SKKN IMPROVING PRESENTATION SKILLS FOR GRADE 10TH STUDENTS

Bạn đang xem bản rút gọn của tài liệu. Xem và tải ngay bản đầy đủ của tài liệu tại đây (2.67 MB, 41 trang )

NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
NAM DAN I HIGH SCHOOL

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

IMPROVING PRESENTATION SKILLS
FOR GRADE 10TH STUDENTS

SUBJECT: ENGLISH
AUTHOR: VÕ THỊ DOAN
GROUP: ENGLISH 10

NGHỆ AN, 2021
039 576 3254

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1
1.1. Rationale........................................................................................................... 1
1.1.1. The necessity of acquiring presentation skills .............................................. 1
1.1.2. The current situation of training presentation skills for students at the
author’s school. ....................................................................................................... 2
1.2. Aim of the research .......................................................................................... 2
1.3. Objectives ......................................................................................................... 2
1.4. Scope of the research........................................................................................ 2
PART 2: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BACKGROUND ....................... 3
2.1. What are the Presentation Skills? .................................................................... 3
2.2. Some Presentation Techniques to Improve Students’ Presentation Skills ...... 3
2.3. Presentation Marking Rubric ........................................................................... 6
PART 3 .................................................................................................................... 7
HOW TO BETTER PRESENTATION SKILLS FOR 10TH GRADERS ............ 7

3.1. Participants ....................................................................................................... 7
3.2. Procedure to train presentation skills ............................................................... 7
3.2.1. Using expert videos to train students’ presentation skills ............................. 7
3.2.2. Using model presentations .......................................................................... 10
3.2.3. Guiding on how to produce effective presentation slides ........................... 11
3.2.4. Presentation practice during the lessons in textbooks................................. 19
3.2.5. Presentation practice in the English extra classes and extracurricular
activities................................................................................................................. 21
PART 4: RESULTS AND EVALUATION ......................................................... 23
4.1. Results of the pre-test and post-test ............................................................... 23
4.1.1 Results of pre-test and post-test (Class 10A1) ............................................. 23
4.1.2 Results of pre-test and post-test (Class 10D1) ............................................. 26
4.2. Students’ changes in attitude toward presentation ......................................... 27
4.3. Survey results ................................................................................................. 28
PART 5. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 31
5.1. Summary ........................................................................................................ 31
5.2. Some Pedagogical Recommendations on training presentation skills........... 32
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................... 32
APPENDIX I
APPENDIX II

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

1.1.2. 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
2

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!
3

TRY YOUR BEST TO BE CONFIDENT
Being confident is a key factor that leads to the success of a presentation.
Good preparation and frequent practice may help the speakers a lot in gaining
confidence.
SPEAK AT A GOOD PACE
Speaking at a pace where the audience can understand what the speaker is
talking about is so important when delivering a presentation. Keeping an optimal
pace provides time for the listeners to understand the content, take notes, and ask

questions.
A good presenter should learn not to speak too quickly, because they need
to give time for the audience to understand what is being said. At the same time,
the pace should not be so slow that the presenter runs out of time to complete the
presentation (and the audience becomes bored!).
USE PERSONAL STORIES
Good public speakers know how important storytelling is for a successful
presentation. But talking about oneself, such as including personal anecdotes to
illustrate the points they are trying to make, can be even more powerful.
ASK QUESTIONS
Try not to make the presentation one-sided. Involve the audience by asking
them questions and encouraging them to participate. But make sure the questions
can be answered easily because the main purpose of the questions is to involve
the audience and make the presentation lively.
USE BODY LANGUAGE AND FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
More than half of your impact as a speaker depends upon your body
language. You probably have control over the words you speak, but are you sure
that you have control over what you are saying with your body language?
Body language comprises gesture, stance, and facial expression. These are
all the more important when all eyes of an audience are upon you. When you are
presenting, strong, positive body language becomes an essential tool in helping
you build credibility, express your emotions, and connect with your listeners. It
also helps your listeners focus more intently on you and what you're saying.
Gesture: Do use your hands. They don't belong on your hips or in your
pockets or folded across your chest either or held behind your back. Use them-to
help emphasize a point, to express emotion, to release tension, and to engage
your audience.
Presenters need to scale their gestures to the size of the room. The most
effective gestures arise from the shoulder, not the wrist or elbow. Shoulder
gestures project better across the distance and release more of the presenter's

