View Content #1490
| Contentid | 1490 |
|---|---|
| Content Type | 1 |
| Title | Class presentation ideas, ESL specific but adaptable, Part 3 |
| Body | A. Metnick responds to the question: "How have you facilitated class presentations in your classroom?" I want to mention something I tried last semester with my ESL writing class here at SUNY-Delhi, as well as something I am doing now. The MI (Multiple Intelligences) presentation my students did were prompted by a reading in our textbook, Writing Workshop (Blanton & Lee. Heinle & Heinle, 1998). The workshop, "Writing in Response to Writing," offers a reading section, "7 Keys to Learning" by Phyllis LaFarge, originally written for Parents magazine in 1994. This article not only triggered valuable lessons in quoting, paraphrasing, and writing for audience, it inspired me to arrange a project for which students would not only write about MI but develop a project and present it. I came across a "MI products grid" and adapted it so that students could choose a project that would manifest one or more of their particular strengths. First, students did a survey that measured the relative strengths they had in each of nine areas. Then they chose a product/project and had to write a proposal or statement of purpose. Then they presented their projects to the class, describing the project and the process they underwent to achieve their product. On the day of the presentation, students had to submit a "process memo" describing their process, starting with exploration and inspiration and proceeding through the stages they went through to achieve their task. Some examples of these projects included the following: a travel brochure, a demonstration of proper soccer ball techniques, a Power Point presentation on hats, a poetry reading, a calligraphry rendering of a poem in both English and Japanese, a hands-on demonstration of origami (we made warrior helmets from the Wall Street Journal), a timeline, a detailed drawing of squamous tissue from a horse's mouth (by a veterinary science student interested in nature and art), an illustrated history of the guitar, a perfume advertisement, and so forth. Right now I am continuing this theme with my developmental reading and writing class (non-ESL, although a couple of students are just that). They have read a few articles on the topic and have just begun a multi-genre research/persoanl essay, focusing on MI. They will also give presentations like the ones mentioned previously. I highly recommend saving presentations towards the end of the semester, when the students' comfort zone is more relaxed. Because I use a workshop approach, I find that their confidence and trust levels are much higher after midterm. Metnick, A. (26 Mar. 2004). Re: Presentation topics, speakers, audience, evaluations. Teachers of English to speakers of other languages electronic list. TESL-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (20 Apr. 2004). |
| Source | TESL-L listserv |
| Inputdate | 2004-04-20 17:26:00 |
| Lastmodifieddate | 2004-04-20 17:26:00 |
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