Engaging Teachers

Until you feel comfortable about giving presentations, many books and educators recommend that you stand with your feet slightly apart so that you are grounded and can swing and move from your centre of balance. This gives you a subconscious sense of security. However, if you wish to place one foot slightly in front of another, so that you stand to one side ,that is also fine, as long as you remember to keep an open body posture. Body language experts recommend that you do not hold your hands above waist level as it suggests that you are unsure of what you are saying. Creating a steadfast air of confidence underpins the plethora of recommendations to standstill in the classic A shape. Having watch more than a thousand presentation, for me, more important than how you stand is what you do with your face and eyes. Stand or sit in a way that you can make eye contact with the audience, nod to people, make comments that show you are aware of what some of the audience is doing such as ” and I see many of you nodding in agreement when I said******” Widen your eyes slightly, raise your eyebrows to emphasize a key point, look one way then the other when stating binary opposites, if you are using numbers to increase coherence, then step sideways on each number( right foot over left, left to the side, right foot over left again = first x, then y, and finally z. The storyteller, Andrew Wright, sat through a presentation but held his audience with his gaze and versitile voice. Luke Prodromou tends to stand at one side of the stage for a long time and then the other, walking when he changes theme. Rod Bolitho sometimes walks around the audience, requiring listeners to twist around for a refreshing view. But note, all of their actions are deliberate and on coming to a halt, they balance their weight on their feet , moving from the waist upwards and demonstrating that they are in congruence mentally and physically, hence capable of enlightening others.

Having just had the joy of watching 15 university students and 7 teachers giving presentations and workshops as part of their course requirements, I am interested in finding out

a) what people want from a presentation

b) the skills and techniques used by effective presenters

and c) in creating a reference list of books, articles and websites providing useful information on how to give successful presentations and workshops.

The ideas are in no particular order, so after a while I will chunk them and page them for us. Please add to the list and let me know if there is anything you disagree with.

Intros, Outros and

the bathtub effect. People remember the first thing you say and the last thing you say, so ensure that your main messages are in these. Your introduction’s main message can be in the form of a story, a quote, a joke or a rhetorical question. Memorize it, practice saying it with panache and when giving the presentation, pause before saying it. If you have just been introduced, stand in a silent, confident manner, feet slightly apart and spend a minute surveying the audience and making eye contact with people. This focuses people and yourself. Smile, and begin with enthusiasm. For years I spent my first few minutes “house keeping”- giving people the agenda and telling them how I was going to get their attention after audience interaction time. Then I read psychologists’ observation that in the first three minutes, you have 100% of the audiences attention and I realized that I needed to use this time well. Now, I try to awaken the listeners’ interest in my main message.

Likewise, people walk away remembering your last comment, so memorize your outro and draw your 3 or 4 main points of the talk together in your conclusion. Again you can end with a quote, a metaphor, catchy picture, jingle etc. Whatever, you do make it “sticky” so that the audience will remember it in several weeks time. When watching presentations, especially those given by professional speakers and writers, I find that the most effective place to be at the end of a talk is centre stage. Recently, I had the pleasure of watching Scott Thornbury present. During his talk/ interactive workshop, he came down from the stage and walked back and forwards at the front of the amphitheatre. If he stood on the left hand side of the ampi, he turned slightly right and gesticulate with his right hand. If he stood on the right hand side, he did the opposite. However,in the penultimate moment he paused, ran up onto the stage, positioning himself just off centre and used both hands when making his concluding comment about what makes a good grammar lesson. Afterwards when discussing the implementation of the talk with him, he said that centralizing himself and opening himself to both sides of the audience felt so right. And Scott Thornbury should know – he’s an expert at intros and outros.

Forward planning, decision making, prioritising, time management and meeting deadlines, networking and interpersonnel communication & problem solving. 

Prioritising Traditional EFL activities such as balloon debates, pyramid discussions and desert island survival or  Nasa survival ( Keep Talking, Penny Urr) are good ranking activities which require students to order items according to their value in a given situation.

Activity  What’s in it for me?

Give students a list of 8 things you can give them/ do for them, but say that they can only chose 3 of them. They have to then decide which 3 they will go for and justify their decision in writing. If you are satisfied that they have priotised the 3 most important things for them that day, then give the student what they have asked for e.g. leaving the lesson 5 minutes early, a no homework voucher for 1 piece of homework, chocolate, permission to phone someone during the lesson etc. The same activity done in pairs also adds a negotiation element to the activity as students must agree on the same 3 things to request. The langauge element of the activity can be emphasised by providing the students with useful phrases and sentence stems e.g. I would like to get the ————- because…………,

The ——————- appeals to me most because………………….. , Which one should we select? My priority would be……………..

Welcome to my blog which I am creating as a way of supporting the workshops and seminars that I am part of. I have been encouraged to start blogging by many of my extremely competent colleagues and trainees on teacher development courses from whom I have learned / am learning so much. I love the Pearson Education motto ” Great Teachers Inspire” and the idea that you never know how far your influence extends. Who were the great teachers of your great teachers? Teachers do not only impart knowledge, they help others learn to make the best of themselves and to continue doing so for life. Thank you for being part of my learning teaching experience, I am learning because you are there.

Denise McQueen Özdeniz