4

energy, helping combat any tension that can build in the upper body (particularly
under pressure).
Stance: How you stand in front of the room speaks before open your
mouth. Your stance can tell the audience that you're happy, scared, confident, or
uncomfortable. Audiences "read" these messages unthinkingly but unfailingly.
Stance speaks. A balanced stance with weight even but slightly forward tends to
say that the speaker is engaged with the audience. A slumped stance leaning to
one side can says the speaker doesn't care.
The feet should point straight ahead, not quite shoulder-width apart. When
not gesturing, the hands should sit quietly at the sides of the presenter. Letting the
hands fall to the sides between gestures projects ease. These moments of stillness
between gestures also have the effect of amplifying the gestures. Yes, you can
move around, but remember to punctuate that movement with stillness. Constant
motion, such as swaying, is a distraction that can annoy your listeners.
Facial expression: The movements of your eyes, mouth, and facial
muscles can build a connection with your audience. Alternatively, they can
undermine your every word. Eye focus is the most important element in this
process. No part of your facial expression is more important in communicating
sincerity and credibility. Nothing else so directly connects you to your listenerswhether in a small gathering or a large group. Effective presenters engage one
person at a time, focusing long enough to complete a natural phrase and watch it
sink in for a moment. This level of focus can rivet the attention of a room by
drawing the eyes of each member of the audience and creating natural pauses
between phrases. The pauses not only boost attention, but also contribute
significantly to comprehension and retention by allowing the listener time to
process the message.
The other elements of facial expression can convey the feelings of the
presenter, anything from passion for the subject, to depth of concern for the

audience. Unfortunately, under the pressure of delivering a group presentation,
many people lose their facial expression. Their faces solidify into a grim, stone
statue, a thin straight line where the lips meet. Try to unfreeze your face right
from the start. For example, when you greet the audience, smile! You won't want
to smile throughout the entire presentation, but at least at the appropriate
moments. It's only on rare occasions that you may need to be sombre and serious
throughout.
PRACTICE AND THEN PRACTISE AGAIN
If you have time, practise your presentation as often as possible. Rehearse
to the point that you're so familiar with your subject matter, you could deliver
your presentation with ease - like having a conversation with a friend. Also try to
do at least one practice run in front of a friend or family member.
5

2.3. Presentation Marking Rubric
To mark students on how well they present and give them marks, the
author teacher has built up a rubric that can help her and the students with
evaluating job. The rubric was given and explained to the students at the
beginning of the school year. This rubric has been used by the teacher to mark
her students’ work and by the students to mark their friends’ presentations.
Scoring Rubric for Oral Presentations
Category

Scoring Criteria

The type of presentation is appropriate for the
Organization topics and audience.
(15 points) Information is presented in a logical sequence.
Length of presentation is within the assigned time

limits
Introduction is attention-getting, lays out the
problem well, and establishes a framework for the
rest of the presentation.
Content
No spelling and grammar mistakes in slides
(30 points) Presentation contains accurate information.
Information was well communicated. (Audience
can get the main points of the talk)
There is an obvious conclusion summarizing the
presentation.
Images/videos are suitable with the content
Visual aids presented.
(15 points) Slides are well prepared, informative, effective,
and not distracting. (Eyes-catching, short to the
main points, appropriate font, appropriate color
and images)
Speaker maintains good eye contact with the
audience
Speaker uses a clear, audible voice
Presentation Delivery is poised, controlled, and smooth
(40 points) Good language skills and pronunciation are used.
Body language is used appropriately
☺ Confident posture
☺ Movement in space
☺ Appropriate gestures
Presenter has a good connection with the audience
(asking questions/ asking for the ideas…)
Score
Total Points

