Teacher Discussion Forums

Hi everyone,

I'm lecturing at a college in Taiwan and I got assigned to a new subject: Business Oral Presentation. I've taught Business Listening & Speaking before but apparently this is different. I think the school just got the subject from the internet and decided it sounds good because they can't really tell me what they want to accomplish with it or how I should present it. PLEASE HELP!! I have no idea where to start.

Thanks
Christel

Sounds like the objective is to create effective public speakers. Maybe look up tips on public speaking. Eye contact, posture, and the main thing I remember from my public speaking teacher: "tell em what your going to tell 'em, tell 'em, and then tell 'em what you told 'em!"

Did you see my post on classical rhetoric in the Applied linguistics forum, Christelstore?

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/v ... php?t=3458

You might also want to look at Toastmasters and ITC websites.

There's a good video text, Effective Presentations--shows the do's and don'ts of presenting. Another text, Presenting in English, has some nice suggestions about pacing and intonation. (Sorry, I don't have author/publisher info on hand.)

One thing my students need is practice in using Power Point. Students generally are quite proficient in the technical part but have no clue as to what makes an effective visual aid. This leads to masses of text, in a too-small font, which were read by the presenter; messy graphics and pointless (but "pretty") artwork; and worst of all, typos/misspellings up there on the screen for all to see.

The other major point is the need to practice the presentation in front of a live audience, maybe a roommate or a couple of friends.
This points up areas of possible problems (stumbling pronunciation, awkward transitions, running overtime) and helps overcome stage fright.

Thank you for your ideas. I got a few books on public speaking and presentations and I'm going to combine these to use in this course. I'm also teaching Tourism (for the first time) so let me know if you have any suggestions on good books. The level of the students are low.

Thanks!