assessment, peer assessment BETA Conference, May 2008

Give students a list of the criteria of an excellent presentation Get students to give feedback to each other Get students to say what was good about their own presentation and what could be improved Give frequent, specific praise BETA Conference, May 2008

Thank you for participating! Keep in touch: albiontraining@gmail.com BETA Conference, May 2008