Total
Score
Points
5
5
5
5

5
5
10
5
5
10

5
5
5
10
10

5
100
6

PART 3
HOW TO BETTER PRESENTATION SKILLS FOR 10TH GRADERS
3.1. Participants

Participants are students from class 10A1 and 10D1.
Participants’ demographic information
Number of participants

46 (10A1) / 44 (10D1)

Age

15-16 years old

Gender

Female/55

Accumulated English learning experience

10 years

English oral proficiency level

B1 and B2 (CEFR)

Male/ 35

Most of the students in class 10A1 and 10D1 are quite good at English and
can speak English quite well. Especially, they are well aware of the importance of
presentation skills and they are eager to practice them. As the author sees through
the time of teaching at school, after graduating from high school, a majority of
the students in class D1 and A1 of this school will attend many famous
universities in Vietnam and subsequently get important jobs which appreciate

public speaking skills as the most important soft skills.
3.2. Procedure to train presentation skills
3.2.1. Using expert videos to train students’ presentation skills
Training plays a very important role in getting students to know how to
have a good presentation. However, it is not easy to have effective training
classes. After considering many ways to teach students presenting skills, the
author teacher finds out that using the expert videos combined with the
explanation from the teacher is the best choice. A presentation skills training
program can be so much more fun, informative and useful with suitable videos
from the experts (about 2 to 5 minutes each video). All of these videos are chosen
carefully by the teacher so that they are the easiest ones for students to
understand and imitate. In these videos, the experts explain in details “how to
deliver better” with proper examples and models. Readers can watch these expert
videos in the folder “Expert videos” enclosed with this study.
These are some benefits of using expert videos:
- They are great help in covering basic points in a different format rather
than the teacher just listing them out.

7

- They provide a way to change the methodology and keep the students
engaged. It’s like having someone who is a well-known expert in the field,
support the teacher’s points.
- Most of these videos are quite short (from 2 to 5 minutes). So, they don’t
take over overshadow the presenter.
- They cover one small point in a clear and practical way. So, they can
complement the teacher as a trainer on what she wants to get across to her
students.
- These viewpoints are from experts with very different backgrounds and

fields of work, so they round off the teacher’s training program nicely.
The author has selected this list of videos very carefully for training
purposes. Each video deals with one technique that is really necessary for a good
presentation.
- All the videos have voice clarity and good quality video
- They carry very discreet ads so the training room doesn’t get taken over by
advertisements to buy their books or attend their training programs.
- These videos are suitable for public speaking as well as presentation skills
programs as they are focused on the topic of ’how to deliver better’.
Video 1: How to use body language
This is by far the most clear and simple video on body language. Carmine
provides three simple techniques to work a room.
- Maintain Eye contact
- Open Body Posture
- Use Hand Gestures
Link: />Video 2: Using effective eyes contact
This video shows how eye contact can help you as a speaker to:
- Gather your thoughts
- Think clearly
- Remember what to say
Students should remember:
- avoid jumping eyes from one side of the room to the other side.
- connect with a small group first then slowly move to the other side.

8

This video has an example of a speaker who does this wrongly and then a
recording with the fault corrected. This is great for showcasing good eye contact
in the classroom without picking on any of the participants specifically.

