It seems like most training centers will have many opportunities throughout the year for parents to come and watch their child like they were some sort of zoo animal, however. Even when I worked for the public schools in China they would have at least two days each year that saw parents cramming-up the hallways.
So what do you do when you’ve got a presentation class? Well, there are many simple and easy things you can do to make sure that you look good, the students look good, and the parents feel good. It’s all about saving face, after all.
- Familiar: Stick to what you and the students know. Don’t introduce a brand new game or activity right before the parents get there. Believe me, I’ve done it many times, and it’s not the best idea. Always do activities that you’ve done over the regular course of classes, activities the students know and like. They’re probably expecting them anyway, right?
- Fun: Always do activities or games that the students think are fun. This sounds easy, but too many times I see teachers do the same boring thing over and over again. It’s hard to get students to talk when they don’t have a paper with words in front of their face, but you can do it. Try taking a picture and assign a role play to a small group. Or try one of my favorites, cartoon dubbing, which gives the students a cartoon with speech bubbles that they have to fill in and make a story with.
- Fast: Keep things moving. Whenever I do a presentation class, I’ve usually got 30-40 minutes to kill. I like to keep the activities to 10 minutes, 15 tops. If you keep mixing it up, and keep it moving, the students, the parents, and perhaps most importantly, the teacher, won’t get bored.
There are many other great things you can do for ESL presentation classes, and I hope to highlight some of them in later posts. Until then, good luck!
Other Great Sites on Presentation Classes
Yahoo Voices Article
http://voices.yahoo.com/free-efl-esl-lesson-plan-give-good-presentation-2872555.html?cat=4
Suite101 Article
http://suite101.com/article/effective-oral-presentations-in-esl-lessons-a172020