SKKN Improving presentation skills for grade 10th Students

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 

1.1. Rationale 

1.1.1. The necessity of acquiring presentation skills  

As a teacher at high school for many years, the author has realized that presentation skills are essential both in the classrooms and in the real world.  

Nowadays, in academic settings, many teachers require their students to present the academic topics during the lessons, especially in the English ones. For English learning, presentation tasks definitely help the learners not only to improve four language skills in a naturally integrated way but also to boost students’ confidence. It is apparently seen that students who are good presenters are better communicators all round, since they are able to structure and express their ideas clearly. Moreover, after completing a project, a presentation is a channel for students to share with others what they have learned. It is also a chance to challenge and expand on their understanding of the topic by having others ask questions. It cannot be denied that after every presentation, the students can remember the lessons well and can use the new words in a real talk. Obviously, presentations help high school students learn new words in contexts, review and widen the content of the topics in the text book, improve speaking skills and build up their confidence.   

Presentation skills not only play an important role in students’ learning but also are very useful in many aspects of their subsequent work and life. After graduating from schools and entering the workforce, students with welldeveloped presentation skills at schools will be able to communicate clearly, precisely and effectively in a variety of modes or registers and settings. It should be pointed out that public speaking skills are rated as one of the most important soft skills. Effective presentations and public speaking skills are important in business, sales and selling, training, teaching, lecturing, and generally feeling comfortable speaking to a group of people. In fact, developing the confidence and capability to give good presentations, and to stand up in front of an audience and speak well, are also extremely helpful competencies for self-development and social situations. Therefore, it is true that the students with good public speaking skills have more job opportunities and easy to be successful in their career.  

In short, the ability of communicating with the audience and giving presentations should be seen as a mandatory prerequisite for both the effective learning process and the successful working life. Therefore, teachers at high school should pay a lot of attention to helping their students improve these useful skills for the sake of their learning and their future careers.  

1.1.2. The current situation of training presentation skills for students at the author’s school.  

Through a survey, the author figures out that most of the students at the author’s school find it challenging to give a presentation in front of the class. Some say that when they have to stand and speak in front of the others, their mouths dry up and their hearts start racing. They are really afraid of presenting in front of a crowd so they always try to avoid any situations where they have to make a speech.  

In fact, so far, students have had little experience in how to speak in front of the class, how to answer questions and how to behave properly during the English lessons. They have had few opportunities to work in groups, in pairs or individually, to later develop some idea into a topic to speak about and present to others. Most teachers at the author’s school agree that they do not have time to get their students involved in presenting activities. Actually, they spend most of the class time concentrating on grammar and reading skills which help their students do well in the GCSE exams. However, through a survey and process of teaching, the author realizes that many students in class 10 D1 and 10 A1 (most of them are quite good at English) really want to improve their presentation skills. They see the real benefits of good public speaking skills and are willing to be trained for these skills.  

In order to solve the above problem and prepare students for making good presentations in good English, the author has applied a variety of activities that can really help the students to acquire good presentation skills. All of these activities and techniques are going to be mentioned in detail in this teaching experience.  

1.2. Aim of the research  

To help students in class 10 D1 and 10 A1 acquire good presentation skills.  

1.3. Objectives 

In order to achieve the above aim, the writer will: 

1. – Investigate to identify the current state and the problems that many teachers and students are facing in training presentation skills. 
2. – Introduce some techniques and activities which can help students improve their presentation skills.  
3. – Analyze the effects of the designed activities on students’ ability produce presentations.   

1.4. Scope of the research  

Beside the introduction and the conclusion, this research consists of three parts: 

• Theoretical and practical background 
• Applied methods to better students’ presentation skills  
• Results and evaluation  

PART 2: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BACKGROUND 

2.1.  What are the Presentation Skills?  

Presentation skills are the skills you need in delivering effective and engaging presentations to a variety of audiences. These skills cover a variety of areas such as the structure of the presentation, the design of the slides, the tone of voice and the body language the presenters convey. 

2.2. Some Presentation Techniques to Improve Students’ Presentation Skills 

OFFER THE AUDIENCE WHAT THEY REALLY NEED 

Good presentation skills involve asking oneself; ‘What do the audience want to know? What will they find interesting about my topic?’ Brainstorm ideas and write them down to create a really interesting presentation. 

FOCUS ON THE KEY MESSAGE 

Keep the presentation simple by focusing on important points the presenters want to communicate. Keep the message focused and stick to what the presenters want to say. If there is information which isn’t relevant to the key message, do not include it. 

START STRONG 

How to start the presentation is critical! An audience is going to decide if they are going to listen to the presentation by how the speaker begins. To engage the audience immediately, tell an interesting story, show an intriguing picture or do something entertaining. By using one of these public speaking techniques, the audience will be hooked. 

CREATE VARIETY  

One way to master the art of public speaking is to create variety in a presentation. It will keep the audience interested! Use video. Use eye catching images. Involve the audience as much as possible! Ask them questions to keep them alert. Not talking all of the time, and using different ways to communicate the idea definitely helps. 

SPEAK CLEARLY 

Good public speakers make a presentation even better by speaking clearly. If the speaker wants the audience to hear what he/she is saying, so make sure she/he speaks at a good volume. Emphasize words that the presenter wants the audience to hear. Add suspense and intrigue by speaking more softly. Use body language as well as voice volume to increase excitement! a