Link: />Video 3: How to open and close a presentation
Opening and closing a presentation is very important in a presentation as it
gives the audience the first and the last impression of your speech. In fact, the
audience may not remember well the content of your talk but they are impressed
a lot by the ways you open and end a presentation.
This video was made by an expert from Cambridge University Press ELT.
He shows excellent real-life examples of good open and close presentations.
Link: />Video 4: Vocal energy, voice variety and intonation
This is another useful and practical video from Sheri Jevons with before and
after examples from a participant implementing better voice variety and
intonation. This is a great example how vocal energy can add excitement and
enthusiasm to the presentation.
Link: />Video 5: How energy and passion and liven up the dullest presentation
This topic of importance of energy in presentations seems incomplete
without this video of Hans Rosling speaking at TED. He presents data with such
enthusiasm that audience get carried along in this excitement. This video can be
used to show presenters how even the dullest topic can be enlivened with passion
and enthusiasm.
Link: />Video 6: Overall speaking Tips when delivering presentations
Douglas quickly covers a number of points like Power of Pause, power of
looking at audience when speaking and how to keep audience engaged when
speaking by speaking to one person at a time and using passion in speaking.
Link: />Video 7: 6 ways to control stage fright or nervousness
Bill speaks slowly and clearly in a friendly way and explains 6 different
ways to control stage fright. He supports each point with examples. The main
points are about focusing on your audience and message and not yourself. The
points he covers are:
- Preparation
9

- Put in perspective
- Think about symptoms
- Audiences are friendly
- Forget about creating great impression
- Focus on the trump card.
Link: />Presentation skills are very important but, in the textbook, there are no
periods for training these skills. Therefore, the extra classes in the afternoon will
be good chances for teacher to teach the students presenting skills. At the
beginning of the grade 10th, the teacher spent two extra classes (in the afternoon)
training students how to deliver good presentations. When showing the above
videos to the students, the teacher pauses at the main points and explains some
important things to students. After each video, the author teacher also lets
students have time to practice what they have learnt from the video. To make it
easier for students to imitate the ways that are trained in the expert videos,
teacher asks all students prepare a talk about housework sharing in their family at
home. When coming to the training classes, they will present this talk with the
techniques suggested in the videos.
This is a picture of a student practicing the presentation skills in front of her
classmates:

3.2.2. Using model presentations
A new infographic from Yowl shows that only 10% of people remember
what they hear. Reading doesn’t help much either since only about 20% of people
10

remembering what they read. But conversely 80% of people remember what they
see and do. They also learned that visuals are processed 60,000x faster than text
and that 93% of communication is nonverbal.

It is clearly seen that videos are more persuasive than other types of content
because the human brain requires emotional input to make decisions. No
technology is better at conveying emotion than videos. This is due to the fact
that video caters to both the brains’ visual and auditory systems, picking up on
cues like body language, facial expressions, imagery and music. This can elicit an
emotional bond that will influence a person’s choices or action.
From the facts above the teacher sees that one of the best ways to ease the
students into the world of presentation is to inspire them! There are so many great
examples of public speaking, from the vast library of TED talks. The teacher has
chosen carefully some of the model videos in which the speakers are teens and
have impressive ways to present their talk. Most students in class 10A1 and 10D1
show great interest when the teacher sends these videos in the class Facebook
page and asks them to watch carefully to learn some useful things from these
videos. It cannot be denied that mimicking is a good way to learn presentation
skills. Readers can watch these video in the folder “model videos” enclosed with
this study.

Video 1: Diversity and inclusion- lesson in friendship and love by Maryam
Elassar
Video 2: Education for all by Cameron Allen
Video 3: How to parent a teen from a teen’s perspective by Lucy Androski
Video 4: The effects of lying by Georgia Howkom
Video 5: The power of reading by April Qu
Besides these videos, the students can also watch more videos in TED
TALK to improve their presentation skills.
3.2.3. Guiding on how to produce effective presentation slides
Microsoft PowerPoint is an easy program to use and a powerful tool for
giving a presentation. It is proven that 65% of the population are visual learners,
11

