Additional Pieces of the Teaching Puzzle | |||||
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Section Presentation Suggestions |
Presentation Suggestions(Source: Barbara Christian, Learning & Writing Services, University of Guelph)There are three things to take into account when preparing to give a seminar or indeed make any kind of oral presentation in front of a group: 1. The audience. 2. What you are going to say. 3. How you are going to say it. The following set of suggestions are extremely useful for all TAs to review but they have been especially written for those TAs for whom English is not a first language. 1. AudienceYour audience here at the University of Guelph will be university students in a classroom setting. This means that your presentation and your discourse will normally be academic in tone, formal to semi-formal in nature (this will depend on the nature of the task, and the size of the group to whom you are presenting), and that you will communicate most effectively with them if you create a feeling of solidarity and accessibility (establish a feeling of togetherness with them). You will also want to establish confidence in your knowledge as well as in your ability to lead a group of students to some understanding of your topic. Maintain an Academic ToneYou maintain an academic tone by using clear language, the formal terminology of your discipline, and specific, detailed explanations (citing authorities where necessary). Colloquial language has a place as a "teaching device" when you are trying to illustrate something by finding a parallel in everyday life or when you are using humour. The way you stand will depend on the nature of your task. If you are giving a presentation to a large group of students, you will probably stand behind a podium or overhead projector, or in front of the blackboard so that you can be seen and heard by all. You might want to walk to one side or to the other or right up close to the audience. At times you might want to lean on the podium, or come right around a table at the front of the class and either lean or sit on it. This will make your audience feel that you are one of them. Establish Solidarity and AccessibilityOne of the most important things that you can do to establish rapport with your audience is to make sure that you establish eye contact with people (not just one person) in your audience as you speak. Never simply read from your text, without looking up. Nor should you focus upon a point at the back of the room, or appear to be talking to the blackboard or the overhead machine. If you are in a teaching situation, you can use words like "we" and "us" to show that you identify with your students and that you are engaged in a common project. You should try to learn your students' names, provide examples based on their own experiences to explain course concepts, and always ask questions to check their understanding of what you have just said (see 'Questions?, Questions??, Questions???' for additional information). For an ESL presenter, it is often a good idea to begin your presentation by acknowledging the fact that you may have problems with English; this is different than apologizing for language problems. Some people with outgoing personalities may even be able to do this humorously, which sets up a good relationship between audience and presenter. Asking students questions after a presentation is a good idea, as it allows the students to test their knowledge and to participate. Or you can ask if they have any questions of their own. In any case, make sure that you allow a period of silence for them to think of their answers and their questions. Presenters are often so fearful of what we call "dead space" that they jump in with their own comments or close their presentation without allowing their audience to ponder and reflect. And because if you are using a foreign language, the opportunities for misunderstanding are great, ESL TAs should always restate the question in their own words to make sure they have understood what the questioner really asked. SmileBe interested and enthusiastic. Smiling occasionally conveys this to your audience. Show ConfidenceEstablish a feeling of confidence by really doing your background work, by pre-planning all aspects of your presentation from the content and organization right down to the smallest presentational details. Think of where your own personal presentation weaknesses lie, and plan how you can compensate for them. If, for instance, you feel that you have problems with pronunciation, practice problem words and key vocabulary from your field ahead of time. When you are presenting, speak slowly and in short phrases. Pronounce every sound as precisely as you can, perhaps even exaggerating mouth movements, and back up the spoken word by writing it on the blackboard or on an overhead transparency, or by giving handouts. Avoid the words or types of sentences that cause you trouble. Instead, think of other ways to say the same thing. Learn About YourselfWhat kind of nervous gestures or sounds do you characteristically make? Try to make an attempt to forestall them. Also, if your tone of voice is interpreted as not authoritative enough, you might try to stand up fairly straight, with your head held up straight. You might try to lower the general pitch of your voice, to make sure that the pitch falls at the ends of phrases or sentences (so it doesn't sound uncertain), to use deep diaphragmatic breathing, and to speak more loudly, clearly enunciating each sound. 2. Content (What You Are Going to Say)This, of course will depend upon the task you have been set, but we can talk about it here from a generic and organizational point of view. A fully formed outline, script, or lesson plan is extremely important for an ESL presenter. When beginning, it is always a good idea to begin by framing the content of your presentation. That is, tell the audience what you intend to do in your talk and the order in which you will discuss things. Then, give your presentation using topic announcements, some "wait-time" between the different segments of your presentation, and a restatement of the important points. That is, give organizational clues by what you say (e.g.,"Today I'd like to define x," "There are two things that are very important to understand. . . ," "The first important thing you should understand is. . . ," To summarize. . . ."). If your presentation is a teaching class, at the end of the lesson tell the students what they should have learned and ask for questions. 