1. Brenda’s Story
Or what I learned about speaking English by making presentations

2. 8 weeks flex Level Materials
Speaking and
Listening IV
Advanced Texts and Group
Exposition
Speaking and
Listening III
High Intermediate Textbook and
Presentation Skills
Speaking and
Listening II
Low Intermediate Textbook
Speaking and
Listening I
Low Beginner Textbook
San Antonio College ESL Program

3. “It was hard to understand why the teacher made us
work in groups.”

4. “There were some misunderstandings . . . “

5. “I had problems making slides with
PowerPoint.”

6. “I had to remain open to the opinions of others. I had to
pay attention to others in the group to understand them.”

7. “I am from Mexico, and my team is from Iraq & Iran. We
managed to agree on most things.”

8. “I realized that I was thinking all the time in English,
writing English, and speaking English.”

9. “The ESL class was not only Mondays and Wednesdays but all
the time my project lasted!”

10. “Different people. . . Different ideas . . . Preparation for the
real world!”

11. “The team members were so kind to me. We were in
constant communication and we made a great job!”

12. ESL Intermediate Students
Carol Costello, M.A. TESOL
Adjunct Professor of ESLA, ESL
San Antonio College
ccostello4@alamo.edu
www.slideshare.net/carolcostello1

13. . . . to Powerful Speakers

14. Pause: Academic Question!
To what extent does teaching
presentation skills fulfill the
objectives of Communicative
Language Learning?

15. Contents
Audience Q&A, Observations
II. Problems/solutions
I. Tips for Results in 8
weeks
III. Student Feedback:
Unexpected & Helpful!

17. Ten Tips for Presentation Planning
1) Make the objective of public speaking clear in syllabus
2) Calendar
3) Formation of groups
4) Audience Engagement
5) Slide Format suggestions
6) Sample presentation
7) Computer lab activities
8) Suggested themes
9) Practice Activities
10) Feedback (venting) is critical
Handout!

18. 1. The teacher made the goal of public speaking
clear in the syllabus
• Speak about social, professional, and academic situations and
experiences focusing on accuracy and fluency.
• Speak with intelligible pronunciation, stress, and intonation.
• Deliver presentations, explain, and support
opinions.
• Simulate social and academic situations.
• Understand factual information and respond appropriately to
comprehension questions.
• Take notes during presentations and demonstrate
comprehension.
• Summarize and synthesize academic lectures.

19. 2. Our Calendar
Su Mo T
u
Wed Th Fri Sa
1 1st meeting 2nd meeting
2 3rd meeting
Assign groups
4th meeting:
Presentations and lab
3 Presentation #1 Evaluation
4 New groups chosen Lab, if needed
5 Presentation #2 Evaluation , First
Feedback to Teacher
6
7 New groups chosen Lab, if needed
8 Presentation #3
“Edited evaluations”
Final Day of Class
Written Exam, Second
Feedback to Teacher
Classes meet 2 x per week for 2
hours and 40 minutesHandout!

20. 3. Presentation Partners
Teacher assigns group
3 people is a good number / rotate
Students exchange email and telephone numbers
Allow them to send teacher slides for confirmation

22. 4a. We Graded Other Students
1st presentation
Handout!

23. 23
4b. What the class said about the speakers
Handout!

25. 4c. Later, we had a different form
Handout!

26. 5. This is the idea behind our slides
Cover
Intro
Point 1 Detail 1
Point 2 Detail 2
Point 3 Detail 3
Conclusion
 Visual
 Short (5 min.)
 10-12 slides

27. 6. Teacher’s Presentation Example
My Favorite Cities!
Carol Costello
July 17, 2013

28. Background

32. Munich, Germany
 Learned German
 Taught EFL to many
nationalities
 But—a little too cold
for me

33. Fukuoka, Japan

34. Fukuoka, Japan
 My baby made lots of friends
for me
 Learned a little Japanese
 Worked teaching English

35. Conclusion

36. 7. Themes
Presentation #1
Food from my country
Presentation #2
What I want you to know about my country, city, culture
Presentation #3
Features/ Misconceptions
about my country/culture
Music, religion, dance, art, etc.

37. 8. What we did in the lab
Instructions given before lab
Provide technical and creative ideas

38. Computer Lab Instructions
Computer lab work on Images: Please watch me and follow on your computer
until you have learned to source images. Then you are free to create your own
slides
Log on and get onto the internet.
Open Power Point
In Power Point go to Blank
Minimize Power Point—don’t close it.
Find a high-resolution image on one of the following websites:
MS Clipart
Google images
Bing
Flikr
Decadentart
At home, you may find good photos that you or friends made
There are many other sources of great images; just be aware of copywrite
Place it in your Power Point, and the picture tools screen will automatically open, go to
Crop (upper right).
Bleed the photo (make it larger)
Crop (cut) the photo and enlarge
Darken or lighten the photo (under Corrections—upper left)
Go to Power Point again and go to Two Content slide
Place a photo on one side, and text on the other
Experiment on your own and help your neighbors
Show me your final products!
Handout!

39. 9. Videos really help!

40. 10. The Big Day!
Audience Preparation
Timing!

42. I needed to tell the teacher about my team-
What Did We Learn?
Feedback from Presentations
9/30/14
Prof. C. Costello
San Antonio College
Speaking and Listening III

46. More Problems
One person wanted to do
everything in a personal
computer. The other person
didn’t want to talk about
anything but her own slides.
I just sent them my
slides because all the
time they were changing
things and talking about
things without me.
Sent my partner an
email with new
pictures, and no
body answered!

49. 2nd Feedback after Last Presentation
Last Day of Class—anonymous, voluntary,
separate from exam.
Handout!

51. Student Feedback
Ko, Burma
1st presentation
very nervous—
heart beating
quickly, shy
2nd
presentation—
scary but less
nervous
3rd presentation—I
didn’t shake, not
shy, no heart
beating!
You have to
learn to work
with people you
don’t like!
Mike, Syria

52. More Student Feedback
Brenda, Mexico
Luma, Iraq
Jiaxi, China
Working with
others can be
difficult or
wonderful
Proud to talk
about my
country
I feel more
secure talking to
people from
other countries

53. Conclusions
For intermediate speaking and listening skills, presentations mixed
with textbook activities fulfills many of the goals of communicative
learning:
 Task based
 Learning by Doing
 Authentic/Maximum use of target language
 Meaningful, comprehensible, elaborated input
 Cooperative and Collaborative
 Affective Factors
Richards, J. and Rodgers, T. (2010). Applications and Methodology
in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

54. Thank YOU!