using slides or other visual support during a presentation falls somewhere
between being pretty useful and critically important. For the 65%, visual
reinforcement enhances their ability to digest, process, and ultimately retain
material.
The author teacher really wishes her students to make the presentation
more interesting through the use of multimedia. Obviously, the presentation
slides can help to improve the audience's focus. PowerPoint allows students to
use images, audio and video to have a greater visual impact. These visual and
audio cues may also help them be more improvisational and interactive with the
audience. It can even help reduce speaking anxiety by drawing eyes away from
the speaker and towards a screen.
However, most the 10th graders do not how to produce the effective
presentation slides. At the beginning of the school year, the author teacher asks
them to prepare presentation slides to talk about how to share housework in
their family, the slides are poorly made. Therefore, the author teacher decides to
spend time guiding them how to produce effective PowerPoint slides. The
following are some tips for her students. These tips are delivered and explained
to the students in a training class to make sure they know how to produce
effective slides.
Tips for effective slides:
- Keep it short and to the point
One of the most important things to remember is that PowerPoint is a tool
to support your story. Avoid putting the literal text on the screen. Instead, try and
shorten your bullets and keep it to the point. This causes your audience to focus
on you instead of the slides on the screen.

- Choose the right font
Try and pick a classic font instead of a creative one. Picking the wrong font
can easily cause your text to be unreadable for your audience. Besides that, if the

computer you are presenting on does not have the font you used installed,
12

PowerPoint will replace it with a random one. Verdana, Calibri and Helvetica,
for example, are all safe choices. These fonts are available on all computers.

- Pick the right font size
Picking the right font size can be difficult. On the one hand your audience
needs to be able to read whatever you put on the screen. On the other hand, you
don’t want your text to dominate the space on your slide. For headers the
minimum is around 20pt, while for the body you have a minimum of 18pt. With
these sizes you can be assured your text will be legible in every situation. This
goes for laptops, computers, tablets, TVs and beamers.

- Contrast
Besides the looks and size of your font, it is important to take contrast into
account. If you’re using text on a photo, make sure that your font is readable by
either placing a border or casting a shadow around it.

13

- Pay attention to the relevance and quality of images
Usually, your text is supported by a low-quality image. We often see that
when people are talking about a car, the first picture on Google images is picked.
This results in inconsistency because some images tend to be illustrations and
drawings, making your presentation look unprofessional or even childish. Make
sure you select high quality images that support your message.

- Make use of mock-ups
Diagrams, schemes and screenshots are usually not beneficial to your
presentation. They make boring slides with too much information and detail,
although the information is usually quite important to your story. A quick fix for
these slides is to combine the diagram, scheme or screenshot with an image.
These can easily be combined with an image of an iPad, laptop, beamer or
computer.
14

- Visualize the data as much as possible
Whenever the presentation contains a lot of data, it might be easier to
communicate this data by using visuals instead of just using text. Graphs might
give you the results you are looking for. PowerPoint offers a wide variety of
‘donut-graphs’, which are ideal for making comparisons.
For example, pick the donut-graph to show your percentages in the middle
of the graph. This way your audience immediately knows what you mean.

- Simplify the tables as much as possible
Tables are usually crammed with information and numbers. This causes
the slide to look crowded and chaotic. In this case it is important to visualize the
tables as simple as possible. Delete unnecessary outlines, colours and borders.
‘Keep it simple’ and ‘less is more’ are key phrases to take in mind whilst
designing tables.
15

- Minimize the variety of transitions
After creating a PowerPoint presentation people usually conclude that the
presentation comes off as boring or static. At this point they start to use to use

transitions. Different transitions are then used to ‘breathe life’ into the
presentation. However, this is not the way to do it. PowerPoint offers the most
diverse transitions, which are usually experienced as distracting and childish. A
simple ‘fade’ effect to go from slide to slide is more than enough. Again, the
phrase ‘less is more’ is applicable.
- Solely use basic coloring
Colors are often used to give the slide some ‘flair’. When picking colors,
it is important to define your audience and the purpose of the presentation. It’s
good to use vibrant colors in a presentation for a primary school. However, when
in a formal setting, you will have to define your colors based on your target
audience.

