EAP Communication Skills - Day Nine: Oral Presentations (Practice)

The class will continue its discussion on how to best prepare, practice and present oral presentations. The last class was designed to get everyone comfortable with speaking in front of others and analyzing the physical features of good presentations. Today, the instructor will lead a discussion on how to effectively organize the information in student presentations and plan them for maximize efficacy. An outline of today's class can be found below.

Day 17: Practice and Planning Oral Presentations

Level: Students are expected to possess a B1 - B2 (Intermediate) level of English 

Time: Two Academic Hours (1 hour & 30 minutes) 

Objectives: Students will be able to...

1. Describe and emulate two helpful verbal techniques used by effective presenters
2. Describe and emulate two helpful non-verbal techniques used by effective presenters
3. Describe and explain the importance of planning an oral presentation
4. Describe and explain one outline pattern for planning their oral presentation
5. Begin planning the first draft of their oral presentation (for use during next week's rehearsal)

I. Warm-Up
As a warm-up for the class, the instructor should ask students for feedback on the IMRD analysis assignment. Example questions include: 

1. How did the IMRD analysis go? 
2. Was it difficult? Fun? 
3. What was the biggest challenge?
4. What was the most useful thing you learned? 
5. How will the assignment help you with your feature research? 

II. Oral Presentation Practice
We will begin our discussion with some more practice activities. First, each person in class will be asked to read a tongue twister from the list. Then, we will review the presentation from last week. As we proceed through the presentation, we will stop and do a couple of short activities (appearance practice, voice practice).

III. Planning Your Presentation
Now, the instructor will shift the focus from practicing to planning presentations.  PLANNING IS VITALLY IMPORTANT! The goal is for students to understand why it is so important to plan. The class will take the following steps to analyze the importance of planning your presentation:

Step One: Discussing these questions with a partner.
Step Two: Examining a "tried and true" outline for effective presentations
Step Three: Examining key phrases and a completed outline (outline two)
Step Four: Considering ways to incorporate charts and graphs

INSTRUCTOR NOTE: YouTube has a great selection of videos that offer advice on giving effective presentations. Some include:

1. "How to Give An Awesome (PowerPoint) Presentation" - Wienot Films
2. "How to Give Great Presentations: An Alternative to PowerPoint, Bullet Points and Boring Presentations" - Ari Sherbill
3. "How to Do A Presentation: Five Steps to a Killer Opener" - Jason Teteak
4. "How to Speak So That People Want to Listen" - A TED Talk given by Julian Treasure

Ask your students to watch a video and summarize the major message in a short speech to their classmates during the next class. 

Homework
Students should prepare for the Oral Presentation Rehearsal - the instructor will ask everyone in class to give a practice version of their oral presentation without the visual aid. Classmate's will be asked to give feedback. 

In order to ensure that everyone prepares for this, students need to 1). sign-up for a topic (here) and 2). come to class with the following two documents completed: 

1. Content Outline
2. Adjusting Your Topic for a GENERAL Audience

Students should also review the rubric for the assignment, so that expectations are clear. Any questions should be directed to the instructor.

Instructors may inform students that failure to produce these documents will result in a a loss of 20% off of their final presentation grade.