Author: Tom Hayton, Teacher, Business Trainer, British Council Kuala Lumpur Why I get students to do presentations Syllabus fit Planning a presentation lesson Aims Classroom Management Assessment Conclusion Why I get students to do

Classroom Management
I find that presentation lessons pass very quickly, due the large amount of preparation involved. With a class of 20 students, it will probably take at least 3 hours. With feedback and follow-up tasks, it can last even longer. I try to put students into groups of 3 or 4 with classes of up to 20 students, and larger groups of 5 or 6 with classes up to 40. If you have a class larger than 40, it would be a good idea to do the presentation in a hall or even outside.

Classroom management can become difficult during a presentations lesson, especially during the final presenting stage, as the presenters are partly responsible for managing the class! There are a few points I find effective here:

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  Training students to stand near people who are chatting and talk 'through' the chatter, by demonstration
  

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  Training students to stop talking if chatter continues, again by demonstration
  

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  Asking for the audience's attention ('Can I have your attention please?')
  

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  Setting the audience an observation task, which is also assessed by the teacher
  

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  Limiting the amount of time spent preparing visuals
  

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  Arranging furniture so everyone is facing the front
  

Most of these points are self-explanatory, but I will cover the observation task in more detail in the next section, which deals with assessment. 

Assessment
The teacher needs to carefully consider the assessment criteria, so that s/he can give meaningful feedback. I usually run through a checklist that covers:

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  Level - I can't expect Elementary students to use a wide range of tenses or vocabulary, for example, but I'd expect Advanced students to have clear pronunciation and to use a wide range of vocabulary and grammar
  

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  Age - Younger learners do not (normally) have the maturity or general knowledge of adults, and the teacher's expectations need to reflect this
  

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  Needs - What kind of students are they? Business English students need to have much more sophisticated communication skills than others. Students who are preparing for an exam need to practise the skills that will be assessed in the exam.
  

I write a list of language related points I'm looking for. This covers:

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  Range / accuracy of vocabulary
  

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  Range / accuracy of grammar
  

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  Presentation / discourse management- is it well structured? What linking words are used and how?
  

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  Use of visuals- Do they help or hinder the presentation?
  

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  Paralinguistic features