After being taught how to make suitable slides, teacher asks students to
send their presenting slides to her one day before presentation to check whether
they have the effective ones. Having been checked and corrected by teacher, most
of students can produce good and effective ones.
The following are examples of the teacher’s corrections to help better students’
skills in producing presentation slides
16

Students' slides:

Teacher's corrections:

17

The following are the example to show students’ great improvement in making
PowerPoint slides:

Before training: (Topic of unit1: sharing housework)

Students use:
- unsuitable background/font
- too many colors / not basic colors so it seems to be distracting.
- too many words in a slide. (They don’t know how to use the key words and
main points to put in a slide. They put all the things they want to talk in the
PowerPoint screen.)
- inappropriate organization in a slide.
- wrong word types and sizes
After training: (Topic of unit 8: Using electronic devices for learning)
After being trained, most students in the two classes know how to produce
effective slides. Here is an example:
18

Readers can also see some more good presentation slides created by the
students from class 10A1 and 10D1 in the folder “Students’ PowerPoint”
enclosed with this study.
3.2.4. Presentation practice during the lessons in textbooks
Being well aware of the importance of frequent practice, during the process
of teaching in classes 10A1 and 10D1, the author teacher pays a lot of attention to
training presentation skills for students. For each unit in the text book, the author
always gives students the topic to prepare for a speech. Students practice the
speech at home carefully and the teacher asks them to present at the check-up
time before the new lessons. These presentations are usually short from 4 to 7
minutes. The teacher also encourages her students to make videos of their
presentation and send them to her to get the points for “oral test” if they want.
The readers can see some examples of the presentations in check-up time in the
folder “presentation in check-up time” enclosed with this study.

The following are some topics given by the author teacher for student to practice
while they learn new lessons in textbooks. However, the students also can talk
about the other topics as long as they relate to the main topic of the lessons. By
allowing students to choose the topics they like to talk about, the author can
encourage them to make good research about the topics and have the great
motivation to talk about. Some students have shown their great enthusiasm when
they talk about the things they are really keen on. For example, in unit 2: Your
body and you, Tram Anh – a student in class 10D1 has chosen to talk about “Eat
Clean” – the topic she is really interested in. In unit 6: Gender equality, Huong
Thao from 10 A1, is very excellent with the topic “It’s cool to be different”. In
19

unit 9: Preserving the environment, Phuong Thao (10A1) shows great enthusiasm
with the talk about “Air pollution”. In unit 10: Ecotourism, Quynh Mai from
10D1, makes a good progress with the topic “A trip to DaLat”. The readers can
enjoy their presentations in the folder “good presentations” with the names “Tram
Anh-eat clean”, “Quynh Mai- a trip to Dalat”, “Huong Thao – it’s cool to be
different” and “Phuong Thao- Air pollution”, which are enclosed with this study.
These videos are sent to the teacher and mark as marks of the oral test. The
teacher also gives them feedback to help them do better in the next presentations.
Some topics suggested by teacher:
Unit
Presentation topics
Unit 1
- Housework activities
- Housework sharing in your family
Unit 2
- Healthy life styles
- How to kick bad habits

- Body systems
Unit 3
- Your music idols
- Your favorite music shows
Unit 4
- Talk about the volunteer activity you have joined.
- Why do people volunteer?
Unit 5
- Computer and our life
- Benefits and drawbacks of smartphones
Unit 6
- Should married women pursue a career?
- Gender equality in Vietnam.
Unit 7
- Superstitions in Vietnam
- Traditions and customs in the UK and Russia
Unit 8
- Advantages and disadvantages of using electronic devices in
learning
- How do you use electronic gadgets for your English learning?
Unit 9
- Environmental impacts of human activities
Unit 10
- Choose one ecotourism destination in Vietnam and prepare a
presentation about what can be done and seen there and how to
become a responsible ecotourists
- Benefits of ecotourism
It cannot be denied that the frequent presentation practice during lessons in
the text book is really helpful. The students gradually feel free of nervousness
when talking in front of a large audience. They also make good advances in using

body language, eyes contact, voice energy and intonation, and especially, most
students in the two classes gradually progress in English speaking and get
sufficient knowledge about the topics they have learnt in classes.
When the Covid-19 epidemics spread wisely in the author’s area, students
had to study online for about 3 weeks but the presentation activity did not stop.

20

Readers can watch the videos in the folder “Online presentations” enclosed with
this study.
3.2.5. Presentation practice in the English extra classes and extracurricular
activities
Class 10D1 has two English extra classes in the afternoon per week, class
10A1 has one English extra class per week. The author teacher sees that extra
classes are really good chance for students practice presentation skills so every
two weeks, the teacher lets her students have one class for presentation. The
students will choose the topic that relate to the main topics they are learning in
the morning to prepare before the presentation class. They will have one or two
weeks to get ready for presentation classes in the afternoon.
At the beginning of the school year, to help the students overcome fear and
nervousness when standing in front of large audience and to make sure every
student in the two classes know how to make a good presentation, teacher lets the
students do the group presentations. Each group has a gifted student to be the
leader who can help the members in the groups. Readers can see the group
presentations in the folder “Group presentations” enclosed with this study. After
three times of group presentations, the students begin to do their own presentation
by presenting in check-up time and making presentation videos at home (if they
want to get good mark for oral tests).
When students have to learn online because of the Covid 19, the author

teacher also asks them to make presentation videos and send them to her. The
teacher is very glad when see that most students make good videos and show
great advance in presentation skills. Readers can see these videos in folder
“Students’ Presentation Videos” enclosed with this study.
To encourage students practice the presentation skills, the teacher also
organizes a presentation competition for students from class 10A1 and 10D1. The
students are very excited to participate in with the hope of practising public
presentation and getting the gifts from teachers. The judges are three teachers of
English in the author’s school. The competition is a good opportunity for students
to sharpen their public speaking skills and motivates them to keep on practicing
presentation. Many students show great excitement with this kind of extra
curriculum activity as it is the time they see clearly their progress in presentation
skills. Readers can watch the videos of the contest in the folder “Presentation
competition” enclosed with this study. These are really good presentations from
students 10A1 and 10D1 in which they applied all the techniques they have learnt
from teacher’s training procedure. The teacher is very happy to see the great
progress has been made by her students. The performances the contest are the
clearest evidence to show that the teacher’s activities in training public speaking
skills are very practical and benefit her students a lot.
Following are some pictures about the public speaking contest:
21

‘

22

PART 4: RESULTS AND EVALUATION
4.1. Results of the pre-test and post-test

To evaluate the students’ presentation skills at the beginning of the school
year, the author teacher gives students in class 10A1 and 10D1 a pre-test. This
test is also taken as the first fifteen-minute test of term 1. The main topics are
housework sharing, your body and you, electronic devices and music. The
students can choose the topic they like and prepare it well at home and then
present in the extra class.
At the nearly end of the school year, teacher delivers a post-test to
students to check whether they can make any progress in their public speaking
skills. The students can choose any topics that relate to the topics of the lessons in
textbook, prepare it carefully at home and then make a presentation in the extra
class. The post-test is taken as third fifteen-minute test of term 2.
The pre-test and post-test are marked depending on the rubrics prepared by
the teacher in “2.3. Presentation Marking Rubric”. The points students can get
from the rubric will be divided by 10 to get the marks for oral tests. Actually, to
encourage students to involve in presentation activity, the teacher tries to avoid
giving students very low points in pre-test and if they make good progress, the
teacher sometimes gives them some bonus in the post-test.
4.1.1 Results of pre-test and post-test (Class 10A1)

STT

Students of 10A1

Pre-test

Post -test

1

Ngô Thị