3. How You Say ItVolume, speed, tone, stress, and pronunciation are all areas where ESL presenters need to pay special attention. There are compensatory strategies you can use to overcome problems in these areas too. For example, an ESL presenter should probably rely more heavily on visual aids such as blackboards, overheads, flip-charts etc. than a native-speaker. These aids can serve to back up his or her words so that even if the audience has not been able to pick up the word or sentence by oral means alone, meaning can remain clear. VolumeA voice that is loud enough helps a speaker appear confident and trustworthy. If an audience can hear easily, they can concentrate on what is being said rather than trying to decipher the words. If you know that you speak too softly, practise shouting out loud and feel how your stomach muscles below the navel tighten. Then put a tape recorder at one end of a large room, stand at the other and speak loudly enough so that your voice can be clearly heard on the tape. Or practise taping yourself while music is playing in the background, making sure that your words can be clearly understood. SpeedIf you know that you speak too quickly, write "slow down" at the top and bottom of each page of your speaking notes. Underline long words to remind you to slow down and pronounce every syllable. If you speak too slowly, practise giving your presentation several times at home. By being more familiar with what you are going to say, you will become more fluent and speak more quickly. ToneA good way to learn to control tone of voice is to practise saying the same sentence using a different tone each time. If you think that your tone of voice is not authoritative enough, practice the techniques at the end of the "Show confidence" section above. Stress and IntonationIf your patterns of stress and intonation in English are not the same as a native-speaker would normally use or understand, your English-speaking audience will become distracted away from the content of your speech to the way you are talking. In general, you can practise this either by making a tape of a native-English speaker (for instance the reader of the CBC radio news), and then replaying the tape, stopping after each sentence and repeating the sentence yourself. Or you can read a paragraph, after first dividing the sentences into thought groups of four or five words, and drawing a contour line for the phrasal intonation or sentence-final intonation for each group. That is, draw the pattern of pitch change. The syllables that come before the phrasal stress are pronounced with a mid-level pitch, the phrasal stress syllable with a high-level pitch, any syllables following it with a mid-level pitch. The sentence-final intonation is the lowering of pitch on the syllables following the phrasal stress in the last thought group in a sentence, usually falling from mid to low-level. Again, by slowing down when you are presenting you will avoid some of the stress and intonation problems you will have when speaking quickly, and you will also be more aware of how you are stressing and pitching your words. PronunciationPronunciation normally takes a long time to change, and in the meantime you will probably have to adopt some compensatory strategies in order to make your speech more comprehensible to your native-English-speaking audience. The first of these, is, of course, to speak slowly, and to use short sentences. Always practise ahead of time, checking the pronunciation of words with an English-English dictionary (get one which has phonetic symbols beside the word defined, such as The Oxford English Dictionary). Put the phonetic symbols above difficult words to help you, both when you are practising and when you give your presentation. Practise taping yourself, then listen critically for things that you can improve and change. Make sure that you plan ahead to include visual aids to further understanding. Change the way you phrase things if you have difficulty with certain sounds. For example, if you have a tendency to pronounce the plosive "th" as an "s," try to rephrase your sentences so that you can avoid using "th" words. Another thing to do is to say a word you have trouble with in association with its synonyms, to give the listener another chance to understand your meaning. Visual AidsThe most commonly available visual aid is the blackboard. It is a good idea for ESL speakers to write important terms on the board, especially difficult-to-pronounce terms that might not be easily understood by the audience. But there are pitfalls to avoid. First of all, the most common pitfall, is the habit of turning your back to the audience and talking as you write on the blackboard. The negative effect is twofold. Not only does the speaker not project his or her voice as well, doubly problematic when the speaker's English speaking skills may be less than perfect, but also he or she loses contact with the audience, which no longer feels the speaker is engaged with them, but with the project of writing on the blackboard. You should also be able to write very quickly, legibly and large enough to be seen from the back of the room. Organization is another important consideration. Start on the left side of the board, and work to the right. Number examples, steps, and main points; in other words, make sure that the organization of your talk is evident. Don't erase until you have asked the audience if they are finished copying from it. In order to avoid spending valuable time writing on the blackboard, you can use overhead transparencies which you can prepare ahead of time. There are some rules for their use too. First of all, when designing your overheads, try not to include too much information on one transparency. Some people suggest that a maximum six-to-eight lines of material is enough. You should also be sure that the print is large enough to be read anywhere in the classroom (25 point font +). It is very important when you show a graph or table that it not be too complicated or messy. And when you are using overheads as you talk, make sure that you are not obstructing the audience's view, that you are facing them, and that, as you talk, you use your pen to point to the relevant parts of the